The book is about a girl, Katniss Everdeen, who lives in Panem, formerly known as the USA. Panem is divided into 12 districts. Katniss lives in the 12th and poorest district.

The games, in which teenagers fight until there is one left, are for teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18. Because some districts are poorer than others, you are able to put your name more times into the bowl in exchange for extra rations.

She volunteers at the reaping as the girl tribute in place of her little sister. Katniss, together with the baker’s son Peeta Mellark, are thrown into the spectacle that’s the 74th Hunger Games.

The theme is poverty, starvation and the effects of war. The farther from the Capital your district is, the poorer you are. For example, if you're from the first district , that means living in luxury, and if you’re from 12, you're living in poverty. And the message of this story is that the Capital takes pleasure in watching these kids fight to the death, which you can compare to the rich people of today's society who ignore the situation of the poor and some may even take pleasure in that.

The story is written in the I-narrator. Katniss, while being the narrator, is rather unreliable , because she’s 1)a teenager and 2) traumatized and sometimes even spaced out. The descriptions of the scenes and characters are well readable. Collin's writing style makes us enjoy the book.

I really like the characters, especially the way that some of them, namely the careers (districts 1-2 and 4) go through the games and how it changes them. Some tributes go from rather timid people to ‘vicious killers’ who want to survive. Katniss goes through a comparable change: she didn’t like killing, but she did it to survive and even to give some characters a death without suffering.

I like the story, given that it might possibly happen one day. It’s like a warning, that if we don’t watch out, we could end up in the same situation one way or another. The book made me feel despair, because so many innocent children had to die for a game, but also happy that Katniss and Peeta made it out alive.
I would definitely recommend this book if you like books that speak out about the government and how sometimes it is rather disturbing or corrupt.

Overall, this book is amazing because it shows what could potentially happen if war ever broke out. I mostly recommend it to people who like books such as The Maze Runner. The Hunger Games is a book for people who enjoy dystopian books.