The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 3/5

Skillful writing and an engrossing plot do not change the fact that this book is about children being forced to kill each other for other people’s entertainment. Collins tries to weasel out of this by framing the games as political oppression by an evil government, but the main focus throughout is on the entertainment aspect – people wanting the games to be exciting, wanting to see the violence, making bets on the winners, sponsoring the participants.  This begs the question, if the culture that bets on gladiatorial games involving children is so evil, what does that make the culture that enjoys reading books about the same topic?