Every dog has its day, right? So Katniss's day must be coming.
Well, Katniss isn't a dog, but she is scrappy and resourceful and
loyal, so you get the analogy. You would have to read
The Hunger Games first in order to have any clue what's happening in
Catching Fire. And, of course, it's a trilogy, so there's another one on the way. Now, if you've read my post on
The Maze Runner (
Click here
for that post), you know the ubiquitous book series concept has gotten
on my last nerve, so I won't spend too much time harping on that...Or
will I?
Oh, come on, I'm like Larry David on Curb Your
Enthusiasm. I can't let anything go. I AM going to harp on this. Why
must authors do this? Why can't I just read a book, enjoy it, finish
it, and put the story away in my memory? Why must they force me to
carry it around for years, the weight of discontent around my neck, like some bookish albatross? I won't get no sat-is-fac-tion for who knows
how long! Ms. Collins, bow your head in shame for forcing me to live
in literary purgatory until the sequel's sequel rolls off the presses.
So, you know going into this review that Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games
trilogy, the middle child, the one who yearns for attention but will
never quite achieve what Marcia did and will never be as cute and
smile-inducing as Cindy. Poor Jan. Poor Catching Fire. This book was pushing a boulder uphill from the opening lines.
When we saw them last, down-and-out District 12 residents Katniss and
Peeta were declared the victors in the Hunger Games. Their prize?
They were allowed to live. But this kind-of-a-couple embarrassed the
President and the Capitol with a small act of rebellion in their last
moments in the arena, so they're in deep, deep trouble as Catching Fire
begins. They've unknowingly fanned the fire of rebellion across the
Districts, and that is something up with which President Snow shall not
put. The people they love are in danger, which for Katniss means not
only her family but her other kind-of-a-couple pal Gale.
The first half of Catching Fire
kept me riveted. Katniss meets people from other Districts who tell
her about the growing rebellion and the possibility that there has been
a rebirth of District 13, which the powers that be had obliterated
during an earlier rebellion. Katniss and Peeta are walking a
tightrope: They are pretending to be the loving, soon-to-be-married
couple that the Capitol wants them to be, but they are also under
incredible pressure to head up the rebellion. At one point, I was sure
that the action was going to move to District 13 and the rebellion
would, as the title promises, catch fire.
But that's not what
happens. In the second half of the book, Katniss and Peeta are forced
to go back into the arena for another round of Hunger Games. This I
didn't need. Collins had drawn us into the arena so beautifully in the
first book, but here, it seems forced and redundant. A special Hunger
Games just for the victors of past Hunger Games? I don't think we
needed to read about elderly women getting killed off just to
understand the Capitol's cruelty. We know they're mean; they've bombed
and shot and whipped as many citizens as possible in the preceding
chapters!
The chapters at the Games were tighter and more
bizarre this time around than they were in the first book. Collins is
pretty inventive in this respect. And I do like Katniss. She's a
plucky heroine, unable to back down from a challenge but equally unable
to fathom her own heart. And in Peeta, Collins has created a complex
and rather brilliant character, a boy who can turn a crowd with his
words and knows just when to do it. I am truly looking forward to his
storyline playing out in the next book.
Catching Fire
was not a disappointment. In fact, if Collins's characters had stayed
out of the Hunger Games arena this time around, I would have loved this
book. I think that Catching Fire should be read for what it
is: the bridge to the last book in the trilogy. As much as that bugs
me, the book certainly fulfills its role in that respect.