Karutan Koremanu
As a reader and lover of both Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, I had to take a few minutes to figure out how to phrase this.
If your problem rested with young people dying and being forced to kill each other, then don't read Hunger Games. However, Hunger Games is far less violent than BR, at least in my opinion. Hunger Games is more about survival and the hope and prices people will be willing to pay to survive, all with rebellion bubbling underneath. I daresay it has a deeper story than BR as well.
Worse comes to worse, just read the first few chapters and see what you think.
I've heard so much raving about "The Hunger Games" I read the sample chapter. Honestly, I don't know how this book became a bestseller, the quality of writing is, at best, mediocre. I can only assume the story is what "hooks" people.
However, I am not in the least bit interested in reading about a society that forces children to participate in gladiatorial events to entertain the masses. I support the right of any author to explore any subject matter in his/her work, but this just isn't something I'd like to read.