Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins
Published: September 1, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Page Count: 391
Format: Hardcover
Series: Hunger Games #2

Summary from Amazon:

Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen "tributes" from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss’s fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta’s mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves. Slower paced than its predecessor, this sequel explores the nation of Panem: its power structure, rumors of a secret district, and a spreading rebellion, ignited by Katniss and Peeta’s subversive victory. Katniss also deepens as a character. Though initially bewildered by the attention paid to her, she comes almost to embrace her status as the rebels’ symbolic leader. Though more of the story takes place outside the arena than within, this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment.

My Review:

   I don't know what possessed me to procrastinate in reading this book! It had been sitting on my shelf for like a year. Perhaps I just didn't want the series to be over so fast. At least now I can get right into Mockingjay, because boy, that was some cliffhanger!
  Catching Fire started off a bit slow for me but at about the second or third chapter, it abrubtly caught me on and wouldn't let me go til the end. There is definitely a lot more mystery and wonder in this book than the first. The Capital just seems relentless and  won't let Katniss have the moment of peace she so rightly deserves. She thought that maybe the publicity would die down after the Victory Tour, but President Snow always has some evil plan up his sleeves, it seems.
  There wasn't much Gale in this book, possibly even less than the first, which kind of upset me at first but then I got so wrapped up in the action that Gale didn't even cross my mind much. Just by the ending, I could tell that he is going to be in Mockingjay a fair amount, which made me feel better.
  We meet a lot of the previous Hunger Games victors in this book and that was exciting for me. Some of them were on drugs or drinking like Haymitch and that made me further understand the toll that the Games take on the tributes. But a lot of them like Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason are still young and strong.
  Katniss makes the transition in this book from fighting her own survival as she did in the Games to fighting for everyone elses. She thinks that no one else should suffer from the repurcussions of both Peeta and her winning the previous year. I admire the way she thinks so selflessly like that. I wonder if she would have known what an effect her and Peeta's winning would be on Panem, if she would have let herself survive. I hope so. Because the ending was so plain and simple yet so dangerously hinting at the plot for the last book.