everywhere i turn, i keep hearing about this book/series. it lived up to the hype: a hard-to-put-down gallop through a futuristic time when a modern 'minotaur & the labyrith' - except the monster(s) are fellow tributes - plays out on TV.

in that way, it reminded me of The Running man, and maybe - with such familiarity of the genre - the author could just jump in to the violence. but i would have liked the main character to grapple with the immortality of killing another human being... she takes one life in reaction to witnessing the murder of a young girl (impulse), and another as an act of mercy. so she never gives into the impulse of survival: the 'it's me or you' that would fuel the majority of the conflicts.

i certainly will read the rest of this trilogy. i can't believe, after all these years of making fun of ron, I'm turning into a sci-fi / fantasy fan.