Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Canada, 2009

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

From Goodreads website.

It’s not very often that a sequel can live up to its hype. And rarely does a sequel outshine the first book. But Catching Fire manages to pull of both.  I loved The Hunger Games but I LOOOOOOOVED Catching Fire.

The action is non-stop and once again Collins holds nothing back. There’s violence. There’s killing. There’s mayhem. There’s everything that made The Hunger Games so addictive and much, much more. We get to know Katniss and Peeta better. And yes, there’s an element of romance. But for me, that was secondary to the main plot and the main theme of survival.

If you thought the Capital was evil in The Hunger Games, they pretty much quadruple their nastiness in Catching Fire. The way that they try to squelch the rebellion is so God awful it literally left me shaking and gasping for breath. You really get a true sense of how little the government cares for the people.

The last couple of chapters of Catching Fire were so face-paced and amazing that I had to slow myself down and reread a few section. And the ending! I don’t want to give anything away, but the ending made me curse that August and the release of the third and final book, Mockingjay was so far away.

Even if you were kinda meh about The Hunger Games, give Catching Fire a read. I actually liked it better.

Browse inside Catching Fire.

Thanks to by friend Sheryl for lending me Catching Fire after forcing me to read The Hunger Games. 😛