The Hunger Games

[tahnan]

Just finished reading Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, and it's as fantastic as everyone has promised. It's really compelling and quite complex, and the scene with the...um, where the guy who...er, there's this one scene (which I can't begin to describe without spoiling things) that is the most horrific thing I've read in years. Must. Read. Sequel.

(I also recently finished Fire by Kristin Cashore, but that one's harder to describe objectively, so I'll leave that at "must read sequel" as well. Semi-sequel. Anyway.)

Comments

[space-parasite.livejournal.com]

I'll second the recommendation for Fire. The cover claims it's a "Companion" to Graceling (which I haven't read), whatever that means.

I sense The Hunger Games moving up in my queue!

Other cooks in a similar vein I've enjoyed recently: Rampant (Diana Peterfreund), Liar (Justine Larbalestier), Silver Phoenix (Cindy Pon), Leviathan (Scott Westerfeld), The Demon's Lexicon (Sarah Rees Brennan), Cycler and (re)Cycler (Lauren McLaughlin), Dull Boy (Sarah Cross).

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Fire takes place in the same "world" as Graceling, but mostly not with the same characters or locations. (The exception being the subject of the prologue of Fire, who makes an appearance in Graceling.)

Liar comes recommended to me by other friends as well; as does...well, not so much Leviathan as "everything by Scott Westerfeld", though that one in particular was on the table for me to read until I got busy with other things.

[space-parasite.livejournal.com]

Well, all of Westefeld's YA works, anyway. His earlier stuff is very different, and almost certainly not to everyone's taste.

I liked all of Larbalestier's work too.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

I'll second the recommendation for The Demon's Lexicon. Good stuff.

[jordanwillow.livejournal.com]

I'm dying to know which you considered to be the most horrific scene! (The one with the...um, where the guy who... er.) Is it near the end?

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. I can think of about ten scenes that were the most horrific thing I'd read in years. (Until I read The Knife of Never Letting Go, which gives it a run for its horrifying money.)

[dreams-of-wings.livejournal.com]

I had an extra copy of the sequel hanging around the house. Let me know if you want and I'll find a way to get it to you!