Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Soon to be a major film series. Something I found out after reading the first one. I can see it being a good film, although reading up on that and the books more, it seems this series is less of a hit with the male population - on the premise that this book mentions romance.

So, to clarify. I'm a man. I'm not young adult, and I'm not one for reading romance novels. The Twilight series are just wrong in my opinion.

Now we've established that, I can hopefully persuade you that these books are not romance novels. Nor are they just for kids.

This book picks up a few months after the close of the first (The Hunger Games). Peeta and Katniss are still playing up their romance for the Capitol crowds, and getting ready for their tour of the districts. But word is spreading of an uprising in the districts, and now President Snow is looking for blood.

I won't go in to more detail about the plot - you can read that in the product details above, and to be honest, if you've read the first book, and are already here - why haven't you bought this yet?

I've read some reviews saying this book isn't as good as the first one. I disagree, partly. The plot, and the writing are as good, if not better than the first. It lets itself down slightly by The Games being not as involved as the first book - but then I don't think they really are meant to be. They serve their purpose to get us to the start of book 3 (Mockingjay (Hunger Games)), and they do it well.

If you have read the first book, you should read this right now. You'll enjoy it, I promise. If you haven't read the first book, you need to go do that before reading this one.

I for one, am off to the third book.

The sequel to the brilliant Hunger Games once more begins in district 12, a town torn apart by poverty, forever in fear of its rulers, The Capitol. After surviving The Hunger games, Katniss and Peeta live a life of luxury and wealth in glorious mansions, no longer afraid of starvation. But do not be lulled into the lie that this is a happy ending, no, Katniss must live a life of deception, convincing The Capitol that she is madly in love with Peeta when she infact has feelings for her life -long friend Gale or shall face the consequences which are frigteningly clear: She and all she loves shall die. In the first novel, you are reasured that none of her family will come to any harm and that the only ones in any signicant danger are Katniss and Peeta. There are no such reasurances in this novel, so in one respect this is a scarier novel than The Hunger Games.
In terms of structure, this is quite a different beast to The Hunger Games, for instance while in the first novel most time is spent on Katniss preparing for the games and the actual event, focussing on the tributes tactics including her own and the events within the games. Giving you only a brief introduction to District 12 itself. Catching Fire focuses on the events outside the arena and the possiblities of revolution. The actual games are a little rushed. There is far less blood letting in Catching Fire but do not be tempted into the notion that because there is less violence the book is in any way lighter than The Hunger Games, as with most trilogies, the books only get darker and this is a very unpredictable and unsettleing read. There are truck loads of suspense and you cannot stop asking yourself centillions of questions surrounding President Snow and his ruthless, uncaring government. I prefer The Hunger Games only by half an inch because it is a little more satisfying and reveals this cruelly imaginative world for the very first time. If I don't start reading Mocking Jay anytime soon I think my head might explode.

Having survived the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is back home in Sector 12, not looking forward to her role as a mentor for the next year's games. She is surprised to hear rumours that her defiance of the Capitol and President Snow during the Games has sparked unrest and even discord in other sectors. When she and her co-winner, Peeta, conduct a tour of the districts, Katniss realises that her name and her emblem, the mockingjay, are being taken up as a symbol of rebellion and hope.

Determined to crush Katniss's influence, Snow arranges a special new Hunger Games event for the 75th anniversary of the games. All the living winners of the games must return to the arena for a fresh battle...

Catching Fire is the second volume of The Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins' highly successful, post-apocalypse, dystopian YA SF series. Collins never intended to write a trilogy, so Catching Fire has some work to do to set up a bigger storyline that will be resolved in the following novel, namely the move from merely being a story set in a dystopia to a more epic story about the overthrow of the oppressive government.

For these reasons Catching Fire has some issues. We're more than halfway through the novel before the second Hunger Games kick off, and we're not able to spend much time with those games before the conclusion arrives. This is a shame as Collins addresses some of the weaknesses of the first set of games, with many more contestants being identified and much better-characterised than first time around. The arena is also far more ingenious, with many more deadly traps. The games section of the novel and the conclusion are both rushed in an attempt to cover as much ground as possible before the final novel, which hurts the quality of this book.

That said, it's still a fast-paced, readable and enjoyable book. We see more of Panem and get more of a sense what life is like for people living there, which is essential to better-establish the wider backdrop of the series. On the characterisation front, Katniss isn't always a sympathetic protagonist and often makes mistakes, which makes her more relatable and real. Other characters, like Peeta and newcomers like Finnick, are also given some solid scenes and character-building moments. The mutual hatred and anger between Katniss and President Snow is also well-handled. However, the Capitol and its rulers are rather dense in this book. Everything they do seems designed to inflame the situation and further the rebellion, which is weird for people who've been in charge for a century and have used the Hunger Games as a form of propaganda and control for seventy-five years, which requires some savvy knowledge of media and PR. Instead, the plot feels set-up ahead of time and both the reader and the characters are along for the ride.

Catching Fire (***½) is a drop down in quality from The Hunger Games, but still an enjoyable and entertaining novel. It is available now in the UK and USA.