Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) in All Challenges All The Time

Mar 25, 2015 Catsalive rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2024, 2016, 2014, 2022

This book isn't quite as good as the first. This is my 3rd reading, for one reason or another. I really enjoyed it the first time but ensuing readings allow me to think what an unlikeable person Katniss is. No wonder Snow implied they thought alike.

The Hunger Games series in general is a good action thriller, unbelievable & improbable at times, but fast-paced & adventurous. ...more

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Mar 30, 2014 Shan ~A~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: family, borrowed-hoopla, animals, siblings, audio, crime, in-series-or-trilogy, 2024-floab, favorites, sci-fi

Update Review 07/01/2024 ~ 5 stars

It's been years since I read this book and I still love it. Of course, now I know the answers to my questions, but I found after all these years later, even with seeing the movies several times, there were several things that I had forgot so it's still had a level of newness. Even if that wasn't the case, I still would have enjoyed it.

There are times when I want to shake Katniss and tell her to open her eyes and think smarter, but at the same time we all know t ...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Malin rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Katniss Everdeen lives in post-apocalyptic Panem, where the U.S once used to be. Panem used to be divided into 13 districts and the Capitol, but after a rebellion, District 13 was destroyed. To keep the various districts in check, the Capitol demands that every year each district send two teen tributes, one male and one female, to compete in the televised Hunger Games, a fight to the death where there can be only one victor. However, Katniss thwarted the Capitol in the last Hunger Games, and bot Katniss Everdeen lives in post-apocalyptic Panem, where the U.S once used to be. Panem used to be divided into 13 districts and the Capitol, but after a rebellion, District 13 was destroyed. To keep the various districts in check, the Capitol demands that every year each district send two teen tributes, one male and one female, to compete in the televised Hunger Games, a fight to the death where there can be only one victor. However, Katniss thwarted the Capitol in the last Hunger Games, and both the tributes from District 12 survived. She pretended to be madly in love with her fellow tribute Peeta, and would have poisoned them both, forcing them to let both survive rather than have no winner.

Katniss does not realize just how much her defiant act has inspired people in the various districts. There is discord and discontent, and the President of Panem threatens to kill not only Katniss, but Peeta and everyone Katniss ever loved if she doesn't help him improve the image of the Capitol and the power of the government. Katniss has to continue her act as Peeta's beloved, made harder by the fact that Peeta genuinely loves her, and she prefers Gale, a miner in District 12. When travelling around Panem on their victory tour, Peeta and Katniss play at being passionately in love, and Peeta even proposes, but this does not stop rebellions in several of the Districts.

Every 25 years, there is a Quarter Quell as well as the regular annual Hunger Games. This year, it seems the contestants of the Quarter Quell will be selected from previous winners. Katniss is the only female contestant ever to survive the Games from District 12, and therefore has to go back and fight for her life once more, this time against people who have already proven their battle prowess by killing all their opponents. Peeta insists on being the male tribute, and this time, hoping that the Capitol and the President might spare her family if she dies, Katniss is determined that Peeta will be the one to survive.

Catching Fire is a very dark book, and the world that Suzanne Collins has created is a very bleak one. The book is set in a dystopian and totalitarian future, where the government forces its subjects to volunteer and send their young to get killed, in order to keep them subjugated and too scared to rebel. In the Capitol, the Hunger Games are prime time entertainment, it's clear that the people who live there have no idea of the suffering of the people in the various districts.

Katniss realizes that unwittingly, she has become a symbol for the rebellion against the Capitol. She thought that by surviving the Hunger Games, she could live out the rest of her life in relative comfort with her family, and that outside the occasional television interview, she could forget about her time in the Games, and her pretend romance with Peeta. Instead, she discovers that the Capitol have been keeping an extra close eye on her, and her one kiss in the woods with Gale has pretty much ensured that he will be the first to die if things don't go the way the Capitol wishes. Also, while she's unable to return Peeta's romantic feelings, she values him as a friend and their shared experience in the Games means that only he can understand how she feels on occasion.

Both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are very well-written, gripping reads, if dark and a bit depressing. Having heard rumours that the third and final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, which was released at the beginning of September is the most depressing of the three, I'm holding off on reading it for a bit, as I don't think I'm up for it at the moment. ...more

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May 27, 2011 Haze rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, 2015-books-read, 2011-books-read, 2013-books-read, reread, 2017-books-read, 2022-books-read, 2025-books-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2025:

Finished!! It's funny how when I read the first book I was thinking it was my favorite out of the trilogy, but now that I've just read the second, I feel like this is my favorite out of the trilogy. I'm sure when I start reading the third I'm probably going to think it's my favorite then!

I just love this series and I love all the little things and the story as a whole. I remember not really liking the story much the first time because I was so focused on the romance between Katniss and Pee 2025:

Finished!! It's funny how when I read the first book I was thinking it was my favorite out of the trilogy, but now that I've just read the second, I feel like this is my favorite out of the trilogy. I'm sure when I start reading the third I'm probably going to think it's my favorite then!

I just love this series and I love all the little things and the story as a whole. I remember not really liking the story much the first time because I was so focused on the romance between Katniss and Peeta and there was so little of it, and I hated that Katniss was choosing Gale. I am obviously Team Peeta. 😍 I mean, Gale comes across as childish and petulant, and I hate the way he acted with the whole Katniss/Peeta romance, I hate how he wanted to run away with Katniss until he realized she wanted Peeta to come too. I mean what? Did you want her to leave someone important to her behind to die? I hate that he refused to take the gloves until he knew it wasn't Peeta's. Honestly, I don't think he even loved Katniss until he realized that Peeta loved her. He just wanted her, territorial-like. Peeta, on the other hand, is so gracious and understanding about Katniss and Gale's relationship, and his behavior speaks volumes about how he puts her above everything, compared to Gale putting his own ego, and anger, first. Bleh! I'm sorry, Team Gale, you can fight me if you want, but you know I'm right! 😝 😂

Anyway, yeah, I hated it the first time I read the books, but now I feel like it's a necessary part of the story. We see how Katniss is confused and struggling with her feelings and her lack of autonomy. We see how Katniss struggles to accept that she is loveable and deserving of unconditional love. Peeta never needed anything from her, he just loved her even if he never got love back. He was someone she could trust, someone who would always put her first.

In contrast, it's like, would Gale love her if she wasn't useful to him? Would he put her first? It might be unfair to compare because he's got his family who relies on him, true, but it's still a factor and I believe that's why Katniss can accept Gale's love, because she can understand it better than Peeta's love. But Gale would never put her first, and even her own mother couldn't put her first. Only Peeta would, and did, and her own understanding of herself and her world made that difficult for her to accept, I think. All this to say, I love this series so much because compared to so many other books in the YA dystopian genre, I don't feel like the plot was contrived in order to serve the romance, but in the case, the romance was necessary to serve the plot. The way the romance plays out shows us Katniss' state of mind, her values and beliefs about herself and the kind of person she is, the way she accepts love, the way she trusts people, the way she values her freedom and independence, which is highly important to the story and showing us who she is as a character, a reluctant hero.

Moving on, I love so many of the other characters too, and yes, I would absolutely read more books in the series for Finnick's story, Johanna's story, Beetee's story, and more!! I'm sure we'll get some of Mags' story along with Finnick's since she was his mentor, but even one focused on Mags is fine with me. Of course, I got emotional at so many scenes, again! When we first see Darius as an Avox, when the tributes all held hands, when Katniss' dress turned into a Mockingjay and then later when Cinna was punished for it, when Mags ran into the toxic fog so that Finnick could save Peeta instead 😭Looking at some of the details now after rereading so many times, I think it was brilliant how the rebellion worked behind the scenes, and the parts each of the characters played, how important each and every single one of the players were!

Also, now that I've read SOTR, reading the parts where they talked about Haymitch's games was so interesting! I never paid attention to the details very much before, and I'd forgotten about them by the time I read SOTR, but it's like, I will probably go back and read SOTR again after I finish the rest of these books! ...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Sassafrass rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, z-2011, z-src-wi11-12

Ok, I didn't exactly see what was coming. I really feel bad for those who don't have the benefit of going right to book 3. I won't be going there right away but I will get there soon.

This story is so very scary, I don't even want to think about the possibility of this really happening. I didn't understand how catching fire was going to end, and I'm scared to think about what's coming in Mockingjay. But like a train wreck, there is no way that I can look away. ...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Mandi rated it it was amazing

Once again, she ended with a huge cliffhanger. Plus side, 'Catching Fire' was just as amazing, if not more so, as the first. Such a twist with the Quarter Quell. In a way, it should have been expected. But, it never crossed my mind. 'Catching Fire' is full of twists through the whole book. Which makes it all the more interesting. Such a great book. Time for 'Mockingjay'. ...more

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Jul 01, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing

I have no idea why I took so long to read this series. I always wanted to read it but always put it on the back burner. I am so excited to start on Mocking Jay next. I love Katness (she is such a badass) and Peeta and Gale...I love Haymitch so much too.

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