Fire is Catching

Name: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Dystopia, Young Adult

General Thoughts: Amazing prove that not all second installments are the worst, but the best.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

First Lines

I hold the bottle with both hands, although the tea's heat was lost a while ago in the freezing air. My muscles are tense from the cold. If a pack of wild dogs appeared now, I wouldn't have much chance to climb a tree before they would attack me. I'd have to get up, move around and let the blood circulate through my limbs, but instead of doing so, I sit there, as motionless as the rock that I have below, as dawn begins to light up the forest.

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games, picking up after the games through Katniss' point of view. She's now back at 12th in her new home. But the games may not be over, and she might not be as safe as she though.

This book is one of the most amazing young-adult books I've read. And you might think it's because I haven't read further into young-adult or that I'm not mature enough or something like that. But it's not any of those things. This books is literally so well crafted and with so much character development that I can't but love it and put it in the top places. Fast paced but not rushed. And all the things that happened were so unique and original and sometimes mind-blowing. It really was amazing.

Starting by Katniss and her very special mind. I have to confess, I don't really like Katniss. I mean, I love her, don't get me wrong, she's one of my favorite characters of all time. But I wouldn't have her as my friend. She's not likable. She's not friendly or funny or interesting. And she's crafted this way, on purpose. All this is mentioned in the book. And yet Suzanne Collins finds the way to make us like her, and to make us understand why she's like this and that we can relate to her actions. And that, my friends, it's what I called an amazing character development.

Then we have Peeta. I really don't agree when people say that Peeta is useless. I think that we're so used to have a knight in a shining armor as the love interest of the main character, and that's just not true. Not every man is as smart, strong, pretty, etc, as their counterpart. They can be weak, they feel, they can be scared. And that's exactly what Peeta represents. He's not useless, he does the best he can with the skills he has and he does a damn good job out of it.

Also, the rest of the characters are amazing as well, not really going deep into them, but they're worth the mention. Gale (idiot), Haymitch, Cinna, etc.

About the plot, I found it to be super interesting and fast-paced and action-packed. There were times where they weren't doing much, but all the talk and thinking that Katniss did, kept me super gripped. Some people say those parts were boring and I don't see it, I though they fit perfectly with the book and read it super fast.

Of course, I found myself highlighting so many parts that I loved and made me scream and shriek and curl on the floor with all my feels. And maybe, just maybe, I shed a few tears for a dear friend.

Overall, Catching Fire is the best sequel you could ask for in a series, specially one that came from such an amazing first books as The Hunger Games. And I can definitely say that this is my favorite book in the whole series and that I'd read it a hundred times (like I already have) over and over again. And, yes, I do recommend it to anyone who wishes to read.

PD: surprisingly, I don't have a review up for The Hunger Games, but maybe soon I'll do one?

 Note: the first lines were taking of a translation of a Spanish copy of my own. It is not the original writing.