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Millions of readers have been captivated by the magical world of Harry Potter and the human-vampire-werewolf love triangle of the Twilight books.

The subject of The Hunger Games is decidedly less romantic: In a post-apocalyptic America, children fight to the death on a reality show mandated by a repressive government.

Despite its grimness, the young-adult trilogy has drawn comparisons to the popular predecessors as fans anticipate the Friday release of the first movie.

Hunger Games die-hards, like fans of the other series, started buying tickets weeks ago for the midnight Thursday screenings at central Ohio theaters.

At libraries, teenagers will dress in costumes and compete in (library-appropriate and safe) versions of the Hunger Games.

More than 23 million copies of the three books have been printed in the United States, with the novels occupying the top spots on the USA Today best-seller list.

All three series share broad reader demographics, said Jared Gardner, director of popular-culture studies at Ohio State University.

The books are set in fully realized fantasy worlds that appeal equally, he said, to children and adults.

"These are, in different ways, smart books and very different from what you're going to find in the adult fiction section, where most of it's about everyone's tortured, co-dependent childhood," Gardner said. "The current young-adult fiction has been engaged and even political.... All of ... (the series) were written with adults and kids in mind, and that's particularly the case with The Hunger Games."

The Hunger Games takes place in Panem, the successor to the United States in the wake of war, disease and natural disaster. While government leaders live extravagant lives in the opulent Capitol, the poor, starving residents of the country's 12 districts risk punishment by death for even petty theft.

To remind citizens of their powerlessness, the government randomly chooses one boy and one girl to represent each district in the annual Hunger Games -- televised nationally for days.

Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old from the coal-mining district, narrates the story as she is sent to fight the 23 other contenders until only one is left. (The bloody action of the book was toned down so the film could obtain a PG-13 rating.)

The universal attractions of the series include constant, page-turning action along with cliffhangers to end almost every chapter.

"I killed all the books in a week," said Vanessa Garvin, 25, of the West Side, who plans to attend a midnight showing of the movie.

"I just needed to know if she (Katniss) was going to make it."

Series author Suzanne Collins, a former writer for Nickelodeon, imagined Panem while switching TV channels from reality shows to coverage of the war in Iraq.

She was disturbed by the idea of the two worlds blending in the mind of a desensitized viewer, she told Scholastic in an interview posted on its website.

"The young soldiers dying in the war in Iraq -- it's not going to end at the commercial break," she said. "It's not something fabricated; it's not a game. It's your life."

The political themes of the books attracted adult readers such as Kevin Albin, 37, of Delaware.

He enjoyed the books so much -- as did his wife -- that they entered a contest to see the movie a day early in Cleveland.

"I've always had an interest in utopias and dystopias, the way they function," Albin said. "That's what pulled me in and kept me interested. It's a pretty dark plot; I don't know why teens would have an interest in it."

Yet librarians have heard from young people who -- as with other series -- weren't interested in reading until they found themselves unable to put down The Hunger Games and its sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

The books reach both boys and girls, who might sense modern parallels in the futuristic story, said Becky O'Neil, teen librarian for the Westerville Public Library -- which on Friday will host a Hunger Games party.

"The teens reading it have been around reality TV for a really long time," she said. "They're hearing all this election stuff about government involvement in people's lives."

Teenagers see themselves in a place as dark and horrifying as Panem, said Gardner, the OSU professor.

"It allows them to imagine a world of worst-case scenarios," he said, "in which a kid like them can thrive and even triumph over adversity, over evil, over oppression."