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|summary=Exciting future catastrophe novel focusing on gladatorial gladiatorial style combat games. It's pacy and incredibly absorbing with a dynamic and attractive central character. Great stuff, if a little on the long side for perfect Bookbag comfort.

Oh, I love a bit of future catastrophe. It's very popular in children's fiction at the moment and it's being handled awfully well. ''The Hunger Games'' is no exception. Collins is a no-nonsense writer. Her prose isn't particularly pretty, but it does have dry humour and is pacy, tight and tense, and this book is a real page -turner. Aside from the rather gory fighting - and it ''is'' gory - the main plot axis turns around a potential love affair between Katniss and Peeta, her fellow District 12 competitor. Peeta is a deep thinker, and before the games even begin, he has recognised that his humanity is more important to him than his life. Katniss, brave, resourceful and bitter, lacks his subtlety of thinking, but her tenacity and courage win your heart almost immediately. The tension between the two is therefore of great interest; with thematic depth added to the mix.

There is a great deal of contemporary resonance for readers to think about here - consumption, world trade, a future destroyed by our present, slavery, even reality TV. The citizens of the Capitol are laughable to Katniss; with their outlandish make up makeup and ridiculous cosmetic surgical alterations, to her , they barely look human, and the parallels are obvious. But mostly it's a tremendously driven and thrilling story and a hugely satisfying read. Some of the gore - slow death by mutant werewolf, anyone? - is perhaps too gory for the very youngest of keen sci-fi readers, but I certainly wouldn't withhold it from anyone else. At 450 pages, I think it's just that bit too long, but I think all books, particularly those for children and young adults, should come in under 300 pages, so this is a mere personal nit-pick. Streamlining is good!

My thanks to the nice people at Scholastic for sending the book. We also have a review of [[Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins]].

Those, like me, who love post-apocalyptic fiction will also like the slightly more sophisticated [[The Inferior by Peadar ó Guilín]], which has echoes of ''The Truman Show'', while [[Silverhorse by Lene Kaaberbol]] has a winning female character with some wonderful Scandinavian sensibilities thrown in for free. You might also appreciate [[A Thousand Nights by E K Johnston]]. [[The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau]] might sound similar but is still a very good read.

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