Catching Fire

Summary: Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellmark are miraculously still alive, Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her long time friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gales holes her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol---a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest s he’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Prequel: The Hunger Games

Review: This book gave me nightmares. That is how good it was, and on top of that I still kept reading it despite that it gave me nightmares that left me terrified. Literally I had to take a break from reading it at one point because a nightmare was a little too real for my wimpy tastes. The reason I think that this book gave me nightmares was because last year I took a Genocide class and we studied in depth the Holocaust in WWII and all the techniques that the Germans used. So when all of a sudden {SPOILER} bombings, riots, shooting into random crowds, and nerve gassing {SPOILER END} popped up, I could easily picture it happening. This book is so life-like it is scary.

I don’t want to give anything away from this book because you have to go read it, but Katniss is such a believable character. Sometimes I want to smack her, but she is a breath of relief when considering literature. She is a survivor and you can see that in her doubts, fears, but she is also brave and will not back down. She is relatable and as always Peeta is a genuinely good human being.

Gah. I can’t even put it into words. Basically just go read it, like now. If you have not read the prequel, the Hunger Games, then shame on you! I will hit you over the head with a rock so could read them both now!

Reviews from the Pros:

#1 USA TODAY BESTSELLER
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
#1 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
TIME MAGAZINE
TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS OF 2009
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:
CHILDREN'S FICTION
A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE, 2009
KIRKUS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOKS OF 2009
#2 ON FALL 2009 CHILDREN'S INDIE NEXT LIST
BARNES & NOBLE BEST TEEN BOOKS OF 2009
AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2009:
TOP 100 EDITORS' PICK
TOP 10 BOOKS: TEENS

"Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book."
--The New York Times, Gabrielle Zevin

"Again, Collins’ crystalline, unadorned prose provides an open window to perfect pacing and electrifying world-building, but what’s even more remarkable is that aside from being tremendously action-packed sf thrillers, these books are also brimming with potent themes of morality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, law, and, above all, survival. Honestly, this book only needs to be good enough to satisfy its legions of fans. Fortunately, it’s great. And if you were dying to find out what happens after the last book, get ready for pure torture awaiting the next."
--Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

"...doesn’t disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect. Characters from the previous volume reappear to good effect: Katniss’s stylist, Cinna, proves he’s about more than fashion; Haymitch becomes more dimensional. But the star remains Katniss, whose bravery, honesty and wry cynicism carry the narrative...Collins has also created an exquisitely tense romantic triangle for her heroine...by book’s end (and it’s a cliffhanger), readers will be picking sides—Peeta or Gale?”
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"Stellar, imaginative writing."
--Los Angeles Times


"Beyond the expert world building, the acute social commentary and the large cast of fully realized characters, there’s action, intrigue, romance and some amount of hope in a story readers will find completely engrossing. Collins weaves in enough background for this novel to stand alone, but it will be a far richer experience for those who have read the first installment and come to love Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and the rest of the desperate residents of this dystopia. A humdinger of a cliffhanger will leave readers clamoring for volume three."
--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW


"...this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment."
--School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

"Collins ratchets up the tension in the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. With a host of well-drawn new secondary characters and more lives on the line, this will keep readers of all ages up long past their bedtimes."
--Romantic Times Book Reviews, ****1/2 STARS

"Collins has once again delivered a page-turning blend of plot and character with an inventive setting and provocative themes."
--The Horn Book Magazine

Read it. NOW.