The Hunger Games

I did not expect to be giving this five stars in the beginning of the book, mostly because I did not like the narrator very much, though she grew on me (speeding up to 1.3x definitely helped). But it picked up significantly and I've actually just spent the last 1.5 hours cycling in a big circle round local cycling paths just to finish this :)

I'm not very good at picking out what I like about a book, though I liked the pace.

There is no subtlety in this book. There were no major surprises (not in itself a problem, and maybe because I'd been spoiled slightly by all the hype for the books and the films otherwise Rue may well have surprised me), the things that surprised Katniss could be seen well in advance - at one point I actually said out loud on a public cycle path “FFS, it's obviously a trap!”. It's one thing to see things coming but when it took so long for her to realise things, I couldn't help but think she's an idiot.
Also, Katniss' wilful ignorance of Peeta. It was getting tired.