Catching Fire

Fantastic as ever. My favourite of the series. ( )

I LOVE IT :) 2nd time reading it (January 2012) ( )

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. ( )

(This may have minor spoilers. Nothing huge though...)
So, for some reason, this book took six months to get to me from the library... i'm a bit miffed about that, but whatever. i have it now so it's all good.
So, friends of mine at school were talking about this book and i kept having to cover my ears because i did NOT want to know what happened xD
So i decided i'd better read it...
And holy cow... i had forgotten how freakin amazing these books were.
So, first off, i would definitely read the first one, well, first because there is little to no backtracking.
And second... team Gale....

.... Anyway, now that that's been covered.
Wow. So, i didn't think Suzanne Collins would be able to top the drama and excitement that was the Arena battle in the first book. I thought this one was going to be a bit, well, slow and not live up to the first one...
...
Yeah i was wrong... of course...
I think i prefer this one to the first one, quite frankly. It has all the drama of a love triangle (*coughteamgalecough*) and all the excitement that is the Arena battles.
"What?" you say? Another Arena battle?
Yes. Because President Snow, the President of the oppressive government, isn't so happy about Katniss's stunt with the poison berries. So when the time for the next Arena battle comes, he announce that the contestants will be previous winners.
*cue dramatic music*
Yeah, so Peeta and Katniss are back in... but this time, the fact that Katniss has possibly started a rebellion could work for... or against... her.
It was amazing, truly, i really love the Arena battles. I love how Suzanne Collins isn't afraid to create a character that everyone loves... and then brutally kill them...
I think one of my new favourite characters is Finnick, one of the former winners. He gives a bad first impression but in reality, he's awesome =)
But yes, excellent characters, the drama was top notch, it was as faced paced as the first book (and in my opinion better)
Oh and District 13. It's significant.
( )

I don't know if, after reading these books so long ago, I could write a review for each one...so I'm going to write and all-encompassing review of The Hunger Games Trilogy.

The Hunger Games (Book #1) - The best of the three.
Catching Fire (Book #2) - Gets better from about the half-way point on.
Mockingjay (Book #3) - Not that great. Probably the weakest of the three. Then the ending sucked HARD.

The Hunger Games is a story about North America after a horrific war has wiped out life and government as we know it. The survivors have banded together to form the Capitol City and various outer Districts, each with its own jobs/manufacturing tasks. The Capital City controlled everything to the point that the Districts rose up and revolted. And they were crushed. To remind the Districts that they must never revolt again, the Capital initiated The Hunger Games. Each District must deliver one boy and one girl to fight to the death against the other District children for food.

All this happens before our story begins...

We begin with the 74th annual Hunger Games and our main character, Katniss Everdeen from District 12, is competing in the Games. While it won't shock readers to know that the main character wins the Hunger Games, there are still surprises, twists, and gut-wrenching scenes of loss and heartbreak. This is the first book. It was fantastic and an exceptional read. The Hunger Games could stand alone without the other two books and still be a knock-out first novel. In fact, I kinda wish I stopped reading here.

The second book picks up with the Victory Tour that follows the Hunger Games. Katniss, am anti-authoritative rebel, ended up pissing off the leaders of the Capital City with her actions in the 74th Hunger Games. So during the Victory Tour, she has to deal with the consequences of her actions from her Hunger Game win. This part really seemed somewhat repetitive and boring, especially after all the excitement of the first book. Then, everything changed from the middle of the book on. And it was almost as good as the first book. Definitely full of unexpected surprises until the cliffhanger ending...

The third book picked up from the cliffhanger ending of book two and completely different than the other two books. Mockingjay deals mostly with Katniss Everdeen being the figurehead of a District-wide revolt against the Capital City. The difference in plots alone doesn't make the book bad, just not as interesting as the other two. Then came the surprise "dramatic" conclusion to the trilogy and...IT SUCKED HARD. The ending was SO BAD it pretty much ruined the entire trilogy for me. I don't think I'd ever read these books again, cause I know how it ends and IT. IS. HORRIBLE.

My advice to anyone...Read "The Hunger Games" book #1 and THEN STOP. ( )