Monday, March 22, 2010

Catching Fire

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 391

Since I enjoyed The Hunger Games so much and had chosen Fantasy as one of my genres, I decided to read Catching Fire as my Fantasy choice. I am warning everyone right now, if you haven't read either of these books and don't want to be spoiled on anything, STOP READING NOW!!!!

For everyone who is still reading, Catching Fire continues the story of Katniss Everdeen after she and her fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark, miraculously won The Hunger Games. While their lives are supposed to involve absolute luxury and fame, The Capitol is angry with Katniss for her bold act in the arena that forced the Gamesmaker to save both her and Peeta instead of one of them killing the other. This act, along with Katniss herself, has come to symbolize rebellion throughout the districts. Even President Snow, the cruel leader of Panem, has taken notice and made it clear to Katniss that she must stop the rebelling citizens by portraying her actions in the arena as those of a girl madly in love and not those of a rebel. But, she can't stop them. This time, the rebellion will not be quashed and the consequences for this failure lead to a cruel twist in the upcoming Hunger Games that no one was prepared for.

Catching Fire is an enjoyable sequel to the brilliant The Hunger Games. Readers are allowed to learn more about secondary characters, such as Haymitch Abernathy, and meet new ones, such as past victors of The Hunger Games. I plowed through this novel almost as fervently as I did the first one. Yet, I also felt a little bit of frustration with this one. Collins spent a little too much time recapping the events in the first book, so it took longer than I would have liked for the action to really begin in this book. I also found myself a bit frustrated with Katniss in this book as I thought that she was quite dense at times. Yet, once the action began, it was full-throttle all the way to the end with a great cliff-hanger.

Readers who enjoyed the first novel will definitely enjoy this one as well. Also, those who like reading books about futuristic or dystopic societies will probably enjoy this series. Those who have read the Uglies series would also probably enjoy these novels. Neither this book nor The Hunger Games would be advisable to those who have problems with violence or anything involving harm to children. That is unfortunately just the nature of this series. I don't recommend reading this book without having read The Hunger Games first. They definitely need to be read in order. But, since there are only two of them, that shouldn't be too difficult.

2 comments:

  1. I loved Hunger Games and really, really enjoyed Catching Fire as well. Can't wait for the next one. I too believe that the series should be read in order.

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  2. I am trading in a bunch of books at the bookstore today. I will be on the hunt for 'Catching Fire!'

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