Book Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Synopsis:

After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen returns to her district and starts to hear rumours of a deadly rebellion against the Capitol. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the President charges her with convincing the world that she and Peeta are truly in love.

My Thoughts:

In Catching Fire Katniss decides that she’d like to start a rebellion, with little thought for how things might turn out. (Immaturity on steroids.) I should think she’ll be forced to learn her lesson by the end of the trilogy – Suzanne Collin’s doesn’t sugar coat her plot lines.

The big surprise for me was that our characters end up back in the arena again. My reaction? “Didn’t I just read this book?” The arena serves a purpose but I had hoped this novel would take a more creative path, and I didn’t get to see nearly as much of the districts or their peoples as I wanted too.

It was interesting to see how Katniss starts to ally herself with Peeta as Gale is left behind in District Twelve. Katniss respect Gale, but during the few moments he gets page space he comes across as angry and political. Peeta’s steady, smart and caring (and learning to tell her ‘no’) in Catching Fire and he sort of won me over.

The cliffhanger ending made reading this book worth it and ensured that I will be picking up the final instalment in the Hunger Games trilogy.