Hunger Games?

So a few weeks ago my brother in law loaned me his copies of the books by S. Collins. Being an avid fan of Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy and having heard from a friend that she couldn't read these books fast enough, I started reading the first book. I barely slept or ate. I was so enthralled... well, that's probably too strong a word because the books scared me. With the themes, the bloodshed and such the books would easily rate at the R level in my book. There was no open promiscuity, but the gory nature of the hunger games and the ages of the children involved in them... appalling, spellbinding.

Several of the themes purported in the books made me pause to examine them closer simply because I know them to be wrong views of the world, but I can tell you this, I had a very hard time putting those books down. It's like when you come upon a gruesome car wreck and your eyes are glued to what's going on even though you know you'll have nightmares later about what you'd seen.

When I finished the last of the three books I was almost disappointed that there wasn't another book. Imaginative, poignant, so many twists that at moments I held my breath as my eyes scanned the words without blinking for long spans of time. The characters were easy to relate to and they all had a very real character growth arc. One of my only criticisms would be that although the books ended in the way I wanted, it was a bit anti-climactic after all the adventure, hardships and such that led up to it.

I heard the other day that they've got a movie version of the Hunger Games scheduled for release next year - March, I think. I went to watch the trailer and it looks as if the movie will hug the book pretty close. With modern computer special effects being as they are, I'm sure they'll do it justice, but I'm undecided if I'm going to see it simply because the books were so disquieting that allowing myself to view a movie like that wouldn't be wise for me. After I was done reading I lay awake thinking about the characters and the situations and the society and how things could've gotten so crazy that people would willingly sacrifice their children in such a terrible way and call it entertainment. I had dreams about it. Anyway, I suppose the whole idea isn't new, but the twist that S Collins put on the idea made for an interesting and fast read. I was entranced by the creative bio-enhanced creatures, the beautiful costumes, the fashion trends that would lead people to dye their skin a pea green... and I found myself wondering what it would be like to shoot a bow with as much accuracy as the heroine.