The Hunger Games Trilogy

I started reading book one of the Hunger Games trilogy, "The Hunger Games", at the beginning of the marking period. I found it entirely compelling and a wonderful read. I became obsessed with the books; I faked sick one Saturday night to finish reading it. It was worth it! I adore Suzanne Collins' engaging details and plot lines. She has the habit of ending every chapter with an intense cliff-hanger, Nancy Drew style. How was I supposed to stop? In the first book, we are introduced to the life of Katniss Everdeen, a poor girl growing up in District 12. She lives in Panem, which is North America in the future. There were 13 districts in Panem but one rebelled against the capital and the entire district was blown apart. As a reminder of the rebels of District 13, the Capital holds The Hunger Games as a reminder that they are the most powerful and will demoralize the districts at any chance they can get. In the Hunger games, 24 people are chosen to compete to the death (2, a boy and a girl, are chosen from each district). The last one standing is the victor and as a reward, they live in luxury for the rest of their lives. We find that Prim Everdeen has been chosen as the female tribute in the Hunger Games this year. Her older sister, Katniss, steps in for her place in a dire effort to protect Prim. The male tribute from District 12 is Peeta Mellark. Katniss and Peeta are forced to leave their family and friends to go to the Capital to compete--they will most likely never see their loved ones again. District 12's odds of winning are always the slimmest, being the poorest district. Despite this, Katniss and Peeta enter the arena determined. Throughout the Games, Peeta and Katniss become closer. After confessing his love to Katniss, Peeta depends on her for his survival. Katniss begins to fall for him... but for a different reason, or so she thinks. Every time Katniss kisses Peeta or shows affection towards him, she receives a gift that will help her and Peeta to survive. Katniss carries out this love until the end of the games, where only her and Peeta are left standing. Instead of fighting each other, they decide to kill themselves with poisonous berries. However, they are stopped and are both crowned victors. At the end of the book, Katniss confesses to Peeta that she doesn't think that she really loves him.
Collins opens up the second book, "Catching Fire", explaining Katniss' new life as a victor. In her gorgeous home, Katniss is visited by President Snow, the ruler of Panem. He tells her that he knows that her love for Peeta is fake, and that the berry stunt was rebellious towards the capital. He threatens to kill her and her loved ones if she doesn't convince Panem that this was not an act of rebellion. After this encounter, Peeta and Katniss begin their victory tour where they talk to all the districts. While on the tour, the two hear whispers of rebellion. They hope to subdue this talk when Peeta proposes to Katniss. However, as rebellious acts against the capital start up, the 75th annual Hunger Games comes around. To punish Katniss, they put her and Peeta back into the games along with another 22 previous winners. These games are different, alliances are formed from the beginning and the tributes work together to get out of the arena. And, by using electrical wiring, they do just that. The force field is broken between the arena and the real world. Immeadietly, helicopters from both the capital and DISTRICT 13 come in to the rescue. We find that District 13 has been thriving underground and that they will do anything to help aid the forming rebellion. We also find that District 12, Katniss' home, has been destroyed by the capital.
Book three, "Mockingjay": Katniss has been rescued by 13, along with a few of her other allies. However, Peeta has been captured by the capital. This less eventful book was not as fun to read as the other two. Basically, rebellion is in full scale-- Capital vs. Districts. Katniss is worried about Peeta, but admits that she loves her best friend from 12, Gale. They bonded over their mutual love of hunting back before the 74th Games. They help each other fight the capital in the districts as well as coping with the loss of their home. However, things get more complicated when Peeta is rescued from the Capital. He is not himself... the Capital has programmed Peeta to try and kill Katniss. The Capital manipulated any old, loving memory of her to be a horrible one. But Katniss must not distract herself too much from this if she plans to kill Snow. She is the face of the rebellion, the "Mockingjay". Eventually, Peeta starts to get better and joins Katniss' regime when they go to invade the Capital along with the other rebels. Gale is also with them, along with a few of their victor friends from the second book. Their mission is to get to Snow's mansion. Along the way, almost everyone in the regime dies. Katniss is split up from Gale and Peeta, but makes it to the mansion alone. However, huge explosions go off killing children residing in the mansion. When all the medics come out to help, a second bombing goes off and Katniss' sister, Prim, is murdered. Katniss doesn't make it to the capital because she is set aflame. But she later finds that the Capital has fallen and that the president of 13, Coin, is now the leader of Panem. Peeta and Gale are both safe, but Katniss is devastated by her sister's death. Snow has not been killed, and Katniss is the one who will do it. But beforehand she talks to Snow and finds out that he did not set off the explosions that killed her sister, but Coin did. This enrages Katniss and instead of executing Snow, she shoots Coin. This ensues a riot and Snow is killed during this. Katniss returns back to her home in 12 to realize that she cannot love Gale because he helped create the bomb that killed Prim. So, when Peeta follows her, she decides that she does love him and they eventually get married. This book kind of sucked compared to the other two, but the series is amazing, nonetheless.