
OK so the story line isn't new, it's after the world or US as we know it has fallen and a new kind of socialist government has taken it's place. One way the government maintains control of the districts around the country is to host the Hunger Games every year. A game which takes a male and female from each district from the age of 12 to 17 to participate in the game.
The kids are chosen through a lottery which each name in the pot. (Lots more detail here but I wont get into that.) anyway the heroine of the series is Katniss a common enough girl who volunteers to participate in the hunger games in order to save her younger sister. (did I mention that the hunger games is a hunt where each participate hunts the others and the last contestant alive wins. that's right I said alive as in they have to kill each other.)
Katniss knows that she is basically committing suicide since no one from her district has won the games in over 50 years but in order to save her sister from that fate she is willing to accept the challenge. There is, however, another twist *of course there is* the boy chosen from her district is in love with her.
So now the games begin. Each district are given a mentor and a prep team to help them in the week before the games start which are shown over live TV and all citizens are required to watch. The book is full of twist and turns as the contestants from all 12 districts fight to stay alive and as time goes by the government adds twist to the game to make the situation even more dangerous for the contestants. So who will be the last one standing?
A page turner to the very end. I immediately reread the book as soon as I was finished and now I am eagerly awaiting the second in the trilogy. "Catching Fire" out Sept 1.
A great easy read book for anyone that wants a book to make you think and realize that our world while flawed is not that bad after all.


