I've avoided this book for over a year. So many times, things that come "highly recommended" end up being disappointing. That was not the case with this book! 
 I really enjoyed Collins' style of writing. I felt that I got just the right balance of character development, action, and description so that the book came alive for me. Since I've seen tons of advertising for the movie, I don't expect that the movie characters will clash with my "vision" of them in the books. The events and relationships, on the other hand, are a completely different issue. I hope the movie won't be a letdown. 
 A book I can highly recommend; I gave it only 4 stars at this time-- may change that to 5 in time. I find that I don't rate a book a "5" until I've "lived" with it for awhile. Looking forward to reading Catching Fire!