Book Review
Title: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: By now everyone knows the Hunger Games is an iconic series and I am so excited for the prequel following President Snow to come out so I couldn’t wait to dive into Catching Fire. So this picks up six months after the end of the Hunger Games as it starts halfway between Games. We learn that this year is a special year as a Quarter Quell is going to take place which means something different compared to the regular games. Katniss wasn’t alive for the previous Quell but it was the year Haymitch won games with twice as many tributes, which gives me a whole new respect from the man and I can understand why he drinks. Things haven’t been going well for Katniss as she isn’t really talking to Peeta or Gale so she feels more alone than ever but she tries to make her life as normal as possible but with the Victory Tour approaching that really isn’t possible.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, President Snow pays Katniss a visit to tell her of the spark she has caused in the districts and that it could lead to an uprising as she has to convince the district that she does love Peeta and be extension convince him or he will kill Gale. Katniss is terrified that her actions have put everyone she loves in danger and even talking it over with Haymitch doesn’t help as he explains that this is going to be the rest of their lives, that it doesn’t go back to normal as they are mentors now so they are going to be dragged out year after year and she realises that she will have to marry Peeta eventually taking away her choice in the matter. However, Katniss isn’t sure what she feels for Peeta after the games but she can’t deny that there is something between them but she isn’t really keen on exploring it but the more time she spends with Peeta, this begins to change. When they arrive in District 11, Katniss is overcome with emotion as this is Rue’s district and when she gives her speech she knows she hasn’t chosen the right words to supress the districts which leads to a man being killed but she felt it needed to done to express her gratitude to the tributes for the part they played her surviving the games.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the Victory Tour is coming to an end and things haven’t gone well. When they reach the Capitol it is last but one stop of the tour and Katniss has a wordless conversation with the President, where he conveys that what she has done on the tour hasn’t been enough the quell the unrest in the districts. Rather than being scared Katniss is relieved as she sees this as her opportunity to escape since there is no way out for her now. However, when Plutarch is introduced we do get some very subtle hints about the rebellion that is coming. When they return home to 12 for the final stop on the Tour, Katniss tries to convince Gale to run away with her and initially he agrees but when she mentions bringing Haymitch and Peeta he explodes because he is jealous of Peeta because he loves Katniss too. She then tries to convince Peeta who agrees but he is the first to notice Gale tried to the whipping post in the square and Katniss immediately tries to help. So far, the pace in Catching Fire is much faster than the Hunger Games, we are almost halfway through and the Quarter Quell hasn’t even started yet so I can see myself flying through this book a lot quicker than I did the first. It keeps surprising me, I watch the movies more often than I re-read the books and the amount of information that is left out is amazing but I love discovering these little clues all over again.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, things take a downward spiral as a new Head Peacekeeper is assigned to the district as he is the one responsible for whipping Gale within an inch of his life and this is the exact moment that Katniss decides to fight back. However, she soon realises that staging an uprising won’t work in District 12, while she and Gale have always been troublemakers everyone else is scared even when things have been relatively good. Now, there are food storages, whippings, executions and much more, Katniss is even caught out on night when she tries to go hunting and finds two refugees from District 8 who had been involved in the uprising there. Here she sees the mockingjay symbol again and is told it means they are on her side, linking to back to Plutarch but Katniss hasn’t made this connection yet. The two women tells Katniss they are heading for District 13, which was bombed into rubble 75 years before but the one women Twill explains that all the footage of District 13 is reused which means it might have survived albeit underground. Katniss sees this for herself and begins to believe and even questions whether she has become the face of a revolution without her knowledge but this meeting confirmed it. She is almost caught out when she returns as the fence is now live with electricity and she has to improve to get back over injuring herself in the process. When she returns home there are Peacekeepers waiting for her and they seem surprised by her arrival but between her mother, Prim, Haymitch and Peeta they manage to play out a scenario which explains her absence but it leaves them vulnerable as Katniss is sure she is going to be arrested. The week passes and nothing has happened and Katniss begins to relax but we know the announcement of the Quarter Quell is coming.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the theme for the second Quarter Quell is announced and the tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors meaning Katniss is going back into the arena with Haymitch or Peeta. This is part of the book that was completely snubbed in the movie, Katniss breaks down letting the full extent of her PTSD show from the first games, she gets drunk with Haymitch but they really robbed Peeta and Haymitch of any substance in the movie. The movie completely omitted the way Peeta sobered up Haymitch and helps him and Katniss train, he evens gets them to watch re-runs of older games to learn about the victors they could be going up again. When they begin making the journey to the Capitol, we even get to see Haymitch’s games and how he won and how he is more like Katniss than the movies give him credit for. The movie also snubbed Katniss’ mother who had a personal connection to that games as her friend was the female tribute for the same year as Haymitch and Madge, Katniss’ friend, her mother was the twin of that girl and her mockingjay pin used to belong to her. Catching Fire is my favourite movie of the series but it left out some of the most important details that get us invested in the characters, especially Darius. Darius was a Peacekeeper in District 12 but you could almost call him Katniss’ friend and when he tries to intervene in Gale’s whipping he ends up being sent to the Capitol and turned into an Avox, who now has to serve Katniss and Peeta and it completely breaks her heart.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, they begin training for the games but it is completely different from their first games the previous year as Haymitch tells them they will need as many allies as possible in the arena to make up for the fact that don’t know any of these other victors when they have known each other for years sometimes decades. Katniss doesn’t initially like this idea but sees the merit in it. During training she takes a liking to Mags from District 4 who is one of the oldest living victors along with Wiress and Beetee from District 3 who tells her about the force field in the training centre which comes in handy since the arena is closed off with an identical force field. The build up to games isn’t as nerve racking for Katniss as she knows she is going to die no matter what happens this time around but when she is prepared to enter the arena, Cinna is beaten to a bloody pulp after his stunt with her dress during their interviews where her wedding dress transforms her into a mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion. This unnerve Katniss but she knows she has to survive for Peeta and she is one of only a few tributes that have a skill that is an advantage in this arena, swimming as it is mostly water. Finnick becomes their first ally as Haymitch has given Finnick his golden bracelet but Katniss isn’t quick to trust him. They form a team along with Peeta and Mags and begin trekking through the jungle hoping the find water. The lesson on force field was Beetee comes in handy here however, Katniss isn’t as quick spotting them as Wiress or Beetee and Peeta ends up running into one stopping his heart but Finnick’s quick actions save his life. Finding no water they make a camp for the night as 8 of the tributes have already fallen but they are given a package which contains a spile. None of them know what it is in the beginning but Katniss finally figures it out and they have overcome their biggest obstacle in dehydration but the career pack are still out there along with some other deadly opponents like Joanna Mason.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Katniss is pouring over all the information she has on the rebellion in her mind trying to desperately figure out where she fits into it and whether her death will have any impact at all outside of the arena. It isn’t long until Katniss begins to notice strange thing happening in the arena. A poisonous fog appears out of nowhere and as they try to escape it weakens their muscles to the point where Finnick carries Peeta and Katniss carries Mags but Katniss isn’t big or overly strong and it isn’t long before she can’t go any further. Mags rather than walking even with her advanced age and limp for the chance of survival walks straight into the fogs and dies. I keep forgetting in the books Peeta leg had to be amputated after the first games meaning he is trying to walk and run with an artificial leg he’s had for less than a year. This isn’t the only time when they attacked by mutated monkeys, a morphling for District 6 saves Peeta’s life and having read the books and movies before we can see they are all with the rebellion, although it could be argued that the female morphling just liked Peeta’s painting skills. Afterwards they rest on the beach but quickly meet up with Joanna, Wiress and Beetee, Katniss doesn’t trust Joanna at all and even threatens her but when she mentions she got Wiress and Beetee out for her she has to stop and think. Wiress’ constant repeating of tick-tock helps Katniss work out the arena is a clock and she also puts together that the tributes are acting strangely as they all seem to be protecting Peeta and she believes it is because they want him to be the leader of the rebellion and she is almost sure that Plutarch is in on it as well but brushes this off due to his position as Head Gamemaker.
Beetee comes up with a plan to kill the remaining careers and Katniss is told she has to go with Joanna to run the wire to the water while Peeta stays with Finnick to protect Beetee and she knows they should have left that morning but she is hopeful. Halfway there the wire is cut and Joanna attacks Katniss knocking her down and cutting her arm while she goes to face the careers. Katniss in her haze only wants to find Peeta and backtracks where she finds no sign of him or Finnick and Beetee is unconscious on the ground. As she tries to put everything together she realises that Beetee was trying to take out the force field and as Finnick and one of the careers arrive she does it for him hoping that Peeta survives. After the force field explodes and destroy most of the arena Katniss is retrieve by a hovercraft as she hopes for a swift death, however, she wakes up only to learn she has been a pawn in a game to bring down the Capitol and start a revolution run seemingly by Plutarch and Haymitch. She isn’t angry about it until Haymitch tells her that they only managed to get her, Finnick and Beetee out and that Joanna, Peeta and the remaining career have been captured by the Capitol and that she has been the goal all along as she is the mockingjay, the symbol of the revolution. Hearing this Katniss retreats into herself until Gale comes to visit and he drops another bombshell that District 12 has been destroyed but he managed to get her mother and Prim out in time. Overall, I noted so many differences between the book and movie especially in regards to the ending, while the book ends in a solid spot the movie ends in a really strange place that feel jarring but a solid 5 star read for me and I hope Mockingjay lives up to the memories I have of reading it as a child.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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