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The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins Age: High School In Panem food is scarce, except in the capital. The capital rules the outlying twelve districts with an iron fist, and to prove this, every year they require each district to send two teens between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death in an arena build for this event. Enter Katniss Everdeen: a sixteen year old girl from district twelve, the coal district. Her father is dead and she is the soul breadwinner, hunting and bartering for the food and other supplies she and her mother and younger sister need to survive. But this year she will participate in the Games, with a boy named Peeta Melmark. There are twenty three other “tributes” competing against her for the chance to live. With only her hunting skills and the random supplies she can find, some questionable allies, and so many out for her blood, will she survive? Read on and find out… //The Hunger Games// takes place in a familiar dystopian future, not unlike the worlds in George Orwell’s //1984// and Kurt Vonnegut’s //Harrison Bergeron//. Here though history tells of a great rebellion of the citizens doomed to live in the poverty of the districts against their government in the capitol city. Suffice it to say that the government won, and now as punishment and reminder that the government is in control, each year they stage the hunger games. Therein each district much send two teenagers, selected at random, to participate. This year is the 74th annual Hunger Games. As soon as a teen turns twelve, they get their name put the drawing for the game. They can also opt to have their name put in extra times in exchange for extra food rations from the government. The hero, Katniss Everdeen, is a 16 year old girl with a mother who hardly can work and a sister who just turned twelve. Katniss has her name in the drawing many times for all the extra rations she has taken, but she has refused her sister to do the same, so she is safe with thousands of other names in the drawing, and hers only once, right? But, fate is twisted and cruel and out of all the other girls, Katniss’ sister Prim’s name does come up. She has never fought a day in her life, so this is surely her death sentence. Without barely a moments hesitation, Katniss steps up to volunteer to go instead of her sister. Thus she is swept up into the nightmarish world of the Games. She must survive twenty-three other people out for her blood, each desperate to be the one that does not die. The boy selected from her district claims to have feelings for her, and helps her out during the Games. But is he sincere, or merely using Katniss for her hunting skills, then preparing to finish her off? Even if he is sincere, can she actually survive, with not only the other tributes to contend with, some of which have been trained their whole lives to compete, plus the natural disasters, dangerous animals, extreme weather conditions and limited supplies all against her. The Game is set; the pawns are in place. The prize is life, and fame and wealth. The challenge is immense. Let the 74th annual Hunger Games Begin! I did not think I would like this book because of the first person present view point in which the author writes, but I found that I connected with the characters early on and became caught up in the plot equally rapidly. The pace is well set, fast enough to get to the action that you want, and it’s an easy enough read that your can find out what happens without waiting too long. I have long been interested in the fiction of the dystopian future, and such stories always intrigue me and discomfort me somewhat. The discomfort stems from how much of our own society I see in the terrible future worlds. I always notice too that there is never religion to be found in these worlds. This makes me think of the way people view religion, and especially Christianity. The world as a whole is at best unreceptive to if not covertly hostile towards anyone who espouses the truth of God’s ways, and I think that if we were to shift over to a dystopian-like controlling government, that real Christianity would be one of their first targets for elimination. The Bible does say that as followers of Christ we will experience persecution. Maybe in our lifetime this simply means that people will not like us or our message, but it could also means that we will experience open persecution. Either way I seek my strength from the Lord, not in my circumstances, and I know He will prepare me for whatever the future holds.