It is set in a post-apocalyptic USA, where on area of the US, titled the 'Captial' basically runs the other 12 districts of the US. Because of a long past rebellion and uprising, every year the Capitaltakes a male and female candidate from each of the 12 districts between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in a huge arena, while every district watches.
So the story follows Katniss whose sister, Prim, is selected, so Katniss volunteers to take her place. With that being the whole premise of the story, it kind of bugged me (spoiler alert) that in the last book her sister dies because of her actions. Sort of.
By the third book the whole series turns in to a veritable bloodbath of a revolution where the 12 districts are trying to escape the oppressive rule of the Capital (by the way, did any one else notice how the capital seemed to be in Salt Lake City? Nestled in the Rockies?) The thing I guess I didn't like is the character development. Rather it was a character de-moralization. Katniss doesn't really change, she just goes insane, as does Peeta, her partner. They are manipulated and threatened and tortured by both the Capital and the revolutionaries, until they can't tell up from down. The story ends with Katniss spending her whole life trying to blot out the horrors that she has been forced to do and not really reaping the rewards of the over-thrown Capital.
This was not an uplifting trilogy. Maybe it could have been, but I don't think that that was the author's intent. (here I am putting words into the author's mouth...) It was about fighting for power, no matter the cost. Even though the twelve (and elusive thirteenth) districts had a right to live just as they did in the Capital, they wanted to do it and force the Capital to live as they had lived. I think the only noble thing that Katniss did in the entire book (really) was to kill President Coin, so that saner people could take control.
It did end relatively happy, but the emotional scars were there for the rest of Katniss' life. Understandable. But one would hope it would be offset by a bit of joy too.
