Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (CBR-V #51)

Cannonball Read V: Book #51/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 391

Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian

This is going to be a short review because this series has been reviewed to death already and this is a re-read for me. I wanted to read it again before I saw the movie since I already forgot half of what happened since I last read it several years ago. I'm not going to re-hash the plot, because if you don't already know it you've probably been living under a rock for the past two years. 

I was actually a little surprised at how much I forgot about this book. The middle books in trilogies tend to get forgotten the quickest, I think. Everyone remembers the beginning and end, but forgets the details on how they got from Point A to Point B. Although for a middle book, this one is actually quite strong. I know it got some flack for being a re-hash of the first book with a second Hunger Games, but I think it works for two reasons. One, they don't actually get to the arena and start the games until halfway through the book, and two, they make enough differences in the games to keep it fresh. For instance, the new Head Gamemaster (is that what he's called?) brings a new spin on things and I actually think the other Hunger Games tributes are stronger and more memorable characters in this book than the first.

This book lived up to a second read, although it does lose some of the thrill of reading it for the first time and not knowing what's going to happen. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (CBR-IV #6)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #6/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 388 
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


I first read this book back when it was first released and loved it. I was already a fan of the Japanese novel Battle Royale (which I need to read again) and this was a similar plot, although a little watered down for the teens. I decided to reread it before I see the movie in March.

Katniss (ohhh how I loathe her name) lives in District Twelve in the dystopian society known as Panem. Each year, every district has to draw the names of a boy and a girl teenager to participate in The Hunger Games. In the Games, they all will fight and kill each other until only one person is left alive. Supposedly this is a way to keep the districts in order, but I still don't really get how that works. I figure they'd just be MORE likely to form an uprising if you keep killing their kids. Oh well, we can overlook that since there'd be no story otherwise.

This year Katniss's little sister is drawn to go into the games, so Katniss volunteers to go in her place. The boy whose name is drawn is Peeta, the town baker's son. There's a slightly annoying teen love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Katniss's childhood friend Gale. Fortunately, Collins succeeded in creating possibly the least nauseating love triangle in YA history. Gale and Peeta are actually fully formed, likable characters and Katniss is a strong female who doesn't rely on the men in her life to get her though problems. In fact, Katniss ends up saving Peeta half the time. 

Overall, I love this series. The book is just as good when reading it again. I think just about everyone on earth has read these books by now. I've seen everyone from kids to senior citizens reading the series. It really is one of the few YA book that fully succeeds in crossing the barrier between teen and adult books. Maybe the first series that's done that since Harry Potter. 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I picked up the first book after I read the synopsis and it sounded exactly like the plot from the Japanese novel Battle Royale, which I LOVE. It takes place in the future where each year they pick a group of kids from different districts to fight each other in an arena of sorts until only one person is left alive. There are a few differences between the novels, namely that The Hunger Games trilogy are YA books, while Battle Royale is definitely not.

I liked:

- I love the characters. They're so real. The heroine (Katniss...more on her stupid name later) isn't even likable most the time, which makes her more like a real person.

- (POSSIBLE SPOILER) I like when authors have the guts to kill off a fairly well-known character at the end of a popular series. Like Harry Potter. Again, it's more realistic to not have a completely happy ending.

- Speaking of the ending, I was almost really mad with how I thought it would end. Fortunately, Katniss stays true to character and the ending turns out perfect.

- I liked how they handled the love triangle between Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. Gale was her best friend from childhood who was in love with her and Peeta was her partner in the Hunger Games. I liked how they didn't make the romance the main plot, but instead kept it secondary to everything else going on.

I didn't like:

- The name Katniss. Every time I read it, I wanted to call her Catnip. It's just a terrible name. The names in the book are a mixture of normal names (Annie, Gale) and weird, future names (Peeta, Cinna). Cinna makes me think of cinnamon buns.

- I didn't like who Katniss ended up with at the end. I was kinda hoping she'd go for the other option.

At first, I was worried how they were going to keep this series going after the Hunger Games ended in the first book. They threw them back in the arena for the second book, but I wasn't sure what they were going to do with the third and still keep it interesting. The war between the Capital and the Districts was just a good a read as the others.

Verdict?
5/5 stars.