Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

Title: Catching Fire

Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy

Author: Suzanne Collins

Released: 2009

Rating: 4.5/5

Basic Plot: Katniss Everdeen is brought into the arena again after she inadvertently started a rebellion after the previous hunger games.

The Clock Arena
I absolutely love the arena in this book. Besides providing physical challenges it provides psychological challenges. The physical challenges are interesting and you can really feel the danger that the characters face. There is technically only one psychological challenge but I am going to also count the relationships between the characters. In the first book there is not really any relationships between the characters except viewing each other as contestants.

Buildup to a Revolution
Most of the book is building up to a revolution. It shows every day people and how they react. The government is shown to be even more cruel. Well, President Snow mostly. In fact, it seems to be President Snow who is the only real cruel one. As District 12 changes and there's a rebellion in District 8 you can tell the Capitol is afraid. Oh, and the Peacekeepers shooting an old man in the head!

Rumors of District 13
Two refugees from District 8 inform Katniss that District 13 is still 'alive'. Katniss assumes it's just a dumb hope. Ever since the first book talked about District 13 I thought it might still exist. But one point against it existing is the fact that it hasn't fought against the Capitol. By the end you find out that it exists but not why it hasn't fought against the Capitol.

Final Thoughts
The reason I gave this book a 4.5/5 instead of a 5/5 is the fact that some important plot points you can understand long before Katniss does. Such as the mockingjay watch that someone shows Katniss in the Capitol. All in all, though, this is a good sequel. It expands on the previous book and raises the stakes. Plus, Collins isn't afraid to kill off great characters to help the story.