I'm finding this series so entertaining! There's such an undercurrent of genuine anger in it, which is frankly deeply refreshing, especially as that anger is justified and the series can so easily be interpreted as a reflection on real life. Granted, the powers that be in this world aren't forcing kids to fight to the death for entertainment, but they're happy enough watching them starve all over the world while sitting on millions, even billions of resources. It's pretty hard to watch the indulgences of the super-rich, sometimes, and to compare their lives to those who are living in slums, dying from lack of clean water or food, and not feel absolute contempt. Honestly, the most painful moment in this book is the emetic handed round at fancy parties so that the rich can gorge themselves even more while the Districts starve.

And Katniss, I have to say, remains one of my favourite YA characters. There's something very honest about her, an accurate self-assessment of flaws that is usually the province of much older characters but which, combined with her deeply ingrained cynicism and an equally pervasive fatalism, makes her the perfect protagonist for this series. I just wish she wasn't stuck in a love triangle - I hate those bloody things - especially as Katniss doesn't seem inclined to romance at all. It seems a bit like it's being forced on her (by the publishing world more so than the Games) because that's the kind of storyline teenage girls should have. It would have been refreshing to have a YA heroine where this wasn't the case, and that might have been particularly fitting in a series that is so much about revolution and the overthrow of old ideals.