Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a spoiler filled book review. This review is for Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy.
I did a review for The Hunger Games last week and decided to do a review for this one soon after. Since this is a sequel, there will be spoilers for both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, so if you haven't read those two books and you wish to, I wouldn't recommend reading this review.
Let's get into the review!
At the end of the first book, I found myself shipping Everlark (ship name between Katniss and Peeta; mix of their surnames Everdeen and Mellark), but at the end of this one I found myself shipping Everthorne (ship name between Katniss and Gale; mix of their surnames Everdeen and Hawthorne), leaving me with confusion as to who to pick. Peeta or Gale? Everthorne or Everlark? Baker or Hunter? "Cousin" or Star-Crossed Lover?
Similar to the first installment, I was hooked by Suzanne Collins' writing style. Just when I thought Katniss was safe from the arena, twists get thrown, and I was left unaware. Much like its predecessor, I blasted through it.
Suzanne Collins must have a secret recipe for writing amazing cliffhangers, as this one warranted me to start right away on the final book. (If she does have a secret recipe for cliffhangers, I wish to know it.)
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Catching Fire is one of my favorite books, and probably my favorite dystopian novel thus far. I can't explain why I like it more than The Hunger Games. There were so many twists I never saw coming. We also got to see a bit more of District 12, which was fun. It seems like every character got even better than before.
My favorite tribute in Catching Fire that wasn't Peeta or Katniss was Finnick. I loved his personality the moment he was introduced. He seemed so serious while also being fun and lighthearted. He stole the spotlight on every page he was on.
We got to see more of Gale in this book as well, which was enjoyable. It was interesting to read about how similar and different he and Katniss were. I like both Peeta and Gale as characters, but I leaned more toward Everthorne, though Everlark was very close behind leaving me confused which who to pick.
The only thing I still don't like is how much Katniss goes back and forth between Peeta and Gale. It's fine for her to think about who she loves more. It's okay for her to try to sort out her feelings, but don't egg them both on.
It reminds me of Bella Swan in Twilight, but I hated it more in Twilight than here. If you're confused as to what I'm talking about, here's a link to the review where I mentioned that: New Moon is Worse Than Twilight: Here's Why (opens in new window).
This book also has some really memorable quotes, such as when Katniss says,
"Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!"It's a quote that's so memorable, I remember it from 3 years ago. And just to clarify, it's not because of the movies. I haven't seen them all the way through. I've only seen clips. I really want to watch them, I just haven't.
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As far as the movies go, I'm just not looking forward to them completely ignoring/getting rid of Peeta's prosthetic leg after the mutt incident in the first book. We had a little disability rep in these books and Hollywood decided to completely eliminate that.
It annoys me, to say the least, but I digress. This is a review about the books and not the movies, which I haven't even watched.
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This book, much like the last one, got five of five stars, and I'd arguably say this one was better than the first. The characters were much more developed and the story was even more intriguing.
It was even better written than the first. There are just some books I'd never get tired of, and this is one of those books.
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