Tobar said:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I had read up until they leave to start the games before I saw the film on opening night. Was disappointed when the film completely failed to realize various things plainly described in the book like the city. I finished the book after and thought it was decent. As has been said before about the mutant dogs....ugh.

Yeah, the dogs are the big weak link. Certain things are certainly not captured by the film, as is the case with any film. I think I'm glad I watched it first, then read the book. The characters are similar, but not the same. I think I appreciate the differences and find strengths and weaknesses in both tellings of the same story. I hope the films do better than the books for the sequels. The sequels are definitely inferior in my mind, and not because they are less action-packed, as many criticize. I actually like the slower parts better, and I feel the action portions are far more contrived, the characters/contenders too cliched, and the finale too depressing. Not that I'm against a good tragedy, but this was not a good tragedy, IMO.