Hunger Games-Susan Collins

I liked this book.
I would recommend this book.
It is receiving lots and lots of word of mouth press.

How much did I like it?
I stayed up way too late several nights as I was sucked in to the story and wanted to find a spot where I was comfortable leaving the main character. The story is well written, the characters well developed and enough left out that you aren't quite sure what to make of them at times. It is part love story, part survival story, part political commentary.

It is a trilogy which means there are two more parts of the story to read and to fully understand the main character Katniss' motivation and ultimately what happens to her. You finish the first book hoping for change and resolution but are offered none. I like that.

I have one huge problem with this book:

About 1/3 of the way into the book I realized I had read something VERY similar years ago. There were parts of the story that felt WAY TOO FAMILIAR. I can't say that the Susan Collins totally ripped off other writers work but I'm having some serious concerns. I believe that while she wrote a good and compelling book she took far too much from other books and by changing a word here and there is not acceptable. Here are my concerns:

Plot Synopses

Commonalities

The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. It is stated that District 12 is located in the coal-rich region Appalachia As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. Battle Royale Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence, is one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The Long Walk One hundred teenage boys participate in an annual walking contest called "The Long Walk," which is the "national sport. The event is run by a character known as "The Major," who is implied to have much power, stemming from a possible military or fascist state system. The Major appears at the beginning of the Walk to encourage the boys and start them on their way, and then occasionally thereafter. There are no stops, rest periods, or established finish line, and the Walk does not pause for any reason (including bad weather or darkness); it ends only when one Walker is left alive.

Items almost photo identical in each book. 1. Post-apocolyptic country—Run by totalitarian or fascist type government 2. Teenage or young participants—Forced to participate by lottery or volunteer in order to save their immediate family and region 3. Only one winner -the rest are dead-killed by their peers, killed by the government or from the event itself. 4. Intercession by family not allowed—No communication with outside world, no sympathy from the government, the government interacts to make the event more interesting. 5. Told from the survivor/winner voice Slight differences between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. 1. Battle Royale is Japanese- 2. Battle Royale participants wear collars not chips in their body 3. Battle Royale participants are semi armed going in. Slight differences between The Long Walk and The Hunger Games. 1. The Long Walk is not a fight but a survival to the end. 2. It is a Major not the Gamemakers that sets the rules and can be upset at the littlest thing and change the rules to fit his needs. 3. The participants are “volunteers” and in some cases more prepared than others. The “Careers” are very similar in hunger games.

I now have to read Stephen King's "The Long Walk" again.
I have to read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami again.