This book was difficult to put down and I am contemplating picking up the second book in this trilogy to pick up where the Hunger Games left off.

I struggled with the book early on because life in Panem (futuristic remains of North America) is so dismal and cruel - for young children being forced (sometimes as young as 12 years old) to compete to the death in the annual Hunger Games - a way for the Capital to remind its surrounding districts of the post-war climate they are forced to submit to.

It has a touch of Lord of the Flies and a touch of 1984. It was very dark and I wasn't sure if I wanted to have anything to do with this story at all, but I pushed through it and came to cheer for the main character - Katniss Everdeen. A brave young lady trying to compete in the Hunger Games with integrity and perserverance - despite the destructive and oppressive nature to the situation she has been thrust into.