Catching Fire
By Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press September 2009
391 pages
From the library
Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games, the
first pair to make it out of the arena alive. They head home to District 12 where
they will live in security until they mentor the next round of tributes. But
their actions in the games have fanned the flames of rebellion and President
Snow cannot allow it to continue. For this special anniversary of the games,
new rules are enacted. Instead of picking a random tribute, each district must
send a male and female victor from previous games. Katniss and Peeta are sent
back into the arena – can they survive a second time?
I enjoyed Catching Fire, but found myself wanting more.
Katniss seemed…sort of oblivious in this book. She acts much more like an
emotional teen in Catching Fire than she did in The Hunger Games. She is
determined that she will protect Peeta in the game, but actually does very
little to protect either Peeta or herself. They are mostly protected by other
people. And the ending? I find it very hard to believe that someone as
intelligent and observant as Katniss didn’t figure out what was going on.
I did like the way Collins built up some of the minor characters
in this book, like Cinna and Haymitch. I also enjoyed the way the games were a
bit more involved this time. In the previous game, it was mostly the other
contestants that they had to defeat. In this version, they have to defeat the
game itself. But because of the game’s dangers, the plot between the tributes
was less interesting since they worked together. This led to a lot of time
where the characters are sitting around and not too much is happening.
The writing in both this book and its predecessor seem
sloppy in places – inconsistent characters and choices by the author that don’t
seem to make sense. I found myself thinking that the publishers were
so excited that they had found an amazing story that they rushed it to publication. It shows in some places. But this is a
compelling story. I haven’t heard of a person who found this series easy to put
down. I am myself very guilty of the 1 a.m. finish. So I am excited to read the third book and see how this all ends. Catching Fire is a strong follow-up to The Hunger Games with an awesome
cliffhanger ending.
You can see my review of The Hunger Games here.
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