Official Synopsis:

SPARKS ARE IGNITING.
FLAMES ARE SPREADING.
AND THE CAPITAL WANTS REVENGE.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. Katniss is about to be tested as never before.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review:

Catching Fire just might be my favorite out of the Hunger Games series, which is strange, because I almost always like the first book in a series the best. While I do love The Hunger Games, Catching Fire allows us to get to know the characters better, since we aren’t being introduced to them. Even though Katniss and Peeta don’t always see eye to eye in this book either, we get to see more of their personalities, especially Peeta’s. Even though they’re only seventeen, they are more grown up after surviving the 74th Games, but it’s still clear that they’re still children, being used as pawns by various sides of the war efforts.

The first part of the book feels a little bit lighter. Of course, there’s still the threat that the Capitol, mainly President Snow, isn’t happy with Katniss’s actions in the arena, but the Quarter Quell hasn’t been announced yet. I know it wouldn’t have worked all that well with the plot, but I think it would have been interesting to see Katniss and Peeta as mentors for one of the Games, just to see how they handled it.

Katniss has an interesting thought, about how she doesn’t know who she would be if she had been born in the Capitol instead of the Districts. I think this speaks to a lot of what we see in the world today, too. We’re a product of our surroundings and our upbringing, at least to an extent. It’s an interesting view that the Capitol has on the Districts, and the victors especially. They’re attached to the celebrities of their world, and don’t want them to die, but they still have no problem watching the unknown children enter the arena each year to die.

I feel like Peeta takes on a more offensive role, for lack of a better term, in this book. He really holds his own with Katniss and Haymitch, and takes a more active and less passive role. I know that we barely get to see any of him and Katniss together for the rest of the series, so getting to see them a least a little bit relaxed and just hanging out together was nice.

Catching Fire also introduces a bunch of new characters that I know will play main roles in Mockingjay. I love Finnick’s character, and the rest of the tributes are fascinating as well; a lot of them have wasted away, but they all are still victors, and are lethal in their own way.

We also get to see more of President Snow in this book, which is more interesting after reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

***

Other Posts About The Hunger Games Series:

“The Hunger Games” – Review

“Catching Fire” – Review

“Mockingjay” – Review (coming soon)

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – Review (coming soon)

Connections Between The Hunger Games and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – coming soon

Book vs. Movie: The Hunger Games

Book vs. Movie: Catching Fire

Book vs. Movie: Mockingjay