Review Friday

I really should bring back Review Friday. Right?

Anyway, I just finished reading Catching Fire which is the sequel to The Hunger Games. This review will make a whole lot more sense if you have already read The Hunger Games. If you haven't read it, check it out.

Here is the lowdown:

Katniss and Peeta have settled into their new homes in the Victors' Circle after having started a bit of unrest in Panem. They are getting ready to tour the country for their victory tour when the president of Panem makes a special little visit to Katniss to let her know that by unrest, he means a bit of a revolution which he is not too happy about. He threatens her that she needs to essentially fix it or else he will "take care" of her family and friends (and by take care, he means torture and kill.)

Katniss and Peeta then spend the next while touring Panem trying to convince everyone that they were crazy in love during the Hunger Games and that is what caused them to defy the Capitol.

No one is convinced.

Katniss then learns of an underground movement that is taking place across the country. People are fed up and planning on taking back the country from the Capitol.

Then, the Capitol does something crazy to show that they are still in charge (SPOILER ALERT: They bring back Katniss and Peeta for the year's Hunger Games.)

Alrighty then, what to think of it all?

First of all, I liked the book over all. I felt like it started off slow. About half way through the book, the plot took off like a rocket. About the last third of the book discussed their second go around in the Hunger Games, which was okay, but I would have liked to read more of the underground revolution stuff and less of the "let's all kill each other" stuff. I like these books because Katniss is a more rounded female character than most of the other female characters I have read in Young Adult fiction (I am talking about you, Bella Swan!) She is not needy, but a strong young woman. Now, don't get me wrong, she has some flaws, but then don't we all? Those flaws make for a more interesting person to read about.

I found this book to be less bloody than the first book, which was welcome. I also loved the theme of the people taking back their country. This book seems to be the transition as it is showing the early signs of an uprising. I hope to see more of the revolution in the next book and not another Hunger Games. The fact that she threw in another Hunger Games in this book made it seem a bit formulaic in some parts, but not so much that it turned me off to the book. In fact, after reading Catching Fire, I went back and re-read The Hunger Games to refresh my memory about a few things in there. I was surprised at how bloody The Hunger Games was as I didn't remember it to be that violent. But it was. And so we go on. I was more attuned to all the foreshadowing in my second read of The Hunger Games which made it a more entertaining read. I hope to find the same in Catching Fire when I read it again.

So there you go. I would give it two thumbs up.

Next book: The Lost Symbol by Mr. Dan Brown. The next novel in the Robert Langdon series. It comes out on 9/15. We have been waiting too long for this one!