The Hunger Games - now on Kindle

Recently released in a Kindle format, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a brilliantly written story of a future gone wrong; a dystopia where war & rebellion has left the nation divided into the "haves" and the "have nots"; where the people are controlled by limited food supplies and the dreaded annual Hunger Games.

Those who have read Stephen King's The Long Walkand The Running Man(written as Richard Bachman) will find similarities. Like The Long Walk, society is forced to watch & cheer as teenagers battle to survive. But like The Running Man, we are treated to more of the realities of the lives of the contestants, the back-story behind the tale of this life-or-death televised event.

But to solely compare it to King's brilliant novels would do an injustice to Suzanne Collins excellent story & writing. In The Hunger Games, Collins quickly develops a great sympathy for the citizens of District 12, and for the heroine of the story, Katniss. Forced to take care of her mother & younger sister from a young age, poaching in the forbidden woods, Katniss is thrown into The Hunger Games as the female tribute for the district, where she must kill or be killed. Aand there can be only one winner.

The pace of this book is spot on. Never a dull moment but also steady and real. My biggest disappointment? To find that the sequel is out now but not on Kindle. Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) was released in hardcover earlier this week & I can only hope that Scholastic Press don't wait to long to bring us the e-book!