as a standalone novel
What is the plot of this novel?
Perhaps one of the most powerful ideas in this book is the idea of defiance, of standing up to those who mean you harm. That is the spirit that Katniss Everdeen embodies. She is the big sister that puts her own life on the line so that her sister, Primrose, does not need to fight in the dreaded Hunger Games.There are many out there who lambaste Collins for seemingly copy-and-pasting &#34;Battle Royale&#34; word for word, but there are enough differences between the two for this book not to be blatant copy, perhaps merely another author's rendition of a similar source work. Of course, the purpose of this review is not to compare two books side-by-side, but to review Suzanne Collins's &#34;The Hunger Games&#34; as a standalone novel.The premise is simple. Every year twelve districts all around the totalitarian country of Panem must send one boy and one girl as &#34;Tributes&#34; into the Hunger Games, a contest between the districts that awards the winning district with fame and glory and lots and lots of resources from the government. What an excellent concept this is, from a political standpoint. It keeps the upper class citizens of Panem, who reside at the capital, happy and entertained, while the bottom of the pyramid, the Districts, fight against each other, making a full-blown rebellion all but impossible. Of course, this year's Games is not like any of the other games. There can be only one victor, but it is Katniss's defiant spirit that causes the greatest upset to the games Panem has ever seen.As a first-person limited novel, much of the history of Collins's world is left to conjecture. Katniss is a strong observer, but not an omniscient one, not by a long shot. She can only provide her own guesses, which we adopt and add to, as to what is happening outside of the Games that she is currently participating in. However, the strength of this perspective lies in giving us, the readers, unlimited access to the deepest recesses of Katniss's mind. We effectively become Katniss Everdeen, the defiant girl who started a spark of revolution throughout the nation.The character development is good. We get to know not only Katniss, but also the characters she comes across. But perhaps it is Haymitch's character that steals the show. His attitude toward life, teetering between sarcastic scorn and PTSD, reflects the attitudes of some soldiers who return from combat. According to Collins, such is actually her source material for the characters and plot, the exploration of combat and its effects on young soldiers. As this is the first novel in the series, we still have yet to see any significant development of Gale and Peeta, both of whom remain rather static throughout the novel. Peeta starts off weak, he ends off weak, getting wounded and hiding in the mud as opposed to Katniss, who becomes a huntress of people.The plot and pacing are good, though it's a little slow for the first third of the book. Collins uses this first part to develop the main backstory of Panem, dedicating the latter half to the actual Games itself. Once we step into the arena, however, it's no holds barred and everything you've ever known just flies out the window.This is by no means a thorough review of the novel. I have only read it once and that was over a year ago, so I'm going on very shallow memory right now. Overall, it is an enjoyable novel, the start of something that could have been, but failed to launch with Mockingjay. 