My Rating: 
Author: Suzanne Collins
Narrator: Carolyn McCormick
Length: 11 hrs 10 min
Publisher: Scholastic Audio
My Review: Wow, I’m really not sure what to say! The Hunger Games is the first in the trilogy of audiobooks by author Suzanne Collins and managed to leave me breathless on more than one occasion. This wasn’t the easiest review to write since half of the world has already entered the world of “the games”.
I’ve had this audiobook in my iTunes stash for quite awhile and have even loaned it out to a few friends but never listened for myself. I’m leary of audiobooks that have so much hype as this trilogy does. I feel like I’m preparing myself for a letdown when everyone and their brother tells me how great and intense it is and that I assume I’ll love it.
With that said, I finally let my co-worker’s daughter Katherine coerce me into listening. I’ve known her for about nine or so years, and now she’s in the middle of her junior year in college as a pre-med student. She’s a smart and fun chick, so I finally took her advice and jumped into The Hunger Games.
As I listened, I met more than a handful of intriguing characters including Katniss, Prim, Gale and Peeta as they prepare for the reaping. The four live in District 12 in post apocalyptic America and nearly starve to death with their families. Thankfully Katniss and Gale’s families eat fairly well with the wild game they hunt and catch in the woods. What they can’t catch they barter or sell to the townsfolk to make ends almost meet.
The entire novel is from Katniss’ perspective and you’re immediately sucked into her story as the reaping begins. Every person ages 12-18 must attend the annual reaping and will have their name entered to be drawn as one of the two tributes from their district. There’s 12 districts in all and each will be represented by one boy and one girl.
I won’t move much further into the story, because that gives away more than I want you to know. If you haven’t listened to The Hunger Games, now is the time. The movie based on the book is set to release into theaters on March 23, 2012 with an awesome cast. I made myself wait until after I was finished with the audiobook before I watched and trailer and O…M…G! Amazing!
The huge hype is completely true in my opinion, I loved this audiobook and fantastic writing by Suzanne Collins. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the second in the series, Catching Fire.
Narrator Review: I’ve heard murmurs of good and bad things about Carolyn McCormick’s narration, both in person and online. Honestly, I thought she did a pretty decent job. I never found her voice whiny and enjoyed her work. Her narration of the teens in the games as well as the folks in the Capitol was suiting. Great narration for a great audiobook!
I could not agree more. I just loved all three of the books. My only piece of advice is to make sure you have all three before you start, or at least get Catching Fire and Mockingjay together. I think I would have died if I had to wait to hear Mockingjay after finishing Catching Fire.
Excellent job by both Collins and McCormick
Haha! I agree completely Martha!! I made sure after I finished the first book that I had two and three on my iPod and thank God I did. Wow, what a great series. I’m kind of sad to see it end but it was a great series.
Our family loves this series. A friend lent us the 3 audiobooks and we listened to them all the way to Florida (from Indiana) and back! No one wanted to stop listening. Suzanne Collins did a great job with the books and the narrator, Carolyn McCormick was a perfect choice.
The Hunger Games trilogy is just AMAZING! I totally agree with the people that said that it’s a good idea to have the three books before you begin to read.
The only bad thing I have to say is that, in my opinion, Carolyn McCormick was TERRIBLE. Her voice is not versatile at all. It’s very sad that books this great are read by someone with such an annoying voice.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to download a book and have it stream from several computers at the same time? I’m a teacher and want to have some students listen to the book but I am having technical difficulties.