173. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Canada) - (USA)
The Hunger Games Trilogy, #2

Pages: 391 pages
Ages: 12+
Finished: Aug. 24, 2010
First Published: Sept. 1, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: YA, science fiction, dystopia
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.

Acquired: Borrowed a copy from my local library.

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

I won't go into any details of the story or try to duplicate the thousands of reviews out there that have said it all before. I'll just go with my impressions. Again, I am captured by the first page and cannot let go until I finish. Suzanne Collins has really captured the essential ingredients needed for a good YA novel, including fine writing (not like some others I could mention). The book starts off going in the direction the reader expects but quickly is thrown off track as unexpected events are unleashed. The first half of the book follows one line of the story arc, while the second goes in a different direction giving the read two completely different experiences but both end up with the same results.

I really thought this was fabulous, at times I'm not so keen on the second book in a series as it will feel like a filler waiting for the third. But that is not so in this case. The plot is integral to the overall arching story. There are some answers in this volume and we have a better knowledge of what is going on and on character's background. And then the book ends with a cliffhanger! This I do not like. But fortunately I'm reading the book now, while I have the last book already at hand.

My only concern with the last book is that I feel that a main character will have to die for the book to really be authentic. I am sooo hoping it is not Peter, I think his role in their proposed future is the most important, even putting aside that I am biased and on Team Peter as far as Katniss is concerned. I would be willing to except anyone else's death, even (God forbid) Katniss'!, as long as Peter survives. Though honestly, I'm hoping it will be Gale because I think Haymitch would be a cop-out. Don't anybody tell me! I am furiously deleting all Mockingjay reviews so that I remain clueless until I have read it myself. These are just my musings going into Mockingjay.