I finished Weirdstone yesterday and still being in the frame of mind to devour a book, I picked up a copy of The Hunger Games today. My interest was piqued because it's dystopian SF and I'm always interested in that, so I wanted to see what a 'young adult' novel would make of what sounded like a lift from the plot of
Battle Royale.
I've read three-quarters of it since this afternoon, and it's pretty good. There's vivid scene-setting, the characters aren't flat and predictable at all, and the narrator isn't a 'Mary Sue' but has some definite failings and flaws. The whole concept of people forced to fight to the death has now been done a few times, but it still works. It also makes you feel a bit angry/disgusted, which is always a plus point with dystopian stories. Not finished it yet though, and I've read more than enough novels with poor endings lately, so I shall see....
I wonder - could you call dystopian SF 'fantasy'? Where does one stop and another begin?
EDIT - finished it now, and even though it was basically Battle Royale for younger readers, it was a decent book. Not sure I want to read the sequels, as I thought it was well rounded off, but I'm sure there would be
plenty of things to discuss about it, and I can easily see this one creeping into school reading lists at some point.