Sunday, December 4, 2011

Review - Catching Fire

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 391 (Hardcover)
Days to Read: 4
Rating: 4.5




Description: Goodreads
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol...



My Review:
When I picked up Catching Fire, I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was going to love it. Even with the rumors that I'd heard about the ending not being the best, or how it just didn't own up completely to the first book, I knew I'd still manage to like it. Maybe not all of it, but surely a good amount of it. 

I have a terribly tendency to not keep up on recent releases when it comes to books, and tend to find out about stuff far after their release. That's exactly what happened to me and how I managed to find out about The Hunger Games. While I was reading The first book, I'd ended up going on GoodReads on looking at the second and third one, adding them to my lists and piles...well...how many people can keep their eyes away from a description they haven't read? Not me; I ended up finding out about the second games while I hadn't even managed to make it very far through the first book, and also finding out about Peeta's survival so already a few things had managed to be ruined for me. As with that I also found out about there being uprisings because of reading the third book's description... c: woops. 

I never let this get in my way though and I dived right into the book. In the first book, a large section of it was dedicated to the games. With everything being new, it took longer to explain and talk about the pre-game events. Diner's, training, interviews, everything. The second book however has a much different pace. The first part of the book was very different, especially since it took so much place back in District 12, book one not really concentrating too much on in deep detail. Even though it made the book slightly slow paced I still enjoyed it. It was an interested change of pace and I happily took it on. 

The Games as well were much different, after all it was the 75th! I won't say too much because of spoilers, but I have to admit that I'll miss reading about the games, being that the third book doesn't contain them. I love reading about all the things that the Gamemakers have the contestants do (is that cruel?) and just the brilliant writing and ideas that come of off the pages in those times of the book. Collins is such a talented woman, and her writing ability blows me away every single time I pick up the books. 

While the setting and pace of the book may have changed, I was happy to have encountered and discovered that my characters have changed in no ways. If I loved Peeta in the third book, and then I full on am obsessed with him now, and if Katniss didn't impress and inspire me before, than I'm blown away by now. One thing I liked was that I finally got a look at Gale. Let's all admit it...Gale had a thing for Katniss, and somewhere behind her thick skull she does too, but I have to admire....I feel like Peeta deserves the girl in this series. His heart is so big and plump! 

While I loved the book, I still had to give it four stars. Sections in the end had me slightly confused, which was annoying because then I had to and re-read somethings, (something that I never like to do) Along with that the last couple of pages were so jam-packed with explanations, it made the ending feel way too rushed and a lot less enjoyable. 

Other than that I'd have to say that Collin's has delivered yet another immaculate novel with stupendous and ground breaking story.


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