This book, put simply; is gripping, slightly disturbing, and totally awesome. It's about a society in the future, where North America has sunk beneath the sea, leaving only the highest points as a small nation. The nation is divided into districts and a central Capitol. With superior technology and tactics, the Capitol has subjugated the Districts and forced them to provide all it's manual labor.
As one of several reminders of it's superiority, the Capitol forces each district to send two contestants each year. If the district has no volunteers, these 12-18 year old contestants are selected randomly. There are almost never any volunteers. In fact, it is usually a death sentence. The 24 contestants are placed in a huge outdoor arena, usually miles in diameter, and left there until only one is left alive. The contest is brutal. And the book doesn't shy away from the violence. Kids impaling each other on spears, beating each other to death, burning, slashing, crushing, poisoning, etc. etc. And the Capitol treats it as a game-- broadcasting it for the entertainment of it's citizens. Of course, the motivation for the players is there as well: The districts are kept in poverty, except for the winner's district and the winner himself. In fact, winning the Hunger Games usually means that a district can actually eat regularly for the year.
The book focuses on a sixteen year old girl who volunteers, to keep her younger sister out of the games. Unexpectedly, she encounters love on the battlefield, and then the story goes from there: they work together, knowing only one of them will survive, etc. I won't spoil the ending.
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