Introduction
Catching Fire, written by Suzanne Collins and published by Scholastic publishing company on September 1st, 2009, is the sequel to The Hunger Games. Released almost a year after its predecessor, this dystopian fiction did a wonderful job continuing the stories of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. I truly enjoy every book in this series, so ranking them was difficult, but in thinking about the original trilogy and the newest release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I do have to say that this one is ranked lowest. I am continuing with the Spoiler-Free Thoughts section of these reviews, so anyone who hasn’t read this book can go to that section if they would like to know what I think about it. Those who have read it and want a deeper insight as well as more specific examples on why I feel the way I do can continue on to the Thoughts section.
If you are interested in learning more about Suzanne Collins and her upcoming work, you can visit her website https://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/index.htm.
Plot
The 74th Hunger Games may have ended with Katniss and Peeta victorious, but the Games are far from over. President Snow has no love for the lovebirds, and he has a cruel surprise in store for the historical 75th Hunger Games.
Spoiler-Free Thoughts
Picking up about six months after the end of the first book, and still told in Katniss’ first person perspective, so much is different after her time in the arena. She spends a lot of time throughout the book attempting to ignore her feelings, but there are subtle hints provided through her trains of thought. Katniss will never stop trying to protect the lucky few she loves - even at the cost of her own life - but that sometimes causes confusion for her regarding exactly what way she loves those around her.
Peeta seems to have not changed at all since the first book, though he is also undoubtedly struggling after the events of the 74th Hunger Games. While Katniss does her best to undo the damage caused by her actions in the first book, Peeta’s charm is much more effortless, as it always has been. I love Peeta as a character in these books because he feels like a source of stability within Katniss’ turmoil. When everything around them is uncertain, he feels like an anchor, especially as he’s told through Katniss’ perspective. I would have been interested to get more insight on his thoughts and feelings in this book to see what was really going on inside his head as opposed to what he presented to the rest of the world.
Haymich - even drunk - is brilliant, and while he doesn’t have the best coping mechanisms, he has always been willing to sober up to keep Katniss and Peeta alive. He has never made out a secret that he thinks they’re fighters. I love his dynamic with Katniss in that even when they want to kill one another, each would readily die for the other at the same time. He remains mostly honest with them, and he does his best to keep his promises. Another character who has an interestingly honest relationship with Katniss is President Snow. Much as I don’t like him from a moral perspective, I can’t deny that he is one of the most interesting characters in this book. His brutal honesty with Katniss about the trajectory of her life since she took Prim’s place in the last Games is staggering, as villains are rarely so transparent with their plans and intentions. He also seems to be incredibly calculated, making for an intriguing and very human villain. I really enjoy reading their interactions, and I wish we got more of it.
Something else I enjoyed was the tribute dynamic. The most we got of that in the first book was between Peeta and the Careers, and Katniss and Rue. To see them not only working together but developing relationships and getting to know one another added a new layer. The standouts to me were Finnick and Johanna, especially in how they readily teased Katniss. Even with the alliances though, Katniss’ distrustful nature kept the same ambiguity and mystery from the last book without feeling repetitive.
The pacing of this book really drove home the idea that the Games are always being played, and the odds are not in the tributes’ favor. The book is split into multiple parts, and it isn’t until part three that the tributes are even in the arena. They are all pieces in the Capital’s Games.
For me, this book has many great qualities, my biggest complaint is the love triangle. However, I still don’t think it quite measures up to the first book. Because of that, I give this book an 8/10.
Thoughts
Reading Katniss’ internal dialogue, particularly her emotional turmoil, truly makes me believe that she is in love with Peeta, and she cannot love Gale in the same way. While there is something to be said about the bond she has with Peeta due to their traumatic experience within the Games together, I think their connection goes beyond that. However, after Gale’s whipping, she seems to think that she loves him romantically - more so than she loves Peeta. While the love triangle was not my favorite in this book - largely because I dislike Gale’s personality, and at times the drama surrounding it felt out of place within the dystopian game of life or death within the Capital - I do think that the nuances behind it are interesting. Katniss doesn’t want to love Peeta because it’s what the Capital expects of her, but before the games, she had never seen Gale as more than a friend or family member. She never thought of him romantically, something made clear in the first book. Meanwhile, what has changed since the first book is her survival goal. She was willing to kill Peeta - or at least let him die - in the 74th Hunger Games if it meant getting back to her family. In the 75th Games, she was ready to throw herself into the line of fire without hesitation if it meant Peeta would get home safely.
Peeta is once again working to play these games the only way he knows how: making himself and Katniss indispensable to the citizens of the Capital. Their marriage proposal was wonderful, and yet somehow not enough. That also speaks to his character, even after being made aware of their situation with President Snow, he refused to even risk Katniss’ life. Yes, he wanted to marry her, but he didn’t want her to be forced into it; he only proposed because it was the only way to ensure her safety, and even then it didn’t work. He is one of the least malicious characters in a series full of them. His “she came here with me” moment from the first book was his “if it wasn’t for the baby” moment in this one. I love this because now Collins is introducing this idea of morality into a place where it seems obsolete, which is an interesting sub-focus of this book, and one that I would’ve liked to see explored more.
Haymich may like both Katniss and Peeta, but he certainly gets along better with Peeta. He and Katniss - as I mentioned in the previous review - are much alike. Peeta is a truly kind soul, and it’s been well established and acknowledged that he is the best of the trio. Despite this, Haymich backed Katniss in the 74th Hunger Games because he’s strategic, and he knows that she is the survivor of the two, the one with the killer instinct needed for anyone braving the Capital and the Games. I like that they switched up in this book. With Katniss’ determination to get Peeta home alive, she enlists Haymich’s assistance, and he agrees. He knows that he owes them for the last Games, and it’s a great defining moment for the two of them, especially when it all goes wrong in the end.
I mentioned in my last book that Gale always felt like more of a revolutionary than Katniss, with the exception being the moments following Rue’s death. That idea is emphasized in part one of this book, with Katniss insisting in the face of Snow’s threats that she never meant any harm. Despite this, the districts are in upheaval, and nothing she does changes that. By the time we get to part two, she no longer cares to satisfy Snow’s needs, and at the very end she may not be ready to read a rebellion, but she’s abandoned the idea of playing the Captial’s Games. Especially when those games end in tragedy, such as what is seen with Rue’s and Cinna’s deaths. Both tragedies that add fuel to Katniss’ fire.
The ending of this book was astounding. All we hear about the rebellion so far is that the Games are punishment for the districts’ failures, and District 13 was wiped off of the map for it. For this book to end with the bombing of District 12 symbolizes not the end of a rebellion, but the start of one.
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