We pick back up with the story of Katniss Everdeen six months after winning the Games, about to embark on the tour of the districts with co-winner Peeta Mellark. Before she leaves, however, she gets an unexpected visit from President Snow, who came to tell her that her little act of defiance in the arena has put her life, and the lives of those she loves, in grave danger. She needs to prove that she acted out of desperation and love for Peeta in order to quiet down the rumors of rebellion among the districts. Can she make others believe in something she can't quite understand herself? She'll have to, if she wants to stay alive.
I'll say it again because there's no better way to describe it: this book is intense! Collins sucks you in and doesn't let you go and, while The Hunger Games could have been a stand-alone book (although we would've been left wondering about the Peeta vs. Gale situation), Catching Fire absolutely needs to be completed by the third installment, Mockingjay. And it would be great if Collins' publishers moved up that release date, because I don't think I can wait even one more minute!
4.5 out of 5 stars. My gripe with this book was the way Collins moved through time. I felt like suddenly we were months in the future, but it was the next paragraph. Maybe better page breaks? (After just taking a second to flip back through my book, I'm wondering if maybe this would have been different if my library hadn't sent me the large print edition? You guys will have to let me know if you felt the same way I did, or if it was just because of the way it was printed.) Either way, I still feel like the time between training and the Games was very abrupt (no more details on that because I don't want to spoil anything!). Finally, I felt the same way about Katniss that I did in The Hunger Games: she acts younger than she really is, and her selfishness keeps her from seeing the bigger picture. I like her as a character, don't get me wrong, but there were several times where I wanted to shake her and go, "Come on, don't you see what's happening?!"
Now, since I'm pretty close to the last person in the book blogging world to have read this, tell me: what did you think?
I liked The Hunger Games. To be honest, I adored it while I was reading it, but once I was done, there wasn't much that lingered. Catching Fire, however, has stuck with me. I loved loved loved it. I enjoyed how Collins played with time because it kept the series from becoming formulaic. The Hunger Games was more predictable partly because it was on a clear timetable. I kept staring a the number of pages left in Catching Fire and thinking "how can this book end in this many pages?" Needless to say, Catching Fire made me appreciate The Hunger Games even more. It's a fine book on its own, but as part of a series, it shines more. I'm looking forward to Mockingjay!
ReplyDeleteI definitely remember looking at the amount of pages I had left and thinking, "There's no way she can finish in time!" And of course, it won't really be finished until the end of Mockingjay. Glad you liked it, too!
ReplyDeleteI ADORE this one :)
ReplyDeleteI found you through the blog hop :)
-Juju
Tales of Whimsy.com :)
I've just finished The Hunger Games, which I absolutely loved, and am about to start Catching Fire ... and I can't wait (!) since you say it's better than the first! (",)
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading this last week and loved it! There were a few places where I think the story could have been fleshed out a bit, but I think she was trying to keep it from getting too long. I cannot wait for Mockingjay to come out!
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