I’ll get the hyperbole out of the way first: if all YA lit were as well-written as The Hunger Games, I might never read adult fiction again.

Okay, now that that is out of my system, I’ll explain what I mean. The Hunger Games is the most well-written YA series I’ve read in a while. In fact, if it weren’t for the protagonist being 16 years old, I would be hard pressed to classify this as Young Adult. Suzanne Collins does an outstanding job at worldbuilding–the characters are well-rounded and believable (most of them, at least), the narrative is compelling, and the setting is recognizable while remaining exotic.

Looking at the books individually is to do the whole trilogy a disservice.  Probably the best thing about the series is its structure in that the first novel can standalone, but doesn’t. The trilogy reads almost like a single novel, which is part of why it appeals so much to me. I’m a sucker for serial narratives.

With that in mind, I have written each book a sort of mini-review below instead of writing three separate entries.

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