"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

In honor of the much-anticipated premier of The Hunger Games movie on Monday (which I'm super excited about), I thought I'd post about this amazing series.

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins' sequel to The Hunger Games, is another fantastic read.  Nothing can top the first, for its originality and excitement, but Catching Fire does a good job. 

In The Hunger Games, the powerful Capitol forces its subjects to participate in a yearly televised game to the death, to show the once-rebellious districts who's in charge.  It's a disturbing system, one I'd hope would never really come to pass, and what terrifies me most is how people go along with it.

In Catching Fire, politics and the seeds of rebellion begin to sneak into the story.  A great direction for the series, I think.  Contestants start working together, and Katniss, the main character, realizes that bigger things are afoot.  In the third book, Mockingjay, one of the main themes is Katniss' struggle with her role as a simple pawn in a larger game, and this is where that really starts. 

I also love the development of Katniss and Peeta's relationship (yes, I'm firmly in camp Peeta). 

Suzanne Collins' writing is emotional and absorbing, and Catching Fire becomes a page turner almost as heart-pounding as The Hunger Games. 

The ending is a cliffhanger in the grand style of The Empire Strikes Back.  I had a hard time making myself ration Mockingjay, the third and final book in the series.

Suzanne Collins, you deserve all the acclaim you're getting.  It's a horrifying premise, and maybe it glorifies violence despite the main characters' hatred of it, but it's still the most engaging set of books I've read in a long time.

My rating:  5

To read more about the movie, click here.

For my post on The Hunger Games, click here.

To buy Catching Fire, click here.