Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

ISBN: 9780439023498

Source: Purchased

Series: The Hunger Games #2

Page Count: 391 pages

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     GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

Against all odds, Katniss 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 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.

     REVIEW:
I always thought I  liked Catching Fire better than The Hunger Games. Now I remember why! The Hunger Games was a shock to my system the first time I read it, the first (and only, in my opinion) of its kind. After the elation the reader feels when Peeta and Katniss make it out of the arena, you can only wonder what the author can do to to keep us interested (and pray she won't find a new way to break our hearts... which she does!).

Collins uses the emotional high we're still riding on to propel us through the aftermath of Katniss and Peeta's victory. For those of you living under a rock, I'll keep this entirely spoiler free, but there is 10000% more emotion in this book than the last, and thats saying a lot considering how high strung I was reading Hunger Games the first time.

I still do find the writing to be a little on the simple side, but with everything going on, I can't be mad about it. I'm glad I didn't have to decipher hidden meanings and philosophical standpoints, because all I cared about at this point was Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch... oh and Finnick <3.. etc.

I felt more and more of Katniss and Peeta's relationship that I seem to have missed (or turned a blind eye to) the last time. I love it, and even though I think it rightfully takes a back seat to the action, it was almost perfect. I say almost because I didn't like the fact that Katniss kinda loses a little of her identity for a short while in this book. She's always flip flopping between who she should be making all of her decisions for, Peeta, Gale, Peeta, Gale.. In book 1, the decisions Katniss made were for her family and herself, and when it was necessary and logical, Peeta. I didn't like that she couldn't decide who she loved while still staying true to herself. On the other hand, I suppose being in the area truly did break her and she was no longer the same person before she left, so I guess I can forgive that.

RATING: ★★★★1/2

Ah well, enough pondering the inner working of Katniss's mind. How many of you are going to see the movie this weekend? Any of you going today!? I am, with a few co-workers and my sister, and I'm beyond excited! I am obsessed with midnight showings, except they are releasing the movie earlier today and we are going to the 10:00 p.m. showing. I'm so pumped! I'll be posting a book-to-movie review also, probably tomorrow or Saturday. If any of you have done any posts in anticipation for the movie, leave me a link so I can come visit!

A.