I finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins this weekend. I finished The Hunger Games on the airplane I rode home for my ten-year high school reunion, and I wanted to read the next book, Chasing Fire, so badly that I downloaded it on my Nook while I was waiting at the baggage claim carousel. You've probably heard of these books, so there's no need for me to go into a long description. The basic set up is that the books are set in the post-apocolyptic, future North America. The current government is called Panem, and it is divided up into 14 districts. Districts 1 though 12 exist solely to provide the Capitol district with supplies. Everyone in the numbered districts lives in near poverty while the residents of the Capitol live in excess. This scheme is maintained because, 74 years ago, District 13 rebelled and a huge war broke out. District 13 was annihilated, and to force the other districts to recall their fate, the Capitol puts on the Hunger Games every year. Each district has one boy and one girl chosen at random, and they travel to the Capitol to participate in the games. Basically they put all the kids in an arena and make them fight to the death. The winner gets to live in luxury, and everyone in their district gets more food.
Needless to say, the heroine of the book, Katniss, ends up going to the Hunger Games. That part of the story is interesting on its own, but you know me, I'm a sucker for romance. Luckily there's a bit of that, too, because the boy that is chosen from her district, Peeta, has been secretly in love with her since they were little children. I pretty much kept reading for the Katniss-Peeta storyline. I just love Peeta. He would do anything to protect Katniss, and he is so inherently good that eventually she can't help but want do to do the same for him. Even though she doesn't return the intensity of his romantic feelings for him, she can't help but care about him.
I really enjoyed these books. The last book, Mockingjay was my least favorite, and it took the story somewhere I wasn't happy for it to go. But I think in the long run it was necessary to get the satisfactory ending that I wanted. So, read these books! They are addicting. Dark and sad, but still addicting.
