Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Ok, almost everything I said about the Hunger Games in the previous post can pretty much be applied to this post, in that I saw the movie first, I was listening to an audio book, the characters were already solidified in my mind so there was a bit of a disconnect between the reader's version and what was already in my head. Ok? We're good?

Ok.

So first up, I'm glad I listened to this book, as the beginning, and even a wee bit of the end, was quite a bit different from the movie version.

In Catching Fire, we catch up with Katniss and Peeta and their families, to find that after the last hunger games, things have gotten much worse across many of the districts. There is civil unrest in various districts, and their own district has had its lax Peacekeepers replaced by a seemingly tyrannical new lot. This is all due to the fact that Katniss and Peeta have become a symbol of rebellion since the last Hunger Games.

What I really enjoyed about this book, is that Katniss was very often self reflective about the new and evolving role she would now have to play as she and Peeta were once again conscripted into the third quarter quell of the Hunger Games. She would often find herself arguing internally with her thoughts as she would accept the role, then deny the role, and the justifications of each.

Another thing I really liked about this book, are the hints that were missing from the second movie. The whispers about district 13, the hints about the alliances arranged by Hamish in the games, and many other things that were not in the movie.

I really enjoyed this one, and can't wait until the next book becomes available from the library.