Readers anxiously await Mockingjay
By Adrienne Bracken
Entertainment Editor
Bombs. Anarchy. Murder. Madness.
Suzanne Collins sets The Hunger Games trilogy in the midst of anarchy in futuristic North America. Each year, the “Capitol,” or the newly implemented government in charge of all of North America, holds an event called the Hunger Games. The government randomly selects two people, a male and female of any age, from each “district.” North America is now divided into twelve individual districts, the thirteenth having been blown up by the Capitol government for instances of rebellion.
Collectively, twenty-four citizens then compete in the Hunger Games after being selected. The object of the game is to kill off all the competition and remain the last person standing in the games. The Hunger Games are held in an arena where, in addition to being killed by the competition, a contestant can be killed by various government- implemented objects such as flame throwers, mutant creatures, and man-made natural disasters.
The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the first two novels in the trilogy, propelled fictional series to a new level. Many novels have been penned which examine the fate of the world; Collins takes this concept a step further by considering the sadism and malevolence of mankind as sources that will cast the world into inevitable turmoil.
Collins additionally writes in a simplistic style, achieving both the ability to lighten the heavy topics she pursues in addition to enabling the reader to understand such a complex concept such as the apocalypse.
The Hunger Games is arguably one of the best trilogies ever written and is highly recommended to readers of intense fiction.
Mockingjay hits bookstores this August.