I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this. There are already a million reviews of these books out there. Most people like them, they are being made into a movie which everybody is going to see, and I doubt anything I say will have a big effect on your opinion of the novels.
Positives: Elegantly written, interesting and enthralling story, strong female lead, emotionally impactful at points, rich and vivid world, action packed
Negatives: While interesting, the story requires massive suspension of disbelief. Seriously, Paul Atreides riding giant sand worms across the desert planet of Arrakis is more believable than this. After the first book, the story becomes rather predictable and redundant. By the third one, Katniss has fallen into some of the whiny, annoying codependency that the entire Twilight series is built upon.
All in all, it’s a great series and I recommend you read it. It doesn’t approach Harry Potter for complexity or emotional impact, but it blows the insipid Twilight out of the water (not that such a feat is an accomplishment). The first book is quite brilliant, and it is unfortunate that the series deteriorates as it goes on, particularly since most readers can readily see how the books could have been improved.
Hunger Games–5 stars
Catching Fire–4.25 stars
Mockingjay–3.75 stars
Beware The Shadows 