Add another half star to this, please. 
 It's a tense, post-apocalyptic YA novel (and the first of the series [trilogy, I think] and I'm absolutely doing to download the second one when I've finished this review). The protagonist is interesting--a bit difficult to identify with, but honest and likable overall. The story is violent and brutal, but so is life (especially the life Collins is warning us will come if we don't readjust our reality t.v. tainted values a bit...or maybe that's just my own irritation coming through) and certainly, so is adolescence. The world they live in is explained just enough, but it's not overdone, and I have a feeling we'll get more bits of background as the series goes one. 
 Be prepared to have your stomach clench up when the Games really get started, and be totally prepared to shed a few tears (I don't care how tough you are. There is one seriously, seriously cry-worthy scene.)