When we last lest Katniss Everdeen, she has just completed the Hunger Games, a twisted ritual in the land of Panem, where the Capitol controls all and the 12 outlying districts are reminded of this every day. Having fought and survived, and Katniss and Peeta are prepared get back to regular life, that is if they can get past the ghosts and haunts of their experiences.
Of course, the Capitol won’t let them. Katniss made them look bad in the Hunger Games, after all when she forced them to save not only here but Peeta as well. General Snow, president of this dystopian world keeps grudges.
The heros are off on a victory tour, where they must celebrate being the only ones to survive, and they must do this in front of all of the families whose children did not survive.
Soon it is obvious that Katniss and Peeta, through their actions in the Hunger Games, have inspired rebellion throughout the districts. Katniss is warned that she must do everything she can to play nice, which means convincing everyone that what she did was out of love for Peeta, not rebellion against oppression.
Katniss’s token, the Mockingjay, and the song it sings (taught to her by Rue) become the symbols of a new revolution. Can the districts overcome the power of the Capitol? If the rumors about District 13 are true, there may just be a chance.
The Capitol has a few tricks up its sleeve, though. President Snow announces that for the 75th anniversary, a Quarter Quell will take place. Each district will again have to send two tributes, this time from among all of the winners. Katniss and Peeta are going back into the Hunger Games and this time the stakes are raised.
In order for at least one of them to survive, Katniss and Peeta will have to form alliances and then be willing to kill those who helped them. But what the fiercely independent Katniss doesn’t realize is that the plan has already been set.
As they navigate through jungle and beach, at the mercy of a huge clock that signals one lethal event after another, can the characters beat the game makers once again?
Usually the book in the middle of the series is the least impressive. Full of expedition and little action, half of it devoted to recap and backstory, it is the vegetables of the meal that you have to get down, necessary but not as exciting as the opening course or the satisfying desert. I have to say, though, that in the case of the Hunger Games, Catching Fire didn’t fall into that trap. While there was some weak romantic that slowed down the story, the development of the characters and the action eventually keep things on track. Invested in Katniss, Peeta and their new allies, I enjoyed the next chapter of their lives.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
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