Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. "The Hunger Games" is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Booktopia Buzz Review: "The Hunger Games is a gripping, futuristic novel set in post-apocalyptic North America. Katniss Everdeen is a dirt-poor teenager from District 12. Each year the autocratic government holds "The Hunger Games" in which they randomly select two participants from each of the 12 districts to compete and there is only one rule - kill or be killed. It is definitely a winner."