Okay, the Hunger Games. I really need to stop writing "reviews" about books when I know I've got nothing new to say about them. Or I need to stop reading other people's reviews first. 
 So I really, really wanted to give this book five stars, but I can't bring myself to. Why? Because Katniss' personality bothers me. It honestly felt like Collins was trying to give Katniss every personality trait she could think of. It probably doesn't help that in the very beginning of the book, when she was talking about attempting to drown the cat, I couldn't help but wonder if she'd done it in front of her sister. Yes, okay, kill the cat; I completely understand the practicality of it. But there are easier ways than drowning, and WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IN FRONT OF YOUR BABY SISTER? Psycopath. So pretty much through the whole book I was trying to reconcile her actions with my initial impression of her, and it wasn't good. But to give Collins the benefit of the doubt, I'll have to assume that Katniss doesn't even know who she is at this point.Hhow much of her personality is a mask to protect herself, a mask that she's no longer aware of? Still, if that is the case, I feel it kind have been written much better. 
 I'm not sure how I feel about most of the other characters, either. I like Cinna, and I kind of adore Haymitch, but Effie reminds me too much of Umbridge from HP to like her, and Peeta's entire personality seems to be his love for Katniss. I don't feel like I got a good enough grip on most of them, but I guess that's the risk you run writing in first person. 
 The story itself is pretty gripping, and very easy to get through. Having read quite a few (non-spoilery) reviews before reading the book, I have to say that I was actually a little disappointed by the descriptions of all the gore. They weren't bad, I just expected it to be a lot worse. Either I'm reading a different book than the rest of the people, or I'm just way too used to reading about gore to be affected. Heh. On the other hand, I honestly couldn't put the book down quite a few times, and was very irritated the night I had to stop after finishing chapter 16 because I needed to be functional for work in the morning. So, A++ on keeping me interested, I guess. 
 A couple other minor annoyances: I absolutely hated the way Foxface died. It was so ridiculously anti-climatic, even if it was very fitting with her personality. I also wished there was a lot more of Thresh: he was big as an ox and about as smart, but he had honor and I liked what little we saw of him. I wish Rue had lived a little longer, or at least hadn't died because she got caught in a trap. And I'm a little worried about how easily everyone seemed to adjust to being in the Games. You'd think at least the people who weren't training for it would have reacted a little more, but if they did you didn't see it. And, of course, all of Katniss' close calls with death just ended up feeling flat to me, mostly because there was way too much book left to believe she would die. (I really, really want a book where the main character dies in the middle of it.) And, most importantly [SPOILER]: I was terribly upset about Katniss regaining her hearing. Look, if you're going to give your main character (who is pretty much a Mary Sue as it is) a debilitating injury, let her keep it. It's way more interesting to see how a character who can't hear in one year gets through life than to see how little miss perfect makes it.[end spoiler] 
 And then there's the really, really good things: 
 The mutants. Oh my god, the mutants. I honestly hadn't expected their origins, but it's so fitting and perfect and beautiful and <3. Thank you, Collins. Thank you so much. 
 The little bit we learned of the Avox girl just made me want to know more. Why was she running? What has she been dealing with in the Capitol since? How does she feel about Katniss? 
 The other examples of manmade animals. The Tracker Jackers are, um, unlikely, but amazing. Same thing for the mockingjay. They seriously made my day. 
 The way of life in the Capitol. It's beautiful commentary on our current way of life: the distraction with beauty, the fear of looking old, the way our concept of beauty differs from people who barely manage to survive. They feel like aliens from Katniss' point of view, which I definitely approve of. And following on that, the disparity between life in the Capitol and life in the Districts is downright chilling. It's so depressingly easy to see a future where that happens, and that's just not a future that I want to think about. 
 So, all in all, this book gets a solid four stars. I thought at first that it was going to actually get a 3.5 from me (the beginning was a little slow), but nope. This was a good book, and I want more. Dear WalMart: please have the next books for cheap so I don't have to buy them off Amazon, kthxbai.