Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Posted by Meesh in Book Reviews, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult | 4 comments

Catching Fire

reviewed by Meesh

If you’ve read The Hunger Games, chances are really good that you’ve also read the second book in the series, Catching Fire. If you haven’t, and you hate spoilers, you might want to leave now. I’m trying to think of a way to cover the story without spoilers but I can’t come up with one. These books are action from cover to cover, with almost every detail being an important part of the story line. I apologize in advance to anyone who really wants to read a review and can’t read this one because of the spoiler thing. If I can edit out the spoilers, I’ll cross out the warning.

The end of the Hunger Games meant the end of the horror for Katniss and Peeta. They got to go home to District 12, move into fancy new houses in a very empty part of town, and get their lives back to normal. After the Victory Tour of course, a ride to each district to celebrate the winner of the games. This year was special because there were two winners, which was only possible because Kat and Peeta threatened to kill themselves with poison berries if they both didn’t get crowned as winners. It looked like Kat was going to win, but she was crazy in love with Peeta and couldn’t imagine her life without him. The Capitol acquiesced and they were sent on their way to their happily ever after. Except for the Victory Tour.

Cue to book two, Catching Fire. Kat and Peeta had both returned to District 12, but not to their old lives. Their houses were fancy and they had more food than they could possibly need. Everyone else in the district was still poor, still suffering.

The whole idea of going back to a normal life is obviously a crock. Look at Haymitch, the only other District 12 survivor. He drank himself stupid every single day. He tried hard not to have a sober moment. The games seemed to follow him back to his home and they haunted him.

Before the Victory Tour started, Kat had a visit from the Capitol’s President Snow, a very rare treat. Most champions aren’t so lucky. Snow wanted to let Kat know that her stunt at the end of the games was causing all sorts of problems for the Capitol. People in the districts saw it as a challenge, a rebellious act, and there was a threat of unrest. So Kat was told that she had to convince everyone that her love for Peeta was real and it was why she broke the rules. Convince everyone or die trying, basically. So Kat went on the tour and did her best to show her affection for Peeta and at the end, Peeta proposed and Kat accepted. And wouldn’t that just be the happiest ending for them ever.

There was another little twist to this. This was the 75th year anniversary of the Hunger Games, and every 25 years, there was a tweak to the normal rules of the games and everyone got a little surprise in those years – like the year four kids from each district were pulled to play. When the envelope was opened to announce this year’s big shocker – rather than hold a lottery to draw names, two surviving winners from each district were going to get to compete again! Kat and Peeta were back in the arena, competing against other survivors, some of whom were very old.

Cinna created another amazing costume for Katniss. It was one of my favorite scenes in the book. I’m not going to say anything about it, though, other than it was awesome.

So as not to ruin all the surprises, I’ll summarize here. Pacts were formed, just as they were in all the games. Kat and Peeta were joined at the hip, but they had others to help this time. Lots of dying, lots of creative ways for the Capitol to kill people off without having to get their hands dirty. Tick tock. Kat had planned to have Peeta be the survivor of these games, sacrificing herself because she knew as long as she was alive, her family would be at risk from the Capitol. She also felt that Peeta was the better person and he deserved to live more than she did. Of course, Peeta had the exact opposite plan – he was going to keep Katniss alive and sacrifice himself. Oh, those two!

The ending was a huge shock and led perfectly into the third book, Mockingjay, which I will be reviewing in two weeks. That one will probably also contain spoilers, but I’ll try to keep them minimal, like I did here. There is just so much in these stories. I could probably write a 10 page review and still not cover every exciting aspect. Read these books. Really. Adult or teen, the books are excellent. This one had me up at night, gave me weird nightmarish dreams. The whole premise of the series is so disturbing, but the way the author brings out the horror is phenomenal. I’m so sorry the series is over because it really was so good.