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Catching Fire

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Here we go again – back into the arena our heroine goes but this time all the rules have changed. And some that she isn’t even aware of yet.

Catching Fire picks up a few months after the events of Hunger Games where Peeta left Katniss standing on the train platform after he realized that her “feelings” in the games was all a rouse to keep her alive. Katniss goes on about what life has been like since their return, what it has done to her family, herself, and her relationship with Gale who was shown to be introduced as her cousin instead of friend (the capitol didn’t want a love triangle to form).  She comes home one day to find President Snow in her new Victor’s Village house waiting for a private chat.  What happens boils Katniss’ blood – he full out threatens the lives of her family, Gale and everyone she holds dear if she does not make everyone believe that she is truly in love with Peeta. There are possible uprisings that could happen and he doesn’t want a little girl to be the spark that ignites a war.

The year’s Games approaches and it is the 75th anniversary which makes it the 3rd Quarter Quell and with every Quell there are a new set of rules. This year is no different.  President Snow reads the new rules and everyone finds out that the new tributes will be picked from the living victors from each village – meaning Katniss has to go back to the one place she dreads. But what she doesn’t know is that this isn’t your ordinary Hunger Games and in these games, anything can and will happen.

The book is an edge-of-our-seat thriller that you can’t put down. It is remarkable how the author keeps jumping from one sentence to the next and keeps the reader’s attention with every word on the page, no matter what.  I found myself re-reading certain sections because I was reading so fast I ended up missing crucial “a-ha” moments from Katniss or other tributes in the Games that were vital to the ending and the third stage of the story.

Catching Fire brings out a side of Katniss that was only hinted at in the first.  She is a very judgmental person – quick to judge situations and people.  She takes everything at face value when she should really stop and think about the situation and what it could mean in the grand scheme of Panem.  If she did that, she would have figured out the real reason for the alliance in the games.  SPOILERS AHEAD – Proceed At Your Own Risk.  She is quick to think the worst in people, especially Haymitch when she finds out that she was not privy to the plan to break out of the Quarter Quell games like everyone else. She felt betrayed but did it ever occur to her that by not telling the most loved tribute in all of Panem about a plan that would start a full-fledged rebellion, it would make her seem innocent and could spare her life? And that she would not get in the way?

Katniss became younger as the book went on because she was so quick to judge every situation and person by first glance.  She wasn’t the strong, self-willed, smart girl that she was in the first games.  But then again, can a person come out of the games the same person as they went in? Maybe that is the question that needs to be answered – and Katniss has already answered with a resounding no. She will never be the same person she was before she went into the arena.

This book and series are breathtaking. I find this series (at least the first 2 books) to be lifelike.  What I mean by that is each character seems like someone I might find on the street or in my office or in my classroom. They seem more real to me than some people I know.  I cannot remember the last time I have read a book where I can talk about them as if they real people, right next to me.

Another thought to consider.  This book, being the middle of a trilogy does not have that middle child syndrome that happens to many movies and books.  Most times in a trilogy, the middle story seems pieced together and doesn’t have as smooth a transition as the beginning and ending story lines.  This book is different.  It has an almost perfect transition story with the flow smooth and flawless.  It seems like one story in itself (good thing it isn’t considering the ending). 

With all of those pieces and thoughts together, this book should get 10 out of 5 stars because it is just that good.

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