Catching Fire by Constant Craving (The New York Times)
Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book. As a reader, I felt excited and even hopeful: could it be that this series and its characters were actually going somewhere?
Katniss is more sophisticated in this book, and her observations are more acute. We see this when she notices how much more difficult it is to kill people once you know them, or when she observes the decadent (and for the reader perhaps uncomfortably familiar) citizens of the Capitol gorging and then taking pills to make themselves vomit, or with her gradual realization that she may just stand for something greater than herself. All this is accomplished with the light touch of a writer who truly understands writing for young people: the pacing is brisk and the message tucked below the surface.
Incidentally, just because this book is intended for a young audience doesn’t mean that Collins isn’t delightfully ruthless. This is a world in which bad things happen to good characters. Right before her return to the arena, Katniss is made to watch as a beloved adult character is beaten and dragged away. At that moment, Panem feels like a place where anything might happen, and where a reader will want to return to see what happens next.
#1 New York Times Bestseller
#1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Time Magazine Top 10 Fiction Book of 2009
People Magazine (Top 10) Best Book of 2009
New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
Los Angeles Times Best Children's Book of 2009
Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009
Booklist Editors' Choice 2009 A Kirkus Best Book of 2009
#1 USA Today Bestseller
#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Who is your favorite Catching Fire character?
Katniss and Peeta, the unlikely victors in The Hunger Games, return home to district 12. Never before has there been two winners. Katniss became the epitome of rebellion when she tricked the Capitol into naming two victors. Thinking she'll be going back to a life of abundance for her and her family, Katniss is only unhappy about the victory tour she is required to participate in. Soon after she settles herself in the drudgery of daily life back in her district, she is visited by none other than President Snow, who shows up to threaten Katniss with a horrible fate unless she agrees to carry out Snow's plan. Snow and the Capitol are angry with Katniss for her trickery and making them look stupid. The president knows how to exact revenge, and Katniss takes his threats seriously.
Katniss and Peeta must both return the the arena to participate in the 75th annual Hunger Games. In the this, the 3rd Quarter-Quell, all the rules change. They notice that competitors from other districts and her own team are especially on edge. Something is brewing. Peeta and Katniss must put their minds and talents together to avoid death. Katniss must, at all costs, protect Peeta, her sister and mother, and Gale from the threat the capitol presses upon them all.
In Catching Fire, the new games of the Quarter-Quell takes place in the Capitol arena, but nothing is the same. The dangers are more deadly, and the competitors are seasoned fighters. Katniss and Peeta aren't sure who to trust, but know they must make alliances in order to survive.
What really happened to District 13? What will happen to the other 12 districts in the event of a full-blown revolution? If Katniss doesn't cooperate with the Capitol, what will happen to her family?
The setting for Catching Fire is in Panem, in the future (75 years after the first Hunger Games). Panem is in North American, and about half of the story takes place in District 12, which is somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. The other location is in the Capitol arena. It is a clock-shaped stadium where the games of the Quarter-Quell take place.
School Library Journal (6/8/2009)
Starred Review - Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen "tributes" from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss’s fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta’s mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves. Slower paced than its predecessor, this sequel explores the nation of Panem: its power structure, rumors of a secret district, and a spreading rebellion, ignited by Katniss and Peeta’s subversive victory. Katniss also deepens as a character. Though initially bewildered by the attention paid to her, she comes almost to embrace her status as the rebels’ symbolic leader. Though more of the story takes place outside the arena than within, this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment.
Bookmark Magazine (8/30/2009)
Reviewers were happy to report that the Hunger Games trilogy is alive and well, and all looked forward to the third book in the series after this one's stunning conclusion. But they disagreed over whether Catching Fire was as good as the original book Hunger Games or should be viewed as somewhat of a "sophomore slump." Several critics who remained unconvinced by Katniss's romantic dilemma made unfavorable comparisons to the human-vampire-werewolf love triangle in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. But most reviewers felt that Catching Fire was still a thrill because Collins replicated her initial success at balancing action, violence, and heroism in a way that will enthrall young readers without giving them (too many) nightmares.