I loved this book, but I haven’t read Battle Royale, so I have nothing to compare it with.

I reviewed it here: http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2008/08/hunger-games-suzanne-collins.html

@ Janssen I think I absolutely ruined The Hunger Games for myself by reading Battle Royale. I honestly wasn’t expecting so much of the plot to be riding on the romance.

Thanks for your link! I will add it to my post. :)

Thank you! Someone finally called the Battle Royale rip-off. I keep hearing “absolutely faboulous” things about this book, but can’t quite bring myself to read it because I loved Battle Royale and the hype surrounding The Hunger Games irritates me.

Can I also say that, after reading several other book blogs, I find yours hilariously refreshing? I tire of reviews that say how much the reveiwer LOVED the book and give no negative feedback whatsoever. A summary and a gushing recommendation does not a critique make. So, thank you, for your honest reviews. You’ve gained a loyal follower.
(And you know about Yahtzee, which is bonus awesome points. The man is a genius.)

@ Julie The worst accusation I have seen lobbed at this book is that it’s derivative when I suspect there’s something much more insidious under the surface. Several parts of this book made me uncomfortable in how similar they were to things done in Battle Royale; the same concepts changed and stuck into a different context. If there hadn’t been two players left, you know?

Anyway, the end of Battle Royale; the last two lines, all by themselves, made that book for me, and The Hunger Games didn’t have a Shogo, so I guess from the get go I wasn’t going to declare The Hunger Games a favorite. It is a really entertaining read, though, I’m not going to lie. I’ll see how she wraps up the trilogy.

Hi there! Great review. As part of the WG project, I was hoping you’d add a link to mine, as well: http://www.melissas-bookshelf.com/2009/03/review-hunger-games.html

thanks!!

@ Melissa Sure thing! Your review is in place. :D

Hey! Here’s my review! http://www.insearchofgiants.com/2008/09/hunger-games-by-suzanne-collins.html

:) Thanks

My review of The Hunger Games is here:
http://page247.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/the-hunger-games-suzanne-collins/

[...] Fabulous review is here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)HungryBook Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne [...]

Interesting review. I actually really liked this book. I reviewed this book too:
http://jo-scrawls.blogspot.com/2009/03/main-blog.html

Thanks.

@ Jo I hope by interesting you don’t mean “DIE IN A FIRE” because sometimes when I mention that I wasn’t OMGcrazy about this story in other circles people start going “oh well, that’s…interesting that you feel that way” when what they want to say is “you’re wrong and we hate you for dissing our book!”

The fandom for this book is pretty loyal. ;)

@ Aerin Thanks for sharing your link. :D

@ Gavin Thanks! :D

Okay, I bought Battle Royale after reading The Hunger Games, and apparently it’s a good thing I read The Hunger Games first, since I didn’t have anything to compare it to. I agree with your assessment of the book, but I admit a that despite all its problems, I have this weird obsession with it. :)

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On Turesday, I was driving my car, and I was listening to NPR. They had the author on and talked about Hunger Games. I read the battle Royale novel years ago(and read the manga). I was raging when I heard about this new book. The whole time, I was screaming in the car to myself… “ITS JUST LIKE BATTLE ROYALE! RIP OFF!!”. I felt like calling up the radio myself or even mailing the author a copy of the battle royale novel.

I totally agree with you. I read Battle Royale several months ago and then I stumbled upon and article about Hunger Games. Hmmn, how strange it is that Hunger Games seems so alike to BR! I thought. I never planned on buying it, and by what you’ve just said I’m certainly never buying it unless for the sake of showing someone that BR kicks HG’s butt raw. Hunger Games sounds way too dramatic in a girly kind of way (like how you said it was all about the romance, and making out, etc.) to be worth reading anyway. Gagfest.
I’d love it if you told me what the ending was though.

alright prepare yourself becuase i’m a very opinionated person and i’m about to let loose… no one ever criticized Galileo Galilee for RE-inventing the typing/printing process in the western hemisphere, because we all know how plausible it is for more than one of the millions of people on Earth to have the same idea simply because there is no stopping progress. Suzanne Collins cannot be accused of copywriting off of Battle Royal or any other second rate story for the simple reason that if she HAD she would be having legal problems right now… and the movie would not have been authorized. With all the trillions of books on the Planet,how unlikely is it that all of them are ENTIRELY singular and unique? The most offensive thing you could ever acuse an author of is an unoriginal idea…a copied storyline…especialy when we all know that collins has added her own spectacular ingenuitive twist on every page of both books that are already released and most certainly on the remaining installment also.

The more fangirls that come and complain at me for daring to criticize this series the more I maintain I am absolutely right to do so. I believe that Collins ripped the storyline right up and used it for her own purposes, and furthermore I think she’s lying through her teeth about not knowing about Battle Royale or the multiple sources like it. If she would state straight out and acknowledge the canon she’s working in, I would be more likely to forgive the trespass. However, she’s not! It feels disengenous and therefore I will criticize her and this series as much as I please.

But feel free to get ANGRY because someone is WRONG ON THE INTERNET. It’s a good way to kill time.