Book Review: Catching Fire
Luke Earhart
October 16, 2009
Filed under A & E
Early September I was greeted with a great surprise, the sequel to The Hunger Games came out! Sure we’ve all heard rumors that it was going to be released during the fall of 2009, it’s obvious that Suzanne Collins made the mark. Catching Fire is the follow up of Katniss Everdeen and her teammate Peeta Mellark coming back from the 74th Hunger Games. Once back home in their District 12, they find that things can never revert to normal again. Unbeknownst to them, they have become the new symbols of rebellion in the districts, and the oppressive Capitol will show that even the strongest cannot survive.
When the two main characters return home, they are given new giant houses and people greet them with relative kindness. Things seem to be going ok, until Katniss finds that she and Peeta have sparked several uprisings in different districts, seeing their last act during the Games was a pure rebel against the Capitol. Most of District 12 had heard nothing of these rebellions until a new, brutal guard force appeared overnight to enforce rules much more severely, usually by death.
Katniss has many internal struggles as well. Her relationship to Peeta is only there for the public, and the false relationship is the only way that she and Peeta actually got out of the games alive. Only, Peeta had believed it was real until the very end of the first book, but he still puts up a show for the press, as it’s the only way not to be punished by the Capitol.
On the reverse side, she has another love interest, her childhood friend Gale Hawthorne. He met Katniss because they were both hunting illegally. Gale also professes his love to Katniss many times, and she is hard-pressed to choose. The only thing that set aside the emotions and crushes, are the 75th Hunger Games a year after the first book started.
Every twenty-five years, as a tradition of the Games, there is an event called the Quarter Quell, in which the rules of the Games can be changed. The second one, the 50th Games, called for twice the number of tributes, equaling to forty-eight. This time, being the third, the Capitol wants to send a message that even the strongest cannot survive the might of the government, they are picking past winners of the Hunger Games to compete. This means that Katniss and Peeta will be sent back, and Haymitch (their mentor) will be directing them again.
Without giving too much away, the action sequences and storyline of the book goes through many twists and turns. The new characters are pretty exciting, each with different personalities. Finnick Odair is defined as a handsome ladies man at the age of 24 who reigns from District 4. He is an excellent swimmer and harpoon thrower seeing as he comes from the fishing district. Beetee and Wiress hail from District 3, the gadgets and electronics one, and are exceptionally smart and great observationists. Collins makes a point that teamwork can result in better odds by having the District 12 tributes teaming up with a surprising amount of unlikely allies that all seem to have something going for them, traits that help out the group.
While the story keeps you hooked and you might end up reading it in one day like I did, there is one point where the book gets a bit fast, like Collins was running out of time and had to quickly write it up. Specifically I mean the last chapter, where some things happen (trying not to spoil), but it just seems a bit rushed and hasty. The only thing I can tell you is that there will be another book in the series and it may or may not contain a full-scale rebellion against the Capitol.
Collins fixed every thing that she messed up on last time (which is very few things), like the old paper-thin character that you knew nothing about except that they were cold-blooded killers. Or the action sequences being a little confusing as to what exactly happened. She definitely learned from her first and made up for it in every way this time.
While the first book can be found in our library, or probably in a paper-back, this new one is not in. In today’s economy it seems you can’t even read for cheap. Sadly this book, which should be spread to the masses, is only available in hard-back right now, and you will have to shell out around twenty dollars to get it. This will obviously deter less dedicated fans to grab it, but most will just wait patiently. This is a great sequel to last year’s Hunger Games, and should be a definite buy for anyone who liked the first book. I really recommend reading the first though, or you will just be left in the dark.
