In Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins once again puts her readers on the edge of suspense. What’s happening in the Capitol? Does Katniss choose Peeta? Does she successfully escape with her family from an oppressive fate? Does President Snow kill Katniss? And most of all, who is really on Katniss’ side.

Soon Katniss and Peeta are thrown into the Hunger Games and must compete to their deaths. As much as we all hate the Hunger Games, the whole set up of the arena was pretty genius. There was a lot of tension because Katniss has trust issues, but her suspicion added to the intensity of the plot. A lot happened really fast, but the whole BANG doesn’t come until close to the end of this book.

The romantic tension is still flying high which doesn’t concern me. There could have just been one love interest to Katniss all together and the love triangle doesn’t add anything to the plot at all. I’m not saying Katniss can’t have a love interest, but I find the Katniss, Gale, and Peeta thing distracting considering the dark and saddening nature of the themes that revolve around the Hunger Games. Of course she didn’t really have a choice with Peeta leaving her more confused than ever.

Overall, Collins is an excellent writer with an amazing imagination. There was action, blood, gore, rebellion, thriller, and suspense all well packed into one. You won’t be bored for a second with the imagery and details Collins uses once again to powerfully draw her readers in a story like no other. Catching Fire won’t disappoint.

Suzanne Collins never ceases to amaze me. It’s like I am in constant shock when I’m reading. The story is as thrilling as ever and is leaving me on the edge of my seat. I hate to use cliches but nothing is predictable about the Hunger Games. 

I must say I have to remind myself that this is only a book, but when you place characters close to my age in a world that isn’t too far from impossible all of reality is forgotten until you remind yourself it’s just a book. Also, I think Katniss is hot-tempered and too mistrustful. You can’t really blame her, but I like that she actually has personality flaws that effect her decisions. 

SPOILER ALERT:

In Part II, I am still trying to figure out Peeta and his intentions. I am also trying to figure out if he was ever truly in love with Katniss. Including a heart warming relationship with Rue was, in a way, clever because readers like to have a sense of warmth in the middle of all that brutality. For me, it offered some strange sense of hope and security for myself and Katniss. I’m eager to find out what happens next.

Original predictions: Somehow both Rue and Katniss would survive.

Current predictions: Peeta will kill himself to show the Capitol that they don’t own him.  

I just finished Part 1. I couldn’t believe what I was reading at the end. After reading Chapter 1 in the bookstore about a month ago, I was hooked and ordered the book as soon as possible. 

The Hunger Games is exceeding my expectations. Does it live up to the hype? Yes. I haven’t read a good young adult adventure novel in ages. Especially not a series. I missed reading a good series. But what really caught my attention was when I read that it was a dystopia. I was like, “That’s interesting…and different for the young adult genre.” The Hunger Games is definitely full of surprises and I’m not even close to finished with the series yet.