The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins · first published 2008
16% recommend74% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Gripping, fast-paced young adult dystopian trilogy with a strong female lead. Fun page-turner that hooks reluctant readers, suits teens and adults, and has a prequel that stands alone.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Hunger Games is a 2008 dystopian novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle royale to the death. The book received critical acclaim from major reviewers and
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…realize not a single person has mentioned a female author? Let's fix that: The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis Among Others by Jo Walton Feed by Mira Grant The Hunger Games! The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin Grass by Sheri S Tepper Gate of Ivrael and Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh And the fabulous space opera: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗"The Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins. Am now waiting my turn for the library's copy of "Mockingjay"
on “Ask HN: Best non-technical book you've read lately? ” ↗Fiction Enders game Rendezvous with Rama Hunger Games The old man and the sea Non Fiction Rework Wiseguy Sun Tzu The art of war
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗In no particular order: * Boomerang by Michael Lewis * Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson * The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins * The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗Hunger Games. I'm not really a book reader but I got hooked with the first movie and decided to read the books.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-technical books?” ↗"To this day, writers struggle to find internal motivation for their female characters. Usually an active women character will be fleeing from danger or recovering what's hers." Read "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.
on “The Public Voice of Women (2014)” ↗I picked up the style after seeing Suzanne Collins use it so wonderfully in the Hunger Games. Now I write this way almost exclusively for all my books.
on “Make it now: the rise of the present tense in fiction (2015)” ↗They removed inaccurate books. I don't know about you, but Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are the most accurate books I've read in 20 years.
on “'Empty shelves with no books': School Library Discards pre-2008 books” ↗finding appropriate books for 8-14 year old girls is really freaking hard. Start with The Hunger Games and if she likes it that’s next year sorted too, buy her a bow.
on “The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble” ↗…kindle purchases: The Match King Heros Die (I bought the rest of them) The city and the city Every patient tells a story Blindsight Born to Run Hot, Flat & Crowded The Autobiography of Ben Franklin The Hunger Games (!) And on it went - asking for recommendations was a fantastic thing to do. I'd asked for fiction as I was going there to work and would be too exhausted at first to do much else. So I do encourage…
on “Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?” ↗I agree with your entire comment except the very first sentence. I think all the stuff you mention is fantastic for 14-year-olds – Harry Potter and (the first) Hunger Games are great and absolutely "new classics" – but so are some of the standard classics. It's true that most people will appreciate them more as adults, but that doesn't make them useless. Of course time is…
on “What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?” ↗…hydrogen) as a plot element, and that also helps sell the overall practicality of airship travel. But yeah, it's a good read-aloud to kids or even just a quick one for yourself, similar to something like the Hunger Games.
on “The U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Macon, America's “flying aircraft carriers”” ↗Hunger Games Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes you don't have to have read the other Hunger Games because it is set about 60 years before the others
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗…Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum". But that's me. Most of my friends would choose "The Da Vinci Code". And I imagine Eco and Brown had very different goals for their books. I did love Harry Potter and Hunger Games though! Not great works of literature, but they're super fun!
on “Don't make fun of renowned author Dan Brown (2013)” ↗> Surely you want the leader that most Americans voted for? I prefer not to live in the Hunger Games world, personally. Those books are a brilliant exploration of the tyranny of urban clusters. The electoral college is an effective foil to that.
on “New York Wants to Ctrl+Alt+Delete Your 3D Printer” ↗