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. 😛

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Canada, 2009

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

From Scholastic Canada website.

It took me a bit to get into this one, but my gods, once I did I was addicted.   I mean, I couldn’t put it down. And once I finished it I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I pretty much immediately started the sequel, Catching Fire, because I wanted, no I NEEDED to know what happened next to Katniss.

The Hunger Games is one heck of a roller coaster. I mean, the whole book centers around 24 teens trying to kill each other, so how could it not be? I loved the fact that parts of the story gave me a bit of an adrenalin rush. The writing was tight, the characters realistic and Collins has no issues dealing out death and violence hand over fist.

But The Hunger Games isn’t only about destruction, no. There is a pretty unconventional love story at the center of the book. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I’m not a big fan of romance in books. But like a lot of the great YA dystopia that is coming out, the romance isn’t’ overdone here and adds to the tension of the story.

I’ve read Catching Fire and will be reviewing it next week. Mockingjay, the third and final in the trilogy comes out later this summer and is perhaps one of the most anticipated YA summer releases. OMG it’s gonna be goooood!

Take a boo inside The Hunger Games.

Dewey’s Read-a-thon

Okay, I first heard about Dewey’s Read-a-thon about a week before it took place back in October.  Since we had just purchased a farmhouse that required, well some work (2 1/2 months of it) I missed out on it. Well, not this time.

This Saturday I will attempt to stay up 24 hours reading. Sure, I’ll take potty breaks, blogging breaks and animal feeding breaks, but that’s about all. The rest of the time it’s books, books, books!

So for the read-a-thon I’m concentrating on some YA that I’ve been meaning to read.  Here is my working list, which is subject to change at any time:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
The Prince of Neither Here Nor There by Sean Cullen
Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

I know that it will most likely take me a week to get through this books, but I’m nothing if not enthusiastic.

Now, to plan out my snacks……