Weekend Book Club: The Hunger Games

I'm always wary of hyped books.
You know the type, where everyone raves to the point you wonder 'Can it really be that good?'
It's why it took me so long to read the Twilight series and with The Hunger Games, I finally gave in to see what all the fuss was about.

Now I know.

Here's the blurb:

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone fighting against you?

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death - televised for all of Panem to see.



Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love. WINNING WILL MAKE YOU FAMOUS. LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.

Everything about this book is intriguing: the world they live in, the rules, the lifestyle, the developing relationships.

As for the Hunger Games...wow, brutal!

Peeta is a hero you instantly fall in love with though I have to admit, it takes me a while to warm up to Katniss, a long while.
She truly seems to be a product of her world: cool, controlled with a hard external shell.

A real page-turner, make sure you have Catching Fire, the sequel, on hand for when you finish The Hunger Games. I sure do!
And look out for Mockingjay, the 3rd in the series, out this month.