The Second Installment: "Catching Fire"

Book Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Version: Hardback
Voice: First Person
ISBN: 9780439023498
Publisher: Scholastic
First Published: September 1st, 2009
Number of Pages: 391

CAUTION: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!! IF YOU DO NOT WANT A FEW PLOT POINTS RUINED SKIP THIS REVIEW AND COME BACK AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE BOOKS.


In the second book of "The Hunger Games" trilogy Katniss and Peeta are about to start out on their Victory Tour. Peeta, burned after finding out that Katniss's feelings for him were all an act for The Games, is doing his best to ignore her. Katniss's best friend Gale, believing that Katniss is truly in love with Peeta, keeps her at bay as well. With her win and newfound riches Katniss should be on top of the world but she isn't because of her isolation and the rumors she has been hearing about an uprising against the Capitol. One that she and Peeta are rumoured to have started. 

To protect themselves and do their best to appear as if they are helping to stop the rebellion Katniss and Peeta have to go on their Victory Tour in their guise as the perfect couple. The President of Panem has come to District 12 to see them off. He took Katniss aside and threatened her, telling her that he doesn't believe the little story that they concocted during The Games about Peeta and Katniss being so in love that they just couldn't live without each other. That if it turns out the two of them aren't in love there will be no end to the punishment that shall reign down upon them.

To further protect their families and put President Snow off their trail Peeta proposes publically to Katniss and she accepts. This however does nothing to appease Snow nor end the growing rebellion in the Districts. The 75th Hunger Games are right around the corner and because they are what is called a Quarter Quell the Capitol can put a new spin on it. They decree that 24 winners from the past Games will come to the Capitol and compete in a specially designed arena. Because District 12 still has three living tributes Katniss knows that there is a choice to be made. Katniss is determined to be one of the tributes but Peeta is just as determined to keep her out of the arena. Though Peeta makes a big fuss on TV telling everyone that Katniss and he are married and expecting a baby they both end up back in the Capitol for the 75th Hunger Games.

The arena this time around is filled not only with past winners of all ages but more twists, turns and deadly surprises then ever before. Peeta and Katniss form an alliance with a few other past winners hoping to survive not only the other tributes but the arena itself as well.

The second installment "Catching Fire" of the Hunger Games trilogy is just as filled with suspense and heartbreak as the first. For some reason though I wasn't as thrilled with this book as I was with the first one. Katniss's voice was still there to help move the story along and all the characters were just as present but I think the newer characters were tough to take mainly because of their pain and slight psychosis. This book had an even darker edge to it in a way. It really held nothing back when it came to showing how horrible the Capitol is. It is well written though and again an easy read but it is more mature then a teen fiction book. There is more to it then that and it is all hidden in the pages. I recommend this book just as highly as the first. This is a trilogy that is well worth reading through all the way to the end. It is a world that once you enter it you won't be able to leave.