Catching Fire by Suzanne Colins

Catching Fire is the sequel to the Hunger Games by Suzanne Colins. It was nice to read a sequel that wasn't a lame afterthought to the original. I haven't finished the third book in the series yet, but I think a trilogy is a bit of a stretch.

Catching Fire is about the fallout after Katniss and Petta's rebellious win in the 74th hunger games. To their dismay, they find that the 75th Hunger Games will draw from the existing pool of winners, and Katniss and Petta find themselves back in the arena.

The pacing was odd. More than half of the book took place in District 12 and the tension around the love triangle between Katniss, Petta, and Gale. The climax of the book didn't address the love triangle or even the tension caused by the Capitol. It simply marked the end of the second round of Hunger Games. In this respect, I suspect that the third book will act as the second half of this one. I know that there is a lot of pressure for science fiction writers to pump out trilogies, but they shouldn't let the pacing suffer like this.

Being a fan of romance, I fell head over heels by the love triangle. The thing that separates this from Twilight is that Katniss could care less about who she falls in love with. She acts like a distracted 16 year old and fails to understand herself emotionally. She just doesn't grasp the responsibility of not leading these boys on. This characterization is spot on. I am tired of reading books about kids where they act and think like short adults. Katniss will end up with who ever is alive at the end of the day, and this is quite refreshing.

What wasn't as refreshing was how acutely aware I was of the female authorship. I love and support female authors, but I felt like some of her detailing about the characters and the culture were only something women would notice. Sure she mentions food and speech, but she goes into a disproportionate amount of detail into manicures and waxing. The detailing is sparse overall, and the light hand of a female perspective was made too obvious.

I feel as though I only read half of a book this week. No one ever reads just Catching Fire, and its the trilogy or nothing. Look forward to my review next week on the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay.


Trilogy Reviews
Read Review for The Hunger Games (Hunger Game Series #1)
Read Review for Catching Fire (Hunger Games Series #2)
Read Review for Mockingjay (Hunger  Games Series #3)