Catching Fire {Book Review}

I did what I said yesterday and started reading Catching Fire, book 2 in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy, today. I started in the afternoon and finished about an hour ago, just in time for me to watch The Mentalist on channel 5.

Here’s the story from the dust jacket:

Against all odds, Katniss has won the the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds 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 she’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.

This was a great sequel, every bit as exciting and riveting as the first book, The Hunger Games, but with a more stunning cliffhanger. I can’t believe book three is coming in the fall of 2010! *Updated: August 24, 2010 is the exact release date* How can I possibly wait that long???

This feels a bit like Harry Potter all over again, though of course, nothing can possibly beat the Harry Potter craze. I don’t know if they’re comparable, even. They’re both fantasy, but this is more realistic, something that could possibly happen in the future, though I sure hope it never does. I love reality TV, but killing people for entertainment is just too much. I can’t even bear to watch boxing or wrestling.

Here is an excerpt, the part that actually moved me to tears (yes, I am such a crybaby):

There. He’s done it again. Dropped a bomb that wipes out all the efforts of every tribute who came before him. Well, maybe not. Maybe this year he has only lit the fuse on the bomb that the victors themselves have been building. Hoping someone would be able to detonate it. Perhaps thinking it would be me in my bridal gown. Not knowing how much I rely on Cinna’s talents, whereas Peeta needs nothing more than his wits.

As the bomb explodes, it sends accusations of injustice and barbarism and cruelty flying out in every direction. Even the most Capitol-loving, Games-hungry, bloodthirsty person out there can’t ignore, at least for a moment, how horrific the whole thing is.

The audience can’t absorb the news right away. It has to strike them and sink in and be confirmed by other voices before they begin to sound like a herd of wounded animals, moaning, shrieking, calling for help. And me? I know my face is projected in a tight close-up on the screen, but I don’t make any effort to hide it.

I am team Peeta all the way, of course. So what if Gale is more handsome and a better hunter? When it comes to effort for Katniss, Peeta trumps Gale. I don’t care if Katniss thinks she likes Gale. She just hasn’t realized that she loves Peeta. I hope she won’t realize it too late in book three.

This will be a long year indeed.