Catching Fire (Hunger Games Series #2) by Suzanne Collins

From Barnes & Noble

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. Catching Fire maintains the adrenaline rush of Suzanne Collins's series launch.

From the Publisher

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

The New York Times - Gabrielle Zevin

I really liked The Hunger Games. But I love the new book, Catching Fire…Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book…Katniss is more sophisticated in this book, and her observations are more acute. We see this when she notices how much more difficult it is to kill people once you know them, or when she observes the decadent (and for the reader perhaps uncomfortably familiar) citizens of the Capitol gorging and then taking pills to make themselves vomit, or with her gradual realization that she may just stand for something greater than herself. All this is accomplished with the light touch of a writer who truly understands writing for young people: the pacing is brisk and the message tucked below the surface.

Publishers Weekly

Fresh from their improbable victory in the annual Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta get to enjoy the spoils only briefly before they must partake in a Capitol-sponsored victory tour. But trouble is brewing—President Snow tells Katniss directly he won’t stand for being outsmarted, and she overhears rumbles of uprisings in Panem’s districts. Before long it’s time for the next round of games, and because it’s the 75th anniversary of the competition, something out of the ordinary is in order. If this second installment spends too much time recapping events from book one, it doesn’t disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect. Characters from the previous volume reappear to good effect: Katniss’s stylist, Cinna, proves he’s about more than fashion; Haymitch becomes more dimensional. But the star remains Katniss, whose bravery, honesty and wry cynicism carry the narrative. (About her staff of beauticians she quips: “They never get up before noon unless there’s some sort of national emergency, like my leg hair.”) Collins has also created an exquisitely tense romantic triangle for her heroine. Forget Edward and Jacob: by book’s end (and it’s a cliffhanger), readers will be picking sides—Peeta or Gale? Ages 12–up. (Sept.)

Children's Literature

After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are back in District 12, but life is far from normal. Unbeknownst to the pair, their united tactics and subsequent joint triumph were interpreted by many as rebellious and there is widespread unrest in the Districts. Katniss, as always, worries about her family and their safety as she struggles with her role in the rebellion she seems to have fueled. Katniss tries to reconnect with an estranged Gale, while somewhat keeping up the pretense of being hopelessly in love with Peeta. She soon discovers, however, that her life depends on proving without a doubt that she and Peeta are indeed completely in love. Once again, Katniss must make choices that will greatly impact those she loves. In Book 2, Suzanne Collins is able to recapture the brilliant and edgy style that captivated readers of the Hunger Games. Each page seems to bring a new surprising twist and, with the investment that loyal readers already have in Katniss, Catching Fire will tear at the heartstrings of every reader and leave them thirsting for the Book 3. Catching Fire will be sure to top just about every list this coming year. Reviewer: Jeanna Sciarrotta

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen "tributes" from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008), Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss's fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta's mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves. Slower paced than its predecessor, this sequel explores the nation of Panem: its power structure, rumors of a secret district, and a spreading rebellion, ignited by Katniss and Peeta's subversive victory. Katniss also deepens as a character. Though initially bewildered by the attention paid to her, she comes almost to embrace her status as the rebels' symbolic leader. Though more of the story takes place outside the arena than within, this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment.—Megan Honig, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

In the sequel to the hugely popular The Hunger Games (2008), Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, having won the annual Games, are now rich and famous-and trapped in the fiction that they are lovers. They are seen as a threat to the Capitol, their unusual manner of winning an act of rebellion that could inspire uprisings throughout Panem. Knowing her life is in danger, Katniss considers escaping with her family and friends but instead reluctantly assumes the role of a rebel, almost forced into it by threats from the insidious President Snow. Beyond the expert world building, the acute social commentary and the large cast of fully realized characters, there's action, intrigue, romance and some amount of hope in a story readers will find completely engrossing. Collins weaves in enough background for this novel to stand alone, but it will be a far richer experience for those who have read the first installment and come to love Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and the rest of the desperate residents of this dystopia. A humdinger of a cliffhanger will leave readers clamoring for volume three. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

What People Are Saying

Charlaine Harris
“People have been talking about Suzanne Collins’s THE HUNGER GAMES, and with good reason. It’s classified as a YA novel, but there’s plenty here to keep adults interested, I can testify. In Collins’s world, a post-apocalyptic America, teen children are harvested from each of twelve districts every year to participate in the Hunger Games. Food is primary source of concern in Panem, scarce and doled out by the government. Whoever wins the Hunger Games gets food for himself/herself and the family for life. How do you win? By killing all the other contestants. It’s very like “Survivor,” but for real. A different venue with a different landscape is picked each year, and the government throws in different twists to affect the outcome: torrential rain, the drying up of water sources, planted explosives, etc. Katniss and Peeta, the teens who are chosen from the coal-producing region, are at a great disadvantage, but due to Katniss’s cleverness they contrive to have an edge. This is a great book, and very thought-provoking. Read this along with your teen and discuss it.”

Stephenie Meyer
“I also got an early look at a book I've been eagerly awaiting: Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' phenomenal The Hunger Games. It not only lived up to my high expectations, it surpassed them. It's just as exciting as The Hunger Games, but even more gut wrenching, because you already know these characters, you've already suffered with them. Suzanne takes the story places I wasn't expecting, and she's never afraid to take it to very hard places. Stunning. You won't sleep when you're reading this one. It hits shelves September 1st. I suggest beginning in the early morning and clearing your calendar for the day.”

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