Catching Fire: The Hunger Games, Book 2; Suzanne Collins; Young Adult sci-fi, 391 p
Because things you do when you're just desperate to stay alive/keep your friends alive always have consequences! Terrible consequences. Katniss and Peeta's little eleventh-hour gambit in the first book turns out to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for the post-American country known as Panem (from the Latin expression Bread and Circuses, you get it, because they have to keep the people entertained and in check, okay, you get it, kind of a heavy-handed metaphor). Katniss doesn't figure this out until...fairly late in the book though, which makes me kind of doubt her intelligence. This girl is supposed to be an expert hunter, living off her wits to survive, and yet she's absolutely terrible at reading people. You would think those kind of skillls would go hand in hand, but apparently not. As a result, the horrible avalanche of doom that descends upon her is predictable to, it seems, everyone except Katniss herself.
The good part is, it's exciting and engaging, seeing this revolution start to unfold as the narrator is sort of on the sidelines the entire time. We the readers have to figure out what's going on based on limited information, and it's, dare I say, fun to see the grand horrible structure of Panem's Capitol fall apart into ruin and revolution. Makes you feel all warm and toasty. The fire theme is nice in this series, although really, the first book had more of it, and this second installment shifts from Katniss as The Girl Who Was On Fire to Katniss as The Mockingjay, which, again, is a little heavyhanded and obvious to everyone who isn't Katniss.
Of course the end is far too abrupt, especially since pretty much everyone tells me the third book is a disappointment. Ah well! It was fun while it lasted. I think I'll take a break from the series before reading Mockingjay.
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