Catching Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, and it brings us back into Katniss Everdeen's world of Panem. The ending of the first book set a ripple effect, and the ripples continue to grow in this book.
Okay. So, I'm going to be up front, right now. There will be spoilers. I generally try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but there's no way I can say everything I want to without spoiling anything. Like a proper sequel, the events of the first book drastically shape and affect the events of this one. And this book sets the stage for the third book. So, if you don't want spoilers, leave now.
That being said, time to get down to the review. But first, a quick plot summary. Katniss and Peeta are getting ready to go on their Victory Tour throughout all of the districts. Before she can leave, President Snow pays a visit to Katniss' house, letting her know that her actions with the berries have launched a large amount of unrest and dissastifaction with the Capitol. People are getting the very dangerous idea that if Katniss can flaut the authority of the Capitol, they can too. Rebellions are a very real possibility. President Snow reminds her that she needs to convince everyone that she and Peeta are truly in love. She needs to convince him. Otherwise, he'll probably kill her, her entirely family, and possibly even Peeta and his family as well. (Nice guy, right?)
So Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch go on the Victory Tour. They speak at all of the districts, and witness a small portion of a small scale rebellion in one of the districts. That's not good, for Katniss. She shares with Haymitch, and eventually Peeta, the situation with President Snow.
This year, the Hunger Games continue as scheduled, and there is a surprise twist. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games, something special, called a Quarter Quell, occurs, with an accompanying twist in the rules. This year, the tributes from each district will be chosen from previous winners in that district. Which means, as Katniss is the only female victor in District 12, that she's going right back into the Hunger Games. She, Peeta, and Haymitch train viciously for the games, and she makes a deal with Haymitch that this time, Peeta's the one they keep alive.
She gets back into the arena, this time in an alliance with some of the other members. Havoc ensues, as, you know, the Hunger Games are insane and crazy things. But, this time, things are even more severe. Within 2 days, there are only 8 tributes left. The book reaches its climax as one of the tributes plans to do some clever wirings to cause this one tree that gets struck by lightning every 12 hours to electrocute the beach, killing anyone who may be there. Some craziness happens, Katniss shoots the weakness in the force field surrounding the arena, and the outside rebellion movement is able to rescue some of the tributes from the arena before Capitol hovercrafts get everyone else.
Okay. So. There are some very interesting and well done things in this book. Katniss' struggles with the whole Peeta vs. Gale situation is handled well. Teenagers can be annoying sometimes about their emotions, and Katniss sometimes is too. But her uncertainty, and fear, and whatever else you may want to describe in there is done well enough. It was heartwarming and adorable to see her start opening up and expressing concern for Peeta, after he got beaten by the Peacekeeper, on the train where they sleep curled up in each other's arms (as it's the only way they don't have nightmares), and her genuine fear when she thinks he died in the games at one point. It's sweet, and it makes me like Katniss a little bit more than I did in previous books.
Seeing Peeta and Katniss on the tour through the different districts was also one of my favorite segments in the book. Coming from a poor district, seeing Katniss' disgust at the Capitol party-goers making themselves throw up so they could eat more food at a feast, was definitely interesting to see. Katniss and Peeta both handle going through the other districts as well as they can, and I was impressed at how well Collins handled it. I honestly wanted to see more of the victory tour, and less of the Quarter Quell.
My biggest problem with this book is the Quarter Quell, in all honesty. While Collins does a pretty good job of making the Quarter Quell different from the Hunger Games in the first book, I still would have liked to see something completely new in this book. I genuinely think that she could have transitioned to the launch of the full scale rebellion against the Capitol without putting Katniss back into the Hunger Games, and I would have preferred, to a certain extent, not having the arena make a second appearance (even if it is a significantly more terrifying and intense arena).
Ultimately, I think that Catching Fire suffers to a significant degree the problem a lot of second books in a trilogy face: the author has an ultimate goal for what he/she wants to do, and the second book gets used to set up the third book, as well as tie the first book to the third book. That's not to say there aren't amazing moments in the second book, but, overall, the identity of the second book gets lost, and it becomes essentially just a plot point to get from A to B. (Another really good example of what I'm talking about would be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. There are some incredibly wonderful moments, and it's a decent movie in its own right, but it really is just a way to establish what needs to be established for At World's End to work.)
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Catching Fire; it is a good book. But, it is by far my least favorite book of the series.
I'd love to hear some of your thoughts and comments about the Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and anything else. So go ahead and leave a comment. Just, please, don't complain about spoilers--you were warned.
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