5.10.2011

Catching Fire

Catching Fire

By Suzanne Collins

The second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, I was eager to dive in after how much I enjoyed the adventure of the first.

Catching Fire is definitely a continuation of the wild adventure of the first book- to an unexpected degree. I don’t want to give anything away BUT let’s just say that I didn’t expect the quarter quell to be what it was, and then when it was what it was, I didn’t think it would go how it went for the most part- until it then went how I thought it would go from the beginning. You dig? If you haven’t read it, this makes no sense. If you have read it, you’re probably nodding along thinking, “I dig.”

While I totally enjoy this series and find myself reading later into the night than is probably very wise, I am so over the romance angle- though I have to keep reminding myself that I am not the target audience. It’s definitely beginning to feel like (what I imagine to be) a Twilight sort of situation- the whole “who should she choose? The sensitive guy who loves her unconditionally or the tough guy who knows her completely and has been there from the beginning? I don’t care. Just bang one of them and get it over with.

Another source of mild annoyance was Katniss’ thought process, which often felt like a blatant attempt by Collins to get the reader on the wrong track, when it seems obvious what the right track is. It makes this otherwise strong heroine seem a little… dare I say it?--- hysterical.

I enjoyed the slow rise of the revolt and the symbol of the mockingjay as a sign of the rebellion. As with the first, I love the different elements of the game and how totally real Collins makes this world with her use of details and consistency. In other series, I would get annoyed with the way that lazy authors write the first few novels and then, in later books, make desperate reaches like “remember that one casual scene where the girl walked into the room? Well, you might not have noticed it but there was a rock in the corner of that room, and that rock somehow plays a crucial role in the entire series as a whole.” No, you didn’t intend that from the beginning you freaking liar. Don’t try to act like you had foresight that you didn’t!

THANKFULLY, this is not the case here. Collins, clearly mapped out the books carefully (at least from what I can see) and does a great job of foreshadowing and leaving important hints for readers to play with.

I am eager to read the last book in the series and see what happens- especially hearing so many people mention that they aren’t sure how they feel about the ending of the series. I can’t help but read the first two trying to predict what will happen at the end of the third that will bother me. Oh well, into the third book I happily dive!

1 comment:

  1. I felt the same way about Catching Fire. I struggled with Katniss' thought process and the author's attempts at deception, too, but much less so than in Harry Potter books (which I loved, but wanted to scream at Harry for being such an idiot most of the time). The middle book doesn't have the same excitement of the first. Even so, I love, love, love the richness of the world that Collins created so much that I couldn't give it less than five stars.

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