One of the best YA novels I've read (not that I've read a whole lot of them). It's a surprisingly intense story, with lots of suspense and some pretty brutal moments (as you might guess from the premise). There were a few moments where I saw what was coming a mile off, but it works because it builds suspense: All such developments are basically Bad News for everyone concerned. The characterizations are strong, and Collins avoids some of the excesses of the Harry Potter series by not methodically introducing all the competitors or spending time on characters who don't fill a role in the story. There's very little waste here.

My biggest detraction is that the climactic show-down of the Games is something of a let-down, and the book ends rather abruptly (though it's clear Collins intended it to be a series from the outset. But overall, it's a book that lives up to the hype, and I'll be moving on to the second volume next week.