Catching Fire begins with Katniss Everdeen, a recent winner of the Hunger Games, leaving her home in district 12 for her very own victory tour. (The victory tour was created by the Capitol and is placed directly between the last Hunger Games and the upcoming, to make sure fear is fresh and hope is dead.) But something is off. Before she leaves, Katniss overhears the mayor’s television warning him about uprisings in some of the districts. She is freaked out by this, of course, but is forced to leave for the victory tour, accompanied by her “lover” Peeta Mellark, who she’s kept at an icy distance with all summer. She now must pretend to love him again for the cameras. She was told to prepare a speech, but she couldn’t muster the courage to relive those moments in the arena long enough to do so. The Victory tour starts in district 11. Rue, Katniss’ ally’s district. Peeta goes on in his speech, telling the families of Rue and Thresh, her male district mate, that they will receive a piece of his winnings every month for as long as he shall live. Right as they are about to leave the stage, Katniss tells a beautiful story about Rue, and a man gives her the signal that district 12 signifies “our greatest goodbyes.” The entire crown joins in. Katniss and Peeta are ushered inside as they execute the man. The rest of the tour goes by smoothly.
When Katniss arrives home, she is met by none other than President Snow. He tells her she has not convinced the districts that her act of pulling out poisonous berries in the arena was of blind love for Peeta and that there have been uprisings. He then tells her to try harder to make them believe. To even go as far as convincing him.
So, Peeta proposes to her. She says yes, but isn’t entirely sure she even likes Peeta at all. Sure, there were those kisses in the arena, but those were all for the cameras, right?
Katniss must go through painful wedding photos, interviews, and pretending to be in love with Peeta until, finally, the cameras leave her alone. She goes hunting one last time, knowing that if she doesn’t know, she will go insane. There, in the woods, she meets two women from district 8, who tell her that they believe that district 13 is in fact not annihilated.
This is the year of the 75th hunger games, meaning the Quarter Quell is in order. President Snow himself tells all of Panem that the tributes of each district will be reaped from the existing pool of victors, meaning Katniss has to go back into the arena.
There, she makes allies with Finnick Odair, a beautiful guy from district 4. He saves Peeta from drowning, then again he restarts his heart. Finnick drags Katniss into an alliance with Johanna Mason, for who Katniss has a deep hatred. They then team up with Wiress and Beetee, the district 3 tributes, and Wiress help Katniss figure out that the arena is a clock. Then, Beetee wires a trap for the Career tributes, which actually helps them escape the arena. Katniss then learns Peeta has been taken by the Capitol and that her home has been destroyed. Gale takes her to district 13, which actually isn’t destroyed.
Catching fire was by far my favorite of the trilogy, but there were some minor downfalls to it. For example, a lot of stuff happens in a very short amount of time. Think of a moment. If you can’t decide which book it happens in, it probably happened in Catching Fire, because it’s such a fast-paced action-packed speed-rap of a book, which makes it a very easy read.
That is another point of downfall for Catching Fire. It’s an easy read. You could get through it in three days if you tried hard enough. Now, this isn’t very much of a problem, but I’m scrambling for downfalls here.
Now, from the high points. It would be hard to name them all, so here are my personal top five.
Firstly, we have the character, Johanna Mason. She won her Hunger Games by pretending to be helpless then brutally murdering everyone at the end. Collins brings this into her character, minus the “helpless” part, making Johanna very brutal person, with her words and actions. Johanna is very reckless, violent and says the right things at the right times, making her my favorite character.
Secondly, we have the arena itself. Collins must have lots of ideas of what the arena for the Quarter Quell could be, but the idea of making it a clock is absolutely genius. Every hour brings a new terror, varying from a giant tidal wave at ten to carnivorous monkeys at 3.
And lastly, we have the ending. The way Collins writes the ending to her second book is absolutely phenomenal, at once tying up loose ends and leaving fans thirsty for the third book.
All in all, this book makes me happy and I would rate it 5/5 stars.
Written by Amelia Grade 9.