Review : Catching fire

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 391
Genre: action, romance, fiction
Rating: 9/10

‘If it were up to me, I would try and forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Pretend that they were nothing but a bad dream. But the Victory Tour makes that impossible. Strategically placed almost midway before the annual Games, it is the Capitol’s way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate. Not only are we in the districts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol’s power each year, we are forced to celebrate it. And this year, I am one of the stars of the show. I will have to travel from district to district, to stand before the cheering crowds who secretly loathe me, to look down into the faces of the family whose children I have killed…..
But coming back form one of her hunts before crawling under the supposed-to-be-electrified fence, Katniss hears a hum. It seems to be coming from the fence. Carefully she walks closer. Throwing a twig she finds she’s right. She’s stuck in the forest. ’

This excerpt is thought by Katniss Everdeen. Katniss participated in the 74th Hunger Games and outwitted the Capitol and survived with her friend Peeta, the other contestant from the district she came from. District 12. District 12 wasn’t the strongest district. In fact it was the weakest and still would be even if District 13 was still here. They specialized in nuclear weapons, and they could blast the Capitol apart.

Lots of things have changed in District 12. For one there are bunches of peace-keepers around and not the ones from District 12. These are peace-keepers from the capitol that make the laws stay in place. Changing things so that maybe the unspeakable may happen. Maybe like not being able to talk?

But now it’s almost time for the Hunger Games again. The Hunger Games is a bloody fight against 2 people from each district (there are 12 districts), making 24 people. Each person must fight against each other to keep their life. And usually only one person survives. But when Katniss plays, with help of her friend Peeta from District 12, they pretend that they are star crossed lovers. Or she does anyways.

The only catch is, is that it’s Quarter Quell this year. Quarter Quell happens every 25 years of the Hunger Games. But Quarter Quell is different from the Hunger Games in one way. The winners of the Hunger Games are drawn to go back in the arena. And since Katniss is the only female winner she already has to go. But if President Snow already hates her, how will she survive? Especially with him being one of the people that control the games. It will be impossible to win. Or will it?

My favorite character in Catching Fire is Katniss. Now having buckets of money, being able to buy practically anything in the world, she could support both Gale and her family. But for some reason Gale, won’t accept a penny of it and now that he goes to work in the coal mines since he is eligible to work, Katniss continues to hunt. She has to try and try again to rekindle the friendship they had. But after the Hunger Games and kissing Peeta bunches of times it seems like things are never going to be the same. Katniss is about 17 in this book. She has gray looking eyes, olive skin, and straight black hair.

When Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games, and Catching Fire, it’s like she writes everything from her heart, as if there is actually 12 districts in a country called Panem. But the settings in North America. But Panem is actually North America after it was burnt up after a humongous fire. So if I just went in the “future” I would find myself in the country Panem and it’s 12 Districts that are under the Capitol’s rule.

I like Catching Fire, I guess a bit more than The Hunger Games, because this one is more daring, exciting, more mysterious and shocking. Thanks to Suzanne Collins this is one unforgettable book. To me it practically tops all the other books I’ve read, and that’s something.

Join Katniss as she may fall back into the arena with Peeta. Will luck save her again? Or will she be killed in the bloody Quarter Quell Hunger Games by the other winning tributes.