Catching Fire (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 2)

All too often, I find that sequels just don't provide a worthy follow up to the original or that sometimes the original story is just so incomplete that I hardly have any desire to move forward for fear of never receiving a satisfying conclusion. For this reason, I often stay away from sequels and even series in general, at least in terms of books. I think this is part of the reason it took me so long to pick up Suzanne Collins' CATCHING FIRE (The Hunger Games Book 2) despite having read the original and seen both of the respective movies a long while ago. The CATCHING FIRE movie adaptation was one of the few movie sequels that I ever thought to be drastically better than the previous film in every way possible. That's not to say that it made me like the first any less, just that I felt it had improved in all aspects. And so I went into this book with timid excitement, hoping I would feel the same way.The book version of this story impressed me exactly as I hoped it would. It is an improvement on Collin's already fantastic narrative that feels fresh and more mature while also allowing readers to spend more time with her fantastic characters, world, and story.CHARACTERSKatniss and Peeta are back for another adventure. They've done the impossible together and now they have returned home, but things will never be the same. They are locked into a false romance where Peeta now realizes that his affections towards Katniss are only reciprocated when the pair are in front of a camera. He is made to feel even more alone than he did at the start of the games while Katniss deals with her own set of issues. Gale is now referred to as her cousin despite that being far from the truth. On one hand, this makes it easier for Katniss to be seen with him, but it also means they will never be together since it is ultimately her destiny to marry Peeta, whether her feelings for him are true or not. She and Gale come to the realization that there is something between them and Katniss realizes that Gale is another boy in her life that she has been hurting.Then there's the fractured relationship between the Capitol and the Districts which she is also forced to acknowledge when President snow appears in her home and threatens her loved ones if she doesn't play along with what he wants. Despite her surviving the Hunger Games tournament, the "games" aren't really over at all. She's still fighting for her and Peeta's lives, but now she has the lives of her mother, Prim, Gale, Gale's family, Haymich, and probably Peeta's family to worry about. She may also very well be fighting for the lives of every District in Panem. President Snow's role is quite big here which is a nice change of pace since he remained largely unseen in the first book. Then there's Plutarch Heavensbee, the new head gamemaker who is a bit more removed, but what parts he is in are quite good. Katniss also meets up with a variety of previous victors like the flamboyantly handsome Finnick, the aggressive Joanna, the clever Beetee, and deranged Wirress. Those who have already seen the movie know what circumstances Katniss meets these other victors under, but I won't spoil that part of the story since it is far more of a surprise in the book. The only other thing that can really be said is that each of these new faces is a wonderful addition to the cast and that they all have a lot to add to the story as a whole.WORLD/SETTINGThe world that Katniss returns to is not the same one that she left. She's a victor now which means she gets a fancy new home in a special section of District 12 and she must be part of the victory tour where the victor of the games visits each district and honors the fallen tributes before attending a lavish dinner party. It also means she will have to become a mentor to the future tributes of District 12. At least those are all of the things that would happen to a typical victor.This year is different, this year there are two victors because of Katniss's defiance to the Capitol. Her refusal to play by their rules means that she has Peeta to go through all of this with, but it has also sets into motion events beyond what she would ever be able to predict. Uprisings have sprung up in several districts in the spirit of following Katniss's example. District 12 sees a stronger security presence which imposes brutal restrictions upon the citizen's way of life. Nothing Katniss does seems to be right and nothing she says can quell the anger that builds up against the Capitol. She finds herself in an impossible situation where the world of the games and the real world are now largely one in the same. Katniss never escaped the arena, only set it loose upon the world and now she is the symbol of a rebellion that threatens to bring end to Panem.Although everything is different now, this book brings readers to a variety of places within Panem and introduces us to locations that were previously only mentioned. Collins paints each with simple, yet vibrant descriptions which will probably make you both happy and remorseful that they are on the brink of destruction. The destitution of 12 no longer seems as bad when other districts are portrayed as mammoth prisons where inmates are born into servitude of an unforgiving Capitol.PLOT/TONEThe overall content and tone of this narrative is a few shades darker than the previous installment which probably says a lot considering the first one explored a gladiatorial tournament in which children fought to the death. Minor details aside, things are a lot more serious now since the stakes are so much higher. Before, readers worried about the lives of twenty four young tributes, but now they are presented with an entire world whose continued existence seems highly in question. Katniss, our once empowered heroine somehow seems so small now that the conflict involves forces far beyond her control. To be fair, they are beyond anyone's control, but Katniss finds herself especially vulnerable since she is the catalyst for all the terrifying changes going on around her.Katniss also can't just fake it till she makes it anymore. Peeta and her have to face the consequences of their lovers routine in the arena and try to come to an understanding, if not a salvaged friendship. Gale's involvement adds further complication for Katniss's already overwhelmed set of teenage emotions. All the other characters are also a bit worse off this time around which adds an additional layer of edginess to it all. Some characters are more in the dark than others about the events happening around them which leads readers into an ever-spinning web of secrets, lies, and manipulation. Even having already seen the film, I felt delightfully in suspense the entire way through this book, partially in thanks to being able to experience the events through Katniss's point of view which offers a fresh take on things. Again, there are a number of really wonderful surprises in store and if you haven't already seen this movie, then I won't spoil them for you here. If you're already familiar with this story, then I can promise that this ride won't be any less enjoyable a second time around.As a kind of aside to all this, it is worth noting that this book felt far less like a true YA novel than the first one did. There is significantly more nudity, stronger language and sexual references, and the depictions of violence are far more graphic this time around. Even the overall language and writing style that Collins employs feels quite a bit more grown up than her last book. Not that this series has ever really been known as kid-friendly, but parents might want to know that this one definitely pushes the limits of what can/should go into a YA novel.CONCLUSIONI really do think this is a series that no reader should pass up on. If the first book didn't quite sell you, then I'd strongly urge you give this one a shot. If you loved the first, then it really only gets better here and I can honestly say that I am extremely excited to dive into the third and final book of this trilogy, though I may try and savor it a bit more whereas I kind of tore through CATCHING FIRE as though there was no tomorrow.The plot is more serious, the writing style and content are more adult, the new characters are a win all around, and this is just a book that I will probably love forever.

Where to start on this book... Emotions are a good place. Katniss just accepting that she'll die to keep Peeta alive is tragic, and Peeta trying and failing to convince her otherwise is even worse. The ending line of "There is no district twelve" is horrific, and Katniss just giving up at the end is heartbreaking.The setup is super well written too. From the start the setup of Katniss becoming the symbol of rebellion is amazing. The gamemaker flashing the symbol on his watch is a good setup for him being with the rebellion, and all the district uprisings slowly ramping up throughout the book is amazingly done!Adding on to that, the tension is amazingly written! Watching as Katniss slowly realizes more and more information has been kept from her and struggling to figure it out is amazing. Her processing as the remaining tributes in the game thinned out more and more was amazing to go through, and every encounter with the rest of the tributes was amazingly written. Either tense physically or tense psychologically, and it was amazingly done both ways!

Suzanne Collins has done it again; after writing her smash-hit novel The Hunger Games, she's released the second book of the trilogy, Catching Fire. Hundreds of thousands of Hunger Games enthusiasts have rushed to the second book after finishing the first, in hopes for more of the life of Katniss Everdeen. After the intensity and enthrall the Hunger Games held, I didn't think the second book would impress me nearly as much as the first. After reading it, I felt that I was right; the second book was wonderful, but it seemed tremendously more slow paced, less intense, and I found myself simply rushing through some parts that seemed lacking. Overall, a good read, but don't expect the same kind of intensity as The Hunger Games.After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to District 12 in a blaze of glory, being the first District 12 victors in years. Katniss finds Peeta avoiding her after revealing that she was simply pretending to love him, and Gale seems to be holding her at a distance as well. She doesn't have much time to worry about this though, because she and Peeta have to work together again on the Victory Tour, and pretend they're star-crossed lovers as they visit each of the 12 Districts to convince everyone that they weren't trying to undermine the Capitol, especially President Snow. But things take a horrible turn as the 75th Hunger Games arrive, and with them the Quarter Quell, which will turn the lives of Katniss and Peeta upside down. At the same time, tiny sparks of an uprising are beginning to catch, and even though Katniss unintentionally helped create them, she doesn't truly know if she should try to stop them. Katniss has to figure out how to outwit the Capitol yet again in a game of life and death, but this time, if she makes so much as one mistake, everyone she loves could be hurt.When I was reading Catching Fire, I was reminded of The Giver. Both novels take place in a futuristic society that it extremely different from society today. Both novels are also under the rule of an extremely strict government that is trying to deprive its people of something (In Catching Fire, there's no freedom, in The Giver, no one really has any of their own emotions). The Games aspect of the book reminded me strongly of a manga, Mirai Nikki (which means Future Diary), in which 12 people are competing against each other to become God. They all have to try to kill off other diary owners and stay alive, and the last person left alive becomes God. Slightly similar to how 12 Districts are fighting against each other, and the last person alive gets a great deal of glory and riches to live off of, is it not?The reason that I didn't find Catching Fire nearly as good as The Hunger Games was because of the difference in the pacing of both books. In The Hunger Games, everything seems so much more fast-paced, and the novel progressed with a sort of momentum, similar to that of a train. Overall, everything seemed more detailed and more exciting. However, when it comes to Catching Fire, the metaphorical train seems to slam into a wall. During about the first half of the book, everything that happened seemed to lack extensive detail and to me just seemed incredibly boring. When Suzanne Collins told her readers about Katniss reuniting with Gale for the first time since the Games, I was expecting a much more detailed scene than "...my mother said "Your cousins can hardly wait to see you!" Then I turned and saw Gale and Hazelle and all the kids waiting for me, so what could I do but go along?" Collins could have definitely made that more descriptive and more than two sentences long. Up until about the Quarter Quell, I found myself reading simply to get through the book, and I kept thinking to myself, "When is something exciting going to happen?" I just felt that too few events in the novel were given the attention and detail they deserved, and were written off to be more minor things.Catching Fire also seemed to be lacking in detail on the characters. It didn't seem like any new information about the main characters was revealed, and some important characters seemed to be missing from a great deal of the story. Many new characters were introduced because of the Games aspect of this novel, but it didn't seem like many of them were heavily detailed, aside from appearance. For example, when Collins describes Katniss' first meeting with Finnick, she describes his appearance to be "Tall, athletic, with golden skin and bronze-colored hair and those incredible eyes." She also brings up how he won the games, and that he was loved by many girls in the Capitol, but to me it doesn't feel like she's trying to show the readers his depth as a person. If a reader were to read on into Mockingjay, the third book of The Hunger Games trilogy, they would find that there's much more to Finnick than his appearance and the fact that girls adore him. All the details about a character don't need to be presented immediately or directly, but it seems a bit much to stretch the description of a character and their personality into a whole other book.In some instances, it's easy to say who should or shouldn't read a book, based on things like genre, content, theme, etc. However, that's not so with any of the books in The Hunger Games trilogy. Due to the fact that the books are more or less based off of an annual event in which 24 children attempt to kill each other, I would say any of the books in the trilogy should only be read by people age 11 and up. However, that's about as specific as you can get when recommending or advising against reading this novel, or any in the trilogy. The trilogy is seemingly filled with role reversals and contradictions of what most people consider normal. The narrator of the novels is a girl, but the way she thinks and acts is much more masculine than feminine. Stylists and fashion appear often, yet so do weapons. Katniss is female, yet loves to hunt and trap, while Peeta is male, and has a passion for baking. You can't truly say a certain type of person should read the books, because they're so diverse and multifaceted.When it comes down to the wire, this book is not the best in the world. However, it's far from the worst in the world. Parts of it seemed immensely dull, completely lacking, and just boring. Yet at the same time, there were parts of the novel that were just as gripping, intense, and wonderful as I found myself hoping for. When it comes to trilogies, the first novel is always when readers are introduced to a whole new world of possibilities, and the last is when many readers wish wistfully for more after reading an epic finale. The middle novel is neither the end nor the beginning, simply the time between. Authors can try to write the middle novel so it turns out to be as fantastic as the beginning and the end, or they can choose not to put in as much effort and turn out something less than satisfactory. While Collins didn't write the novel in a way that exceeded expectations (Or mine, at least), she did manage to create a lovely piece of literature that held some of the same exceptional qualities as the first novel of the trilogy. Suzanne Collins, I applaud you on your work in this second novel, and hope that the rest of your ever-faithful supporters will, too.

I have goosebumps. I knew it was coming. I have seen the movies even then I cried multiple times reading this the movie don’t do this book justice. There was so many heartfelt moments that they cut out for the movie. I am seriously so glad. I finally decided to read these. Young me would’ve made this my entire personality. This was a freaking masterpiece. Why did I wait so many years to read this? What is wrong with me? I need the next one immediately.

Book two is by far my favorite. There was so much action in the book and a lot of secrets going around. I was low key hurt that the capital has peeta but I know Kat is going to rescue him