The Hunger Games, by Susan Collins

Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, the most outlieing district of the country of Panem. Most people in District 12 work in coal mines, though there are a few shopkeepers that sell food and other essentials within the town. Katniss' father worked in the coal mines until four years ago when an explosion caused a cave in which killed him.

Katniss lives with her mother and sister Prim. Because of her father's death, there is very little money coming into the home. So her family can eat, Katniss has taken to hunting and gathering various edible plants. She's good, both at hunting and at gathering the plants, and what her family doesn't immediately need, she sells on the black market.

Panem sits on the ruins of North America, destroyed by wars perhaps incited by a global climactic change. District 12 wasn't always the district farthest from the Capitol. Many years ago, there was a District 13. The people of District 13 were all killed, and the lands of District 13 are now toxic to life.

So that the people of Panem remember the punishment for those who rebel, every district must now take part in an annual tournament called "The Hunger Games".

In the Hunger Games, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are chosen randomly from each district. These "tributes", as they are called, are taken to the Capitol, are celebrities, and are treated with magnificent food of any kind they desire, clothes, and servants during the four days they are actually in the capitol.

And after that short period of time, they are set into a large arena where the winner is the last one left alive.

When Katniss' sister is chosen for the games -- one of perhaps only two people Katniss truly cares for -- Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. She feels no honor for this. Her district has not produced a winner in the Hunger Games for many years and she doesn't believe she'll live through the games either.

As Katniss is escorted to the Capital, she meets Peeta, the male tribute from District 12, a boy she vaguely knows, but one who did her what to her eyes was an immense favor just after her father died. She also meets the man who is to be her mentor, Haymitch, the last person from District 12 to actually win in the Hunger Games. But that was over thirty years ago, and now it seems he drinks all of the time and is drunk most of the time.

A bit more than one third of the book takes places before the Tributes are actually placed into the arena, and we learn much about Katniss, her personality, her weaknesses, and her strengths. We learn less about what actually happens in the arena other than what we were told initially: twenty-four tributes go in, they fight hunger, the weather, and each other to stay alive, and the last one living wins. Perhaps I haven't put that last part bluntly enough. They are placed into the arena to kill each other, and there is a supply of weapons to help them do so.

And if there isn't enough fighting and killing between the Tributes, the Capital finds ways to force them together to start the killing.

The entire Hunger Games, from the selection of the Tributes, to each fight, to each death, to the final victories and beyond is broadcast live throughout the entire country, and there are parts that every district is required to watch.

Once the tributes are in the arena, the book turns brutal. Remember everyone in the arena is essentially a child, and what we see is the outcome of these children being told to kill each other. It is violent, and we see the violence itself as well as the outcome of the violence as it happens. The violence is portrayed realistically, and whether Katniss sees it or participates in it, it is shown to us unflinchingly.

But there's so much more to the book than the story of Katniss. When you look underneath -- and not too far underneath -- you see so many little things about Katniss' world that she may not like, but she takes for granted. Discrimination. A corrupt political society. Extreme class separation. Forcing entire populations of people into poverty.

And, of course, a big one: forcing children to kill other.

There is humor and warmth in the book. There is a romance, of a sort, between Katniss and Peeta, forcefully encouraged by their mentor, Haymitch. There is a wonderful friendship between Katniss and another tribute named Rue. And Katniss tends towards humorous sarcasm.

Though The Hunger Games is the first of a planned trilogy, the first book stands on its own. In one interview, the author said that she had not planned for any sequels to the book. However, near the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss does something to anger the government of Panem. The author felt that the government would never be able to let what had happened pass, so she decided she needed to write a sequel. I guess somewhere in there, the sequel became a trilogy.

This is one of the best books I read in 2008. Maybe even the best. I highly recommend it.