I’m kind of ashamed to say I devoured this book in less than a day. I now know why all the reviews I’ve read say that you just can’t put it down once you’ve started it. I’m going to try not to spoil the story too much in case you haven’t read it yet and you’re planning to do so – I’ve already persuaded my dad and brother to give it a try.

The book is aimed at teenagers, so it’s pretty easy reading, and the actually fighting scenes in the book are not that graphic, although the premise of the book is quite still quite shocking. Basically, 24 teenagers are picked at random and sent into an ‘arena’ in a battle to be the last one left alive.

Some of the teenagers have been training for this for a long time, others are just too young, like little Rue who is only 12 years old. The main character Katniss is only 16 years old but you discover through the book that she’s quite worldly wise and has done a lot to protect her family, including the scary task of taking the place of her sister in the games.

As this book is the first part in a trilogy, I expected Katniss to live through to the end, but there are plenty of moments that leave you wondering what will happen, and the end was definitely unexpected. I’m a little unsure after finishing the book where the next two books are going to go, but we’ll soon find out.

A definite 5/5 rating, if only because I just couldn’t stop reading!