Everybody loves The Hunger Games, and guess what; I love them too.

I'll skip over all the usual stuff about how good the writing is, because it's pretty good, and at minimum maintains the pacing and suspense and doesn't insult the reader (*cough*, Twilight, and yes, the later Harry Potter books). The tyranny of Panem and the brutality of the Games by which they terrorize the provinces wonderful sketch out a plausible trajectory of American decadence.

All of that stuff is good, but what I really appreciated about the book was it's moral core, which is about obligation. Great books speak to their readers, and teenagers are people who are deeply confused about what they owe: to their families, to their peers, to their own protean self (how often have you described a teenager referred to as 'ungrateful'). Katniss' struggles with obligation, her desires not to owe anybody anything, yet the love for her sister which causes her to volunteer for almost certain death, and the role that she must play to win the games, speak to the anxieties and uncertainties of teenagers (and older people who don't feel entirely secure with their place in the world, i.e. everybody). The book doesn't hammer this at you, but if you're paying attention, it comes through. It's moral, without being moralizing.

I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.