Book review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Title: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Also by this Author: The Hunger Games

Series: The Hunger Games, book 2

Age Category: Young Adult

Published by: 14 September 2008,

Pages: 390 p.

Genre: Science Fiction, dystopia

About Catching Fire

Sparks are igniting.

Flames are spreading.

And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. 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.

(source: Goodreads)

My thoughts on Catching Fire

Let’s start by saying my book reviews are not spoiler-free. I want to give an in-depth view of why I like or do not like a book, which I find hard to do without giving away some parts of the story. If you have not read this book, please skip this review from this point onwards.

Where to start on this book, I had to take some time to make up my mind about this book and Mockingjay, the conclusion to The Hunger Games. I had to roll it around in my mind. The Hunger Games is still my favorite book of the series, and I loved Mockingjay, which would come second as my favourite, leaving Catching Fire as my least favorite book in the series. I am not including the prequels here, not only because I have not yet read them, but also because they are not about Katniss' storyline.

This felt like an in-between book, and it was. What I liked is that there wasn't a large time jump in this book; the events pick up right after the ending of The Hunger Games. I always appreciate it when books do this; this way, you are right back in the story again. I appreciate that this story takes us through the logical next steps of being a victor of the Hunger Games. Living in Victor's village, portraying life after the Hunger Games. And show us what a victor's tour looks like, and we get to see the districts for the first time. This was exciting, as so far we have only seen the arena and District 12.

It is worth mentioning that I went in blind; I did not read the synopsis, and I have been avoiding spoilers for this book. Astonishingly, I did not stumble upon the spoilers for the amount of time this book has been out. I have yet to watch movies, too. I only watched The Hunger Games, which I had already read twice before. Another thing I wanted to share is that I am proud that I finally stuck to a series and finished it. Finishing series is such a struggle for me, and I am so glad that I can finally put a check mark behind this one. Yes, I still have 2 more books to go in this universe; however, the original trilogy is done.

What I didn't like about Catching Fire was Katniss' unending devotion towards saving Peeta, to the point of obsession. The way Katniss views herself and the world is sometimes hard to follow, and it makes her a hard character to love. She wants to save everyone, even if it comes at her own cost. Yet everyone is trying to save her. Something we do not know beforehand but will be clear by the end of the book.

Maybe I did know a spoiler for this book, as I knew Katniss would be going back into the arena. I did not know the circumstances under which this happened. This was a great plot twist in the story, and the Games felt much different from those in The Hunger Games. Showing us how the arena changes with every Hunger Games gave us a broader worldview. The preparations for the Quarter Quell introduced me to all the main players who would be in the arena. It also gave me some information about Haymitch's background, which I had been wondering about since I met him.

I am glad that Suzanne chose to show the reader a broader world, leading up to the Hunger Games, which were only a short part of this book. I did not want a repeat from the first book, and Suzanne managed to captivate me all over again.

My conclusions about Catching Fire

This book, like the first one, is a masterpiece; that story is well-crafted. The world-building extended from the first book, and the reader got to see some of the other districts, the aftermath of the Hunger Games, and the Victors' tour. 

Furthermore, the book picked up right after the events of book one and showed us life after winning the Hunger Games. I think this was an important part to include in this book, and I loved that we did not dive right into another arena. A lot of time has been spent building up towards the Hunger Games; there seemed to be a bit more focus on all elements leading up to the main event.

This set the stage for an exciting, fresh new Hunger Games that was shorter but thrilling to see nonetheless. This book did feel like an in-between book, but since the events were a logical follow-up to book one, the story felt very realistic. If you would approach this from the point of view of how a rebellion starts, you will see that it takes time to take root. This is what we see happening in the background of this book as well. 

I cannot fault Suzanne Collins for taking the approach she did in this book. Therefore, this book has ended up with a solid four cats just for being a great story. The book gets to 5 cats, because it gets bonus points for making me cry. Books that make me cry get instant bonus points; to be able to move me to tears with words is a job well done.

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