Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
Published by Scholastic
Publication Date September 1, 2009
Source: Library
Genres: Science Fiction
Goodreads

Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

Just when I thought it was kind of safe Katniss’ life goes to hell in a handbasket again.   The Hunger Games are supposed to be over, but her troubles are just beginning.  Catching Fire does not skip a beat going into action with the despicable President Snow who has revenge on his hands setting his sights on retaliation for  looking like a fool in the last Hunger Games.  The solution, an All-Star Hunger Games requesting two winning Tributes from each district.

Despite my enjoyment for this book, I am having a difficult time writing this review.  Although not because I am finding it hard to relate my thoughts to type.

Before I get to The Hunger Games themselves I want to address the Gale/Katniss/Peeta love triangle.  It’s official, I’m a Peeta fan.  Peeta is just so sweet and protective of her and sometimes I feel he is too good for Katniss.  Gale, on the other hand, appears as an over-protective big brother.  But I want to scream through book 1 and book 2 — just get on with it already!  Stop with the suspense and let Katniss come to her senses.  It felt like Daisy and William’s relationship in Downton Abbey (and for anyone not obsessed with that show ignore that last comment).

Now for my thoughts on the main event, — “The Games” The stakes are higher having me read faster and faster at each page.   I felt a comradely to all the participants on The Games hoping the odds would be with them all.  I felt the characters bond together as they form the beginnings of a rebellion.  I found the arena to be much more sophisticated and strategic.  The first book in the trilogy had a Lord of the Flies vibe to it, whereas Catching Fire seemed more mature, maybe because the contestants were more experienced.  Anyway, alliances were made and quickly broken and there was this strange plot line about keeping Peeta alive, but wait, wasn’t Katniss suppose to be the Mockingjay?  What about her?  The plot put me through a loop.  I was very impressed by the second book in the Hunger Games as it showed not only what Peeta and Katniss were facing but also, what was at stake, with a Capital take over in the midst, it’s outcome relying on Katniss, the Mockingjay.  Because a sixteen-year-old with raging hormones doesn’t have enough on her plate.