List of books in the series in order:
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
Summary (of the first book)
The theory of survival of the fittest brings on whole new importance when it comes to being chosen to compete in the annual Hunger Games. In the brutal nation known as Panem, every District (from District 1 to District 12) must give one boy and one girl to compete in the Hunger Games as repentance for rebelling against the Capitol. The Hunger Games have been going on for 74 years now and this 74th annual Hunger Games is in for an unexpected twist.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen has grown up in the impoverished District 12 and has had to find unorthodox means of survival. Every day, she goes out hunting (illegally) with her friend Gale in order to provide for her mother and sister, and his family as well. The family has learned to live from meal to meal and are barely squeaking by. While Katniss may risk death as punishment every single day when hunting, everyone knows she'll surely die when she volunteers to take her sister's place in the 74th annual Hunger Games. Along with the male tribute, Peeta Mallark, Katniss heads to the Capitol to await the day she'll be put into the arena with 23 other tributes, and fight to the death.
There's only one hiccup, though. Katniss doesn't want to kill anyone. Especially not the boy she came with, who saved her life many years back. The only things that Katniss has in her favor are her hunting and survival skills that she acquired through her years of hunting and gathering. Will it be enough to ensure her survival in this savage game? Will she be able to avoid killing the people she doesn't feel the need to die? When it all comes down to it, Katniss realizes that the odds are definitely not in her favor.
Opinion
Scale of 1-10:
9.5
I really don't like giving decimal reviews but I really felt the need to because of how strongly I believed the last book was a 9. If I felt that way about the middle book or something, then I would've given the whole series an overall 10. Since the finale wasn't my favorite compared to the other books, I didn't think that I could've given the whole series a perfect 10. I don't know if this logic makes sense to anyone other than me but whatever :-)
I will say though, that in all three books, I felt an insane attachment to these characters that Suzanne Collins created. I loved even the side characters! The attachments were border-line unhealthy. Another thing I feel the need to point out is how relatable Katniss was with her emotions. She wasn't all one-sided and completely loyal to one side or the other in the war against the capitol. She had her own morals and they were violated by both sides (one more than the other) of the fight. The same can kind of be said with the love triangle between her, Peeta, and Gale. I really think it was interesting to see the different kinds of love she had for both of them.
I think that this series should really be one that people read because of the fact that it feels like a classic to me. I watched the movies first and then read the books and if you've done that too, then you'll like the books for sure. So... go and read this excellent series!
Age Rating
I'm going to be doing individual reviews for each book of the series instead of one overall review.
The Hunger Games
I was surprised at how appropriate this book was for preteens. Despite the violence, and the theme of killing other people... it's still a fairly appropriate book. There's absolutely no language at all and there are only a few kissing scenes throughout the whole thing. The only thing that would probably make some readers uncomfortable is the violent aspects of the book. There are some things that are mentioned like cannibalism and the torturing of other people... it's real nice...
Other than that, though, despite the movies, this is really meant for preteens, in my opinion.
Catching Fire
Note: This may contain spoilers for the book
Like the first book, the only things in this book is mild romantic elements, quite a bit of violence, and no swearing.
Language:
There isn't any swearing in this book whatsoever.
Sexual Content:
There are more kissing scenes in this book. Katniss kisses different men at different times because she is indecisive about her feelings. Peeta lies, telling the Capitol that Katniss is pregnant even though she isn't.
Violence:
This is the one hang up in this book. The main point of the Hunger Games in this story is, ultimately, murdering the other tributes. There are many violent scenes and a lot of the characters get really bad injuries. There isn't too graphic of detail but it isn't exactly pleasant to think about either. The worst of it is when Johanna Mason, one of the other tributes in the arena, cuts open Katniss's arm.
Mockingjay
I think that compared to the other two books, there was a little more sexual content and a little bit more graphic violence.
Language:
None present (shockingly)
Sexual Content:
There are a couple of kissing scenes throughout the story but it never goes farther than that. There is a part of the story where Finnick Odair is talking about some of the stuff that happened to him when he was first crowned as the victor in his Hunger Games. Apparently Snow would sell Finnick, because he was attractive, to the one who would pay the most and Finnick implied he had to "things" with those people. That had happened often with desirable victors of the Hunger Games. This is a fairly lengthy monologue from Finnick but it's not like he went into detail about the things he had to do but he more talked about the secrets he heard about Snow which he then told the resistant and the people of Panem.
Violence:
I think that this is the one thing that is the most constant in the Hunger Games trilogy. I think that there was a lot more graphic violence than the previous books. One of the most disturbing in my opinion is when a side character died by being impaled by wires. Another one is where another character had their face melted off... yeah it's fun stuff...
There's also talk about large pools of blood and shooting other people. Katniss also deals with her guilt about the people she's killed.
Other:
There are moments when Peeta wants to just die because of his psychological distress. Katniss also has those same thoughts in certain moments. Drugs that are used are painkillers that are referenced and characters sometimes become addicted and have withdrawals from them. There is one moment when Katniss is desperate to get some by any means necessary. This is a brief scene and isn't dwelt upon too long.
As you may have noticed, I changed my formatting of the age rating I do by the time I read the last two books. I figured that it's easier to do it that way. Much more organized!
Here are the links to the books of the series:
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