Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Title: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Rating:

Who Should Read It? um, everyone. Unless you are just extraordinarily overturned off by violence.

What I Have to Say:
I'm thinking that I should have written this review BEFORE reading Mockingjay, as now the two are sort-of jumbled up in my head as one big mess of madness and fabulousness.

And anyway, I always find it hard to write about books in series after having already written about the first one. Unless there is some writing style issue or plot line issue that makes the second/third/etc. . . book in some way better or worse than the first book. If not, I always feel redundant.

And this seems like it might be one of those cases of redundancy. I adored the Hunger Games (check out my review if you haven't already), and I adored this book just as much for all the same reasons. Colllin's future dystopia is so horrific and so real that it genuinely feels as if it must exist somewhere. But, as I said before, thank god it doesn't.

To be honest, I was wondering how Suzanne Collins was going to make three books out of this story. I could see how one could easily write two, but I was really unsure as to how she was going to make Catching Fire happen without either being extremely redundant or taking away any possibility of a third book. While there was the occasional redundancy, I never really felt it. I shouldn't have been worried. She managed to pull off this book with fluidity and grace, and I once again found myself in a non-stop whirlwind of page turning and NEED for more. Questions will be answered, the Capitol will come to be better understood (and far more psychotic), and new characters will be loved.

And now I must be redundant - just like the first one, though this book is YA, it absolutely surpasses its' genre and will easily be enjoyed by people of all ages reading all different kinds of books.

There is one other issue that I would like to address before this review is over, and that is the violence in this book. As someone who is absolutely NOT a fan of violence, especially if it is gratuitous, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy these books. While it's true that there is a LOT of violence involved, I don't feel that any of it was gratuitous or even necessarily negative. The violence in the book, in a way, made it very clear that violence is a bad thing just by being violent. If that makes sense. Sure, you have teenagers doing HORRIBLE things, but that's the horror. That's what makes this world so horrifying. And on of the things that makes it okay is that the people involved are still so good. Still so innocent.

Anyhow, read the Hunger Games, read this book. You won't regret it. But make sure you set aside enough time to finish it in one or two sittings, because stopping might be impossible.

Summary: 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.

Cover Story: It's lovely - the color and the mockingjay are just perfect. I also think that the title is just perfect - so many plays on words go into it. I love it all!