Wow, so normally books that receive THIS much hype don't usually live up to it. But, in the case of the Hunger Games, it exceeded it. I am a HUGE dystopian fiction fan, and this is dystopian at the heart. 
 I DID see the movie first, and I still enjoyed the book. Actually, I think I may have enjoyed it more, because I still knew what was going to happen but I loved all the extra inner thoughts that Katniss had. 
 The book was VERY bloody for a "young adult" book, but read very quickly none-the-less. I enjoyed it, but I would steer clear of letting someone under 14 read this. 
 All-in-all, it was an incredible book. I loved it and I'm glad that my wife bugged me to read it.