Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Aug 08, 2012 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Hmmm...well, okay.
The book gets four stars for being addictive. And it really is, I mean, I just couldn't stop reading! Collins continued to develop the world, which was full of horrifying brutality (yay!) and featured a suitably horrible villain in President Snow. Still, it was kind of a relief when the action moved to the arena. The horrifying brutality is much more creative there, and this kind of makes me worry about what Book 3 will be like, since I presume there won't be any scenes of the Hmmm...well, okay.
The book gets four stars for being addictive. And it really is, I mean, I just couldn't stop reading! Collins continued to develop the world, which was full of horrifying brutality (yay!) and featured a suitably horrible villain in President Snow. Still, it was kind of a relief when the action moved to the arena. The horrifying brutality is much more creative there, and this kind of makes me worry about what Book 3 will be like, since I presume there won't be any scenes of the Games.
Katniss is also much easier to stomach in the arena. Outside of it, she's remarkably passive for an action heroine, and her Archie Andrews-esque refusal to decide whether she likes Gale or Peeta better is irritating (I think we all know who she likes best, right? I have a theory, and I don't think Book 3 will prove me wrong). I'm also interested in, and not entirely convinced by, the phenomenon of a teenage girl who declares herself too interested in survival to even think about love, but spends a fair amount of time agonizing over the future of her potential children.
Fortunately, Katniss inside the arena is a good strategist who figures out a few key things when no one else does. Her relationship with Peeta is also a little more convincing (okay, that's my guess, just based on number of details and "screen time"; why would she wind up with Gale when he's about one-third as developed a character as the other guy?).
Unfortunately, Katniss inside or outside the arena also seems totally incapable of speculation. She ignores broad clues to repeatedly only consider one explanation for everything for much of the book, to an extent that I can't tell if the author is just straining to keep her in the dark enough to qualify the ending for a "twist" (it wasn't a twist. It wasn't even slightly askew.).
But I do have to say I liked the new characters and the better development of old ones. The effect as a whole is clever and addictive, sprinkled with infuriating here and there. Fortunately, I put a hold on Book 3 about a week after I put a hold on Book 2, so I shouldn't have to wait too long for the conclusion. ...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Danielle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I preferred this book much more than the first installment; better editing perhaps?

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Jul 24, 2011 Lindsey rated it it was amazing

Great book. Amazing series.

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Oct 03, 2011 Jen Peters rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult

Incredibly slow in the beginning for me, and throughout there were patches that I would just set my book down and not even want to get back into it. I feel like it wasn't a great sequel and it didn't come close to being as good as the first. It felt far too repetitive. ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Shauna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, book-club-suggestions

Second read, May 2020. Still good. Still more inclined to finish the story than to leave a review.

But one thought is about God. About asking for a gift and having it float down on a parachute. And how messages come to us in both what we get and what we don’t get.

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