The Hunger Games

There are 12 districts in Panem. Each year, each district sacrifices two of their own to the Capitol to partake in the Hunger Games, a brutal fight to the death that is broadcast for the entertainment of the masses, and as a reminder of the power of the Capitol over their lives and their future.

If you've read enough science fiction and fantasy, it's impossible to ignore that there are a lot of elements of Hunger Games that you've seen before - the Games recall the Bachman novels The Long Walk and The Running Man, and poverty of the Districts is reminiscent in some ways of Soylent Green, and the concepts of the Tributes reminded me of Theseus and the Minotaur. And if there are no overly-clever English majors out there comparing Katniss to the goddess AthenaArtemis, well, I'll eat my hat.

The whole, though, is equal to if not more than the sum of its parts. Hunger Games is a powerful statement about how youth is fetishized, and how adult society demands the sacrifice of youth for its entertainment - in music, in sport, in all aspects of celebrity and media. Add in some strong characterization, well-scripted action scenes, and deft, subtle world-building, and you've got an excellent piece of literature.