Category: Fire’s Catching

Fire’s Catching: “Catching Fire”

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It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

Book: “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins

Publishing Info: Scholastic Press, September 2009

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won 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 that 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.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.

Review: I mentioned before that this is a part re-read/re-watch, part initial read, as while I read “The Hunger Games” proper (as well as “Songbirds” and “Reaping”) and have seen all of the movies, I didn’t read “Catching Fire” or “Mockingjay” because I was told that they weren’t as good as the first book. I don’t know who told me that, thinking back. It wasn’t my husband, who has read ALL of the books (and dove into the series the moment we got back from the first movie), but whoever it was is on notice because while I was reading “Catching Fire” I muttered to myself ‘okay, this is really good, who lied to me?!’

Mystery person, whoever you are, welcome to my shit list. I WILL NOT FORGIVE THIS DISCREPANCY! (source)

I think that what I really liked about this book (and I liked it about the movie version too so why oh WHY couldn’t I have used my brain to realize the book was probably also good!?) is that we get to not only get some expanded lore about Panem and the aftermath of ‘winning’ The Hunger Games, we also see the folly of trying to appease a fascist, and the way that revolutions can slowly gain momentum because of fates aligning in just the right way (I will undoubtedly talk more about this when I eventually review “Sunrise on the Reaping”). Katniss and her Night Lock rebellion at the end of hers and Peeta’s games has enamored her with the citizens of the Capitol, but President Snow sees this moment not as two lovers willing to die for each other, but a direct threat to his power because of how it showed that, in fact, he cannot control the district citizens, and therein cannot control Panem. Since this is a first person perspective and it’s all through Katniss’s eyes we don’t REALLY get to see the way that the uprisings are starting, outside of hints here and there, but as she goes on her Victory Tour and more people connect with her, she becomes more desperate to appease Snow to keep her loved ones safe. She is not in control any more than he is, and it made for such a fascinating trajectory for her.

I also liked spending more time in District Twelve and getting more insight into what her mother and sister Prim have been doing (healers!), and seeing how Katniss and Peeta are heroes but nothing really changes for their community outside of having bragging rights (and honestly, how it just gets worse as Snow gets more desperate and more brutal Peacekeepers are sent into the District and wreak more havoc). And while I don’t like Gale, I do like seeing a bit more of him and his perspective as a non Victor who has to play his own part by nature of being Katniss’s friend (and the first glimmers of radicalization that are being set in motion even more so). By the time things are starting to get out of control and Snow and Katniss both realize she can’t stop it, her death is going to be the only recourse, and therefore the Quarter Quell happens and Victors from all over are pulled into it as a huge ruse to take her out. And probably send a message that none of them better get any ideas. You cannot appease fascists, and that is a clear theme in this novel (as all of Collins’s novels have themes).

And the Games this time around are brutal. I mean, they are always brutal, but we add in a layer of the absolute unfairness of all of these victors being brought back to fight again in spite of the trauma they have already endured and the promise that they could be left alone after their initial win. Katniss doesn’t know who she can trust in the arena, knowing that she has made SOME alliances, or has been thrown into others, and the suspense of having to be in another fight to the death while thinking maybe she CAN trust some of the players (but maybe not?) just adds to the suspense, especially since we are seeing it all through her eyes. This also is the book that we meet one of my other absolute favorite “Hunger Games” characters, Johanna Mason, and having only seen her on screen until this point it was VERY gratifying seeing her on the page. Because she manages to be even MORE bitchy here, and seeing her be a terror was a lot of fun. At the same time, however, I feel like it was almost more interesting leading up to the games, as while this is still pulse pounding and a great dystopian thriller, I don’t think that it could top those initial games because it was so novel in the initial book, even with the added suspense about the other tributes and their motivations.

And the cliffhanger packs a wallop too. Poor Katniss. She tried to hard to keep her loved ones safe and then her whole community gets blown off the map in retaliation. Snow being on the page more this time made it all the more cruel, I think, because she tried her best but it was never going to be good enough. That’s one of the ultimate tragedies of this series that I will probably keep harping on as my reading and viewing goes on: she never wanted this. And even when she grudgingly accepts it, and even if it is for the greater good of Panem, she’s just a kid, and it’s such a weight to carry.

“Catching Fire” was another great read in this series. I’m kicking myself for having left it by the wayside all those years ago. Up next is “Mockingjay”, the one I was told by many was the most boring. But after reading this one and finding it better than I was told, I’m thinking that I will probably be taken aback by how deceived I was with that one too. I guess we’ll see!

Rating 8: We get more into the intrigue of a fomenting revolution seen through the eyes of someone who never meant to start it, as well as more insight into a totalitarian society. Throw in another brutal games and “Catching Fire” is another harrowing read, and I’m glad I finally picked it up!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Catching Fire” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Young Adult Dystopian Novels”, and “Best Survival Stories”.

Fire’s Catching: “The Hunger Games”


This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

Book: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

Publishing Info: Scholastic Press, October 2008

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review: I got back from a week long cruise with friends this past Monday, having to sink back into the real world like one always does after a vacation. As I was taking my kid to school on Tuesday and I was pulling into the drop off lane, I noticed something that hadn’t been there before I left: there were now people in green vests standing on the corners by the various drop off and pick up entrances to her elementary school, keeping an eye on the drivers who were coming and going. I immediately clocked that they were there to watch out for ICE. Coming back to reality after a fun trip with dear friends is already hard; it’s even harder when you come back to an occupied metro area that has an ever present anxiety of our neighbors being harassed and kidnapped and murdered, especially when those being targeted include children.

Welcome to “Fire Catching”, my series where I revisit “The Hunger Games”, the dystopia phenomenon written by Suzanne Collins. It had been some time since I read the first book in the series, almost fifteen years probably by my count, though my husband and I have watched the movies many times. When I read it originally it was a fun dystopia with complicated world building, nuanced characters, and a lot of action that fit well together and created a book that I read in about one afternoon. I really loved it then. I still really love it on this revisit, though it feels a bit closer to home these days. This will be a review for the most part! That’s what you are here for. But I’m sure I’ll also be reflective a bit. I feel like I have to be.

(source)

What strikes me about “The Hunger Games” this time around is just how much Collins trusts her readers to be able to handle dark and complicated themes, while also being able to break them down for the audience in ways that aren’t condescending but are easy to understand. Katniss Everdeen is our first person protagonist, a sixteen year old girl living in a poverty stricken community known as District 12, one part of multiple districts that have to answer for a rebellion against The Capitol years earlier. The districts answer by sending two kids, one boy and one girl, drawn by a lottery, to a battle to the death. Katniss isn’t selected, she volunteers so that her gentle younger sister Prim doesn’t have to go. It’s most likely that you know the story. But I never get sick of it, and re-reading it this time I was pleased with how harrowing her story of training, preparing, fighting, and having to perform for her oppressors as entertainment remains. Katniss is prickly, she’s had to grow up far too fast (not just because of life in the Districts but also because of her father’s death leaving her mother catatonic for a spell), and now she has been chosen to be a prop for an oppressive government’s bloodsport. She’s complex and hard headed, but Collins is also great and bringing her vulnerability out, more than happy to remind the reader that she is a child who has been put into a horrifying situation. We see everything through her eyes, and while sometimes it’s a bit on the nose as to how she is misinterpreting things (girl, of COURSE Peeta adores you and has adored you this whole time), but at the same time I fully believe that she has EVERY reason to be paranoid and to think the worst of people, whether it’s her drunk mentor Haymitch, or even the sweet and quiet Peeta.

And we are just starting to scratch the surface of the world building for Panem and its history here, and Collins gives us enough information to make a compelling story while also holding enough back to give us much more to work with as the series goes on. The idea of children’s peril and death being used as punishment and control isn’t new by any means (from The Minotaur to “The Long Walk” to “Battle Royale” it has been seen in so many stories throughout history), but the way that Collins builds this world makes it feel freshly horrifying. With Katniss giving tidbits about how the Hunger Games work, the various ins and outs of how the system can be rigged and gamed based on social standing (because even in the oppressed districts there are still class differences within themselves and between themselves), hints of how The Capitol crushes dissent with a veneer of beauty and wealth, and showing how death has been turned into eagerly eaten up entertainment due to years of propaganda, the world building is rich and incredibly well done. The games themselves are horrifying, more horrifying than I remembered from the first time I read it. I’m sure that’s in part due to the fact I now have a child of my own that I can’t help but project into the horrors, as well as the other stuff going on in my community that seems downright dystopian at the moment. Still so relevant, unfortunately.

This is going to be a gratifying and intense re-read, I can tell. “The Hunger Games” is still such a great start to the series. Next up I will tackle “Catching Fire”. Which I haven’t actually read! So that will be interesting!

And please take a look at this link for Stand With Minnesota, a resource hub for mutual aid, donation drives, and other resources to help communities all over my home state right now. We need help.

Rating 9: Still as harrowing and relevant as when it first came out, which is both a positive (for timelessness purposes) and negative (for the too real feels of it all).

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hunger Games” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction”, and “Best Survival Stories”.

Fire’s Catching: A Year with “The Hunger Games” – Introduction

It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

I first read Suzanne Collins’s novel “The Hunger Games” back in 2012, a few years after it had first come out. I hadn’t really been reading much YA fiction at that time, as my main associations to that age group were “Twilight” and “Harry Potter”, both series that didn’t interest me too much. But after hearing all the hype about “The Hunger Games” from friends and family alike (my mother was the one who said I needed to check it out, interestingly enough), I decided to give it a shot. And I ended up really liking it! I liked it so much that when the film came out later that year I told my husband that we needed to go and see it. He was skeptical, but once we came home from the movie he said ‘so…. do we own all of these books?’ And we did. Now, almost fifteen years later, I have decided that I wanted to revisit Panem, and Katniss Everdeen, and all of the victors and villains of “The Hunger Games” series.

Or, in the case of the books “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”, read for the first time! Yes, I never actually read beyond “The Hunger Games”, having heard that the other two books in the series weren’t as good as the first book. I just told myself I’d see the movies since I really liked the first one, and I was, for the first time in my life, the one in the dark when it came to the books and the lore while my husband was the expert (this would happen again with the “Grishaverse” by Leigh Bardugo, but that’s another story for another time). So I’m going to take 2026, a year that has started with a lot of fear and uncertainty in the Twin Cities with ICE coming in and bringing violence, and instability to our immigrant communities, to revisit the entire “Hunger Games” series. It just feels like the right time to come back to it. I will first read all of the books and review them in publication order, and then I will revisit the movies, finishing off with “Sunrise on the Reaping” when it comes out this November. I’ll review, I’ll compare an contrast, and no doubt I will be feeling a certain kind of way while doing so.

So for the most part I will be doing this on the last Thursday of each month (though I will use next Thursday as my first review post just to keep the momentum going). Feel free to follow along! And may the odds be ever in your favor!!