And I would disagree that they aren't fantastically well-written books. I think the author has great talent, and they are better written than even some classic books I've seen.

I suppose it depends on your definition of "fantastically well-written".

I should probably clarify that I mean 'fantastically' very literally. As in really, really, really(!!!) good. Collins is definitely a skilled and gifted writer, I just have high standards.

Thanks for the answers.

One book series I just love is called The Hunger Games: The Next Generation, published in... I believe it was...2015. Now *that* was a good series.

I just finished reading the 2nd and 3rd books in "The Homelanders" series by Andrew Klavan which began with "The Last Thing I Remember" - "The Long Way Home" and "The Truth Of The Matter" they are both amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants a good read I am desperate to read the 4th and final book in the series called "The Final Hour" (sounds epic ) this author is already on my top five favorite list of authors each book is beautifully written and pulls you in, making you part of the stpry. the first person narrative is a brilliant pick for this plot, making it feel like the character is writing down each event the second it happens. I LOVE these books

Has anyone else here read the Ranger's Apprentice series? Its probably my favorite fantasy series besides Lord of the Rings.

I've read Ranger's Apprentice, and enjoy them quite a lot. Which is your favourite book, Silvan_Haven? Are you reading the new series too?

My brother and sister really like Ranger's Apprentice. I read the first few, but it's not really to my taste. I did like the third one ... or whatever the one was where

On the subject of dystopias, I think the series that have really caught on, that people are drawn to, are the ones were things get better. At the end of The Hunger Games trilogy, life isn't perfect, but they've improved the world. If such a bleak world can be made better, it gives the reader hope that our less crappy world can also be improved.

I agree with Booky and Ithilwen. Another thing I'd like to mention is that The Hunger Games series examines many things relevant to culture today. They tackle extremely deep subjects, such as violence and war and the effect it has on people. The series is dark and violent, yes, but it shows us how destructive violence can be by showing us the extent and brutality of such violence.

I think The Hunger Games is also very insightful into the human condition and our culture. I found myself drawing several parallels between the actual Games and our media today.

And finally, the story is so deep. I think that is why the series is so popular: it has so much substance. They're some of the most profound books to hit young adult literature in a very young while. In a world where shallow appears to be better, I think people crave books that give them a taste of something deeper, something more. I so appreciate that Suzanne Collins has offered us such a poignant, philosophical look at the world through the lens of The Hunger Games trilogy.

Here's a question for someone knowledgeable on the subject of books. If a book or a novel is abridged edition of a much longer version, must that edition say so, anywhere?

I have this slight conundrum, you see. Some months ago I picked up all six of Anthony Trollope's The Palliser Novels at thrift store, in one set. I was quite keen on reading them, and was about to embark on the first one yesterday, when I noticed on Goodreads and other reputable places (such as Amazon), that almost all the editions of this first book were listed as having 800+ pages, and the rest of the books were also listed as having at least 700/800 pages. Mine, however, only have 450 or so pages, and that includes introductions, prefaces, notes, indexes, etc. This automatically led me to believe that my editions were abridged, and on several reviews I have found online, people have mentioned they have read abridged versions, although there was little to no indication of exactly which version it was about which they were speaking. (I know already, however, that there is a one volume abridgement of the entire series, but it is quite obvious it was not this version about which they were speaking.)

I have done some sleuthing, and I went to Project Gutenburg, and found a copy of their online text of the first novel. Going to their chapter index for this first novel, I have found that there is the same amount of chapters in their online version as that which is in my physical copy. It is also like this for at least two others in the same series. (All my six novels are from a matching, uniform set.) Also, at least the first novel is printed in two volumes, contained within one book. Gutenburg's online version of the same novel also has two volumes, and so far as I have seen, the Gutenburg's version is not abridged. So does that mean there is a chance that my physical copies are not either?

To add to the further confusion, my editions (click the link for a picture of)- from Oxford University Press USA, are, it seems, not the only editions from the same company. Mine are, I believe, the 1991 editions, but older editions from the same people, from what I can tell, are listed as having the normal 800+ pages.

Lastly, if it will help any, it appears that each of the texts used in my edition of the novels originally appeared in The Oxford Trollope, some decades ago. But I cannot find if those texts were abridged or not. No mention of abridgement is made in my edition's Notes on The Text that are briefly there before the novels begin.

Any help would certainly be welcome, even if one can only answer my first question above. I do really want to read these novels, but I am determined that if my editions are abridgements, I'll wait until I can get the full thing. It is of a type that I know I would enjoy (barring a few things that may come up unforeseen), and as such, I don't want to read something lengthy only to find out it was half of the original novel.

Thanks!

ForeverFan, based on what you have said, my guess would be that the page difference is simply a matter of different editions. Sometimes the page numbers can differ greatly between, say, a paperback version and a hardback version of a book. However, I did a little sleuthing of my own and every edition with the cover you linked to is listed as having 800-900 pages. Given that evidence, it would lead me to think you are dealing with an abridged version. However, you could continue to check against the Project Gutenberg version to be sure. Also, Amazon has what seems to be every Anthony Trollope book for free through the Kindle (which you can read on your computer if you don't have an actual Kindle) so that is another option for you to double check.

Hope that helps some.

Thank you very much, shastastwin. Your post is of great help. Do you think, then, that if each book has the same amount of chapters listed as the text on Project Gutenberg, there is a chance that they are not abridged? I would think, perhaps, that if it was not the full length novel, some of the chapters would have been taken out. Or, they could have only taken content out of each chapter thereby making it smaller, and kept each chapter itself.

There's print size/page dimensions to consider as well, though I don't know if that'd account for 200+ pages worth of volume size... The impression I got from the Amazon page for your copy is that they're smaller hardcovers?

I measured them just now, they are 5 inches wide and 8 inches long. They do look somewhat smaller than normal hardcovers. The print is not extraordinarily small, and the margins are not big. The books in and of themselves are still quite thick- which is why I didn't notice until just now that they might not be the full length versions.

ForeverFan, I would think based on the difference in page count that your editions are probably abridged. But like shastastwin and Meltintalle have said it could just be a difference in layout between editions. Probably the only way to know for sure is to compare the actual text within chapters to another edition that you know for sure is unabridged.

Not all abridged editions of books will state that they are abridged. For instance, the version of Les Miserables that Mom and my sister read last fall for school advertised "complete text" on the cover, but when compared to other editions was obviously an abridgement. We're still not sure what it was a complete text of.

Thank you for your help, shastastwin, Meltintalle, and Rivulus, and your answers to my queries. I do really appreciate it, and I am pleased to say I have found a conclusive answer to my problem. Apparently, my editions are not abridged. I was flipping through them this evening, and I noticed that firstly, each novel is divided into two volumes, and secondly at the beginning of the second volumes in each respective book, the page number begins again at #1. Therefore, if each volume is, for example, roughly 400 pages, that makes an overall total of 800 pages or so, and that makes everything much clearer. Therefore, these editions are quite close to the length of all the other editions and versions which we have seen on-line, if not exactly the length as listed elsewhere, give or take a few pages for differences in formatting and the like.

I am now one very happy person, as now it most likely means I won't have to buy another complete set of these unabridged novels in order to be able to read them.