Paperback, 344 pages
Chinese language
Published June 4, 2012 by Zuo jia chu ban she.
By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.
Not nearly as intense as the first, but I think that's probably a good thing. In this book, we see the aftermath of Katniss' & Peeta's victory - it's not just a play-by-play of the events within the arena which would have been redundant.
It's the further adventures of Katness in the world of Panem. This one starts immediately after the first book. I thought this was an improvement over the first book. A little more complicated plot, but still a very easy read. Great stuff!
Better than the first book, but you could see the plot coming a mile away. Not surprisingly, the same problems (present-tense style, insecure character) repeat themselves here.
If you read the first one, you'll feel compelled to read the second; the second then leads you into the third...
Si le premier volume était prometteur, la suite dépasse mes espérances. Les personnages sont bien en place, leurs péripéties fascinent et hypnotisent, on a vraiment hâte de voir comment tout cela va évoluer (ou dégénérer). Le personnage de Katniss (entre autres) prend de l’épaisseur, de jeune fille assez dure habituée à dissimuler ses émotions, on la découvre défaillante avec une forte émotivité, qu’elle exprime de plus en plus. J’ai craint une répétition avec les Quarter Quell mais non, la chose est bien traitée et on avance dans l’histoire sans avoir l’impression de relire la même chose. Un final qui vaut son pesant de cacahouètes.
Though there is a sense of redundancy, it is fleeting thanks to Suzanne's Collins signature fast-pacing and intrigue.
Suzanne Collins is definitely keeping my attention!
What a crazy cliffhanger!
Catching Fire seems to take a long time to get going. There's plenty of time to plant the seeds of rebellion in the readers' minds but then it all seems a bit rushed near the end when the real action takes place. However, the end is a cliff-hanger so make sure you have the final book ready to read back-to-back!
A thrilling read - and it's not just about the Hunger Games anymore. As good or better than the first book. Maybe it's just my cold heart, but I'm glad this one wasn't as cheesy sentimental as the first one - why do I not care about Rue's death?
Much like it's predecessor, and still the story of Katniss kicking ass, far too busy to take names. However, I did find it somewhat less satisfying. Perhaps it's because, as Katniss herself is aware, Katniss is mostly a sidenote to the main action. She's no longer alone, and she no longer thinks she's alone; many other people are helping her to survive and trying to help her win.
I do like, still, that Katniss is more moved by loyalty and friendship than love and romance. Teenage romances are pretty dumb (I speak from experience) and not something that particularly interest me, and they don't much interest Katniss either.
This book was structurally a bit weird; the pace did not at all follow the line of punctuated rising tension we are accustomed to finding in novels, and there's a point at which one could practically have split the book in half …
Much like it's predecessor, and still the story of Katniss kicking ass, far too busy to take names. However, I did find it somewhat less satisfying. Perhaps it's because, as Katniss herself is aware, Katniss is mostly a sidenote to the main action. She's no longer alone, and she no longer thinks she's alone; many other people are helping her to survive and trying to help her win.
I do like, still, that Katniss is more moved by loyalty and friendship than love and romance. Teenage romances are pretty dumb (I speak from experience) and not something that particularly interest me, and they don't much interest Katniss either.
This book was structurally a bit weird; the pace did not at all follow the line of punctuated rising tension we are accustomed to finding in novels, and there's a point at which one could practically have split the book in half and called it two books.
Also, at several points, I knew what was going and Katniss did not, which was a little disappointing to me, because Katniess is not stupid. However, to be fair to her, I have the benefit of knowing she is in a book, and am familiar with narrative.
So, all in all, satisfying, with a few bumps which although I have enumerated them, were actually pretty minor.
Very captivating reading. Again the premise is very different and thought provoking.
The problem with trilogies is that often the middle book lags because it has to follow a strong first book while also setting up for a atrong ending. Catching Fire is no different -- while it is a good step up in terms of complexity from the first book -- and it doesn't seem quite so much like a ripoff of every dystopic future gladiator story of the last 40 years -- it lags in the pacing, especially in the beginning. It also feels somewhat repetitive from the first book. None the less it was still a lot of fun to read and I'm looking forward to the last book.
This book definitely had some plot twists that I didn't expect. It actually made me so mad at one point that I slammed the book close and glared at it for a couple minutes before I had to pick it up again to see what happened. Can't wait to read Mockingjay!
Ah yes. What a good week to be stuck at home after a surgery! Just finished this in time for the last book to be at my door. In the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss and Peeta have returned to District 12, but now the time has come for the Victory Tour and they must resume their pretend love affair in order to prevent disaster (read : revolution and death) from landing on their families. I love the story, the characters, the whole deal. However, I still find the pretend love affair between Katniss and Peeta to be absolutely unbelievable. Perhaps it's just me and I'm too cynical to simply be able to accept it, but I honestly don't see how something so...silly could prevent an entire world from uprising against their tyrannical overseers. All in all a great book, though.
