English Audio Request

The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unspecified future time, in the totalitarian nation of Panem. The country consists of the wealthy Capitol, located in the Rocky Mountains and twelve (formerly thirteen) poorer districts ruled by the Capitol. The Capitol is lavishly rich and technologically advanced, but the twelve districts are in varying states of poverty – the trilogy's protagonists, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, live in District 12, the poorest region of Panem, formerly known as Appalachia, where people regularly die of starvation. As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol wherein twelve of the districts were defeated and the thirteenth purportedly destroyed, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are selected by lottery to participate in the "Hunger Games" on an annual basis. The Games are a televised event, with the participants, called "Tributes", being forced to fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena. The winning Tribute and his/her home district is then rewarded with food and supplies. The purpose of the Hunger Games is to provide entertainment for the Capitol and to serve as a reminder to the districts of the Capitol's power and lack of remorse.