Customer Reviews

Catching Fire: The Second Book of The Hunger Games

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oftentimes, sequels to a bestselling book disappoint. This sequel to the "Hunger Games", however, the second in the trilogy, is just as good as the first, as it seamlessly picks up where the "Hunger Games" left off. The author is a born storyteller, and she weaves a story that, while simply written, is thematically complex.

The author continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, who along with the other tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark, has survived the "Hunger Games". While on a whirlwind, governmentally mandated victory tour, Katniss and Peeta see portents that all is not well in Panem politically and signs of unrest and dissatisfaction with the despotic rule of President Snow are becoming all too apparent.

Suddenly, the stakes are raised, and the victorious tributes find themselves challenged in ways that they could never have anticipated. In fact, the author has come up with another ingenious plot that will keep the reader riveted. I could not put the book down, reading it in one sitting! So, again I find myself, running down to the local brick and mortar bookstore to buy the third and last book, which I simply cannot wait to read!

Katniss Everdeen won The Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark by suggesting they would both eat poison berries rather than one kill the other. This was an act of defiance and now Katniss is a symbol of that defiance for all the districts.

Katniss and Peeta are to go on their Victory Tour when Pres. Snow shows up to warn Katniss he expects a continuation of her show of love for Peeta and she must deliver or else. Katniss doesn't really know how she feels for Peeta or for her hunting buddy, Gale.

With the Quarter Quell games coming up, Katniss is starting to wonder about the Capitol and its decisions. Then the rules change and Katniss and Peeta are thrown into the arena once more.

This is a great sequel to the first book. I felt the tension and Katniss' agonizing decisions really brought plenty of page-turning moments. Both Katniss' indecision and her rash and hasty decisions are so typical for her age and are portrayed so well. What I had a little problem with is the abrupt ending. Yes, it is a steep cliff the reader is balanced on but I had to read the last bit several times before comprehending how I got up to the cliff in the first place.

The second instalment to The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire is just as exciting as the first novel, if not more exciting. I'll admit that I actually wrote this review after writing one for the first and the third book ' having loved the first one and thinking the third was just mediocre ' because I didn't know what to say.

Catching Fire is the story of Katniss Everdeen, who had just won the previous Hunger Games, a battle of 24 children, who fought to the death. While everyone in the Capital looks forward to these games each and every year they're put on, the victors usually don't feel any sense of victory. This is the story of the aftermath of the 74th Hunger Games and how the Capital gets back at Katniss for her act of rebellion.

When I picked this book up, immediately after finishing The Hunger Games, I did not expect it to be as good as the first. I thought the first book was amazing and felt that there was no way Collins could compete with what she had produced in the first book. Was I ever wrong!

Catching Fire is action packed, a page-turner right from the start. I couldn't believe what was happening as I was reading it, couldn't believe how cruel the Capital could be. The characters are fleshed out even more in this book, which made me set my decision on who to vote for in the end (for the romance, that is. duh.). Katniss still isn't my favourite character, but I really liked her in this instalment.

The words are true ' if you plan to read The Hunger Games, make sure you have the rest of the books in the series on hand. There are only a few series books that are addicting to me, and this is one of them. After I finished reading all three, I couldn't wait to share them with everyone. They're that good.

Suzanee Collins has obviously read up on her Roman history because the parallels between the actual history of Rome and the fictional history of Panem are just to similar to be coincidental. When I started reading book one it began as an interesting read however halfway through it dawned on me that this was a simply a fictionalized re-telling of the fall of the Roman empire with some teen romance thrown into the mix. To be fair to the author I read books two and three and found them to be basically a formulaic teen love triangle that brought little of interest to the table. If all the teens and tweens currently swooning over Collins' work and the recently released movie want a really good read I suggest that they pick up Gibbons' classic however since it is a 6 volume history lacking the teen angst and romantic triangles found in Panem and since it is based on reality and uses of lots of difficult multi-syllabic words I sincerely doubt that many will take me up on the offer. Too bad they may learned a little more than simply whether or not Katniss ends up with Gale or Peeta in the end.

I enjoyed the story but must admit it fell a little flat for me after the first book. I highly recommend reading it but I am not a big fan of the way it was left hanging at the end.

I like it a lot because it was really fun to read. But it is very sad and disturbing at times like when they are in battle, or when they are hurt. I also think it is better than the first book because it's longer and there's a lot of new characters, like Finnick. It is different from the first book because it is not as gory and it has a lot of surprises. I would recommend it for people who like surprises and/or violence. I recommend it for 8+.

Spoiler:
Like I was saying before, this book has a lot of surprises, and one of them is that Katniss has to go back into the hunger games to fight against the other previous victors. It's also a surprise in the end when all the remaining people in the arena are picked up by (destroyed) district 13's hovercraft. And it's also a surprise in the end when Gale tells Katniss there is no more district 12.

I loved the Hunger games, thought the idea and concept was original and loved the characters. Much like that book never saw half of the plot coming, there were moments I was actually shocked and felt bad for Katniss and then moments I wanted to laugh. The author does a great job of keeping your interest and the story interesting. For me it is fight as to which one i liked better, this one of Hunger Games. A Great second book with a lot of action, if you liked Hunger games you won't be disappointed with this book.

Firstly, I must say that I really thought the first book wonderful and exciting, and I had high hopes for the 2nd. Secondly, I read all three, and I would like to point out a few things that are left out in comments like "I loved this, a must-read!"

The first book, as I said, was great. It was well-paced (didn't feel rushed), surprising (waiting to see what will be next), and emotional (who of the two District 12s will die?).

The second book, however, started off by picking up the loose ends from the 1st book, which is reasonable. Except, I felt like a lot of new detail was synthesized on the spot, and rather clumsily (forgive me, but that's how I felt). A major event (not to spoil I won't write it down) that starts the action-ball rolling feels unnatural and unexpected in a sense of "well, here we go again".

For what I liked, it's the "good stuff" and drama from the 1st book, which lives up to the 1st book; it felt repetitive, however, and didn't seem have much to offer (again, this is my point of view, you might disagree). I felt hanging in mid-air, rushing through the pages not because of excitement (as it felt rather obvious that there is going to be a way out), but just to see how the problem will be solved.

Also, the lack of development of the new characters in the book, and how no-one vital to the "plot" was accidentally killed (which, in my opinion, would have made the story so, so much better!) was unfortunate.

I really loved that book as well as the others. A must-read serie. Suzanne Collins knows what she's doing! :)

This is the best book in the trilogy, and that's saying something. It is breathtakingly sad and beautiful, filled with horrifying surprises, (the quarter quell) and more horrific surprises, (The clock arena) The whole story grabs you by the throat, and throttles you, forcing you to keep reading through every terrifying chapter. This is an amazing author, who has sculpted an amazing book. The desire to rebel, to prove a point comes through so strongly in this book, through Gale's beating, and President's snow's chilling visit. It stirs your anger, your hat and your love. Put this on the top of your must read book list.