A-Z Challenge: (The) Hunger Games Series

The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

(Excerpt from The Hunger Games only)

Suzanne Collins created a terrifying dystopian world where the government, Panem, created a pageant they call The Hunger Games - where each district must offer up one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18. All but one will perish; the victor will be bathed in riches. The government forces children to become killers on television. Live for the world and their families to see their triumphs and their deaths; often gruesome. The reason for this horrifying live television (mandatory viewing, by the way) show? District 13 lead an uprising that lead to a war. To remind everyone of what happened to District 13; to instill fear and control, the government randomly picks children from each district. There is no refusal. Katniss Everdeen is a strong-willed character and you don't always like her. She's very rough around the edges, but she's learned to guard herself and take care of herself and her family in world that doesn't give a rats ass about the quality of life in her district. She takes her sister's place to spare her life and inadvertently sets off a spark. The biggest spark of all is lit off at the end of the book where she challenges the rules of the Hunger Games. We learn about this world through the eyes of Katniss, how the Capitol trains children to kill and survive, feed them rich food, and spoil them in all kinds of luxuries before their demise. The Tributes, as the kids are called, are paraded in front of the Capitol. The citizens of the Capitol will eventually makes bets on the kids' lives, pick their favorites. It's not a world I would even like to visit with The Doctor and his Tardis. The world and characters Suzanne Collins created is absolutely terrifying. The books all had me crying at some point or another, and The Hunger Games had me crying by Chapter 2. That never happens. While Katniss can be wishy-washy and can't make up her mind, comes up with a hair brained scheme only to abandon it later and has evidently built the Great Wall of China around her heart when it comes to love, you can't help but admire her for her bravery, her (sometimes) stupidity, and the terror she goes through. If you haven't read it yet, do so. If you've seen the movie, you should still read the books, because they are effing awesome. I've read each one a dozen times. No joke. And I still love them just as much as when I first read them. And yes, I still cry.