Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)

by Suzanne Collins

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I was eager to start reading this after I finished to first Hunger Games book. I read this book within a couple of days I just couldn’t put it down. Just like with the first.

I love that The Hunger Games trilogy is so logical. Everything makes sense which makes everything so realistic and believable. Katniss has to deal with the consequences of her decisions that she made in the first book. Those decisions weren’t passed over and forgiven or forgotten about, it didn’t just end happily ever after, and I like that. Logical and realistic.

Although, I found I did not enjoy this book as much as the first. And I realized what I was trying to say in my review about the first book. So much happens in these books that you feel like the book isn’t big enough to hold the story. You want more action to read, more depth and more suspense. It’s all over too quickly. This might be seen as good because you get hooked or it might be seen as bad because you feel like there isn’t enough time to get drawn in to the characters, to real feel for them. Sometimes I felt like I was an outsider watching the story instead of feeling the emotions that Katniss was feeling. This for me was a con because I love it when you are so engrossed into the book that you feel what the character feels and you are emotionally moved.

The love triangle. I’m not too sure how I feel about this. The triangle is definitely there and I know who I want Katniss to end up with but the thing is there feels like there is no chemistry between the characters. Or rather as a reader you have no personal interest in which person Katniss ends up with, you don’t fall in love with either of the relationships. Even if you decide whom you want her to end up with, you really couldn’t care if it went the other way.

You know she will end up with one of them but you aren’t so drawn in that you’re vying for her to choose her affection. As a reader I want there to be more of a spark that we read about. But these books aren’t based on romance and that is not the premise of the story, the plot does not revolve around romance. It revolves around survival and a revolution. That still doesn’t mean I don’t want a little more of that fire catching romance though. And by that I mean I want to see Katniss fall in love and I want to like her choice and be personally invested in her decision. So far, I have felt nothing of the sort.

When I was half way through the book that was the time that I felt like it was only really beginning, that the first half of the book had been a build up to that point then I was disappointed to see that there was only half of the book to go. All I thought was, how can you tell the rest of this story in half of the book? It felt like Collins used half of the book to explain what was going on rather than tell the story that was presently happening. I felt like she could have cut this down or shown it in a different way because by the time it got to the really good parts the book was nearly finished.

The first half of the book felt slow and like it dragged on, I found myself trying to read faster and faster to get to the good parts. Whereas the ending half felt rushed which made it less exciting and it was over so quickly that you were left with disappointment.

In conclusion, I did enjoy this book it just didn’t surpass my expectations. It was what it was. It was entertaining, thought out, believable, realistic and hard to put down. A good read. Just not as exciting, well written, or attention grabbing as the first book.

What were your thoughts on the sequel?

Miss J
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