CATCHING FIRE Review - Suzanne Collins

CATCHING FIRE - Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 400

Release: September 1, 2009

My Rating:

Description:

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.

I expected so much from this book, maybe I set my expectations too high but I wasn't impressed with the first hundred pages or so. In my personal opinion the book just dragged along and told us a story that as of now didn't seem to valuable.

Not only that, but once I started getting into the second half of the book a few pieces of the plot felt like they were rushed and slammed into the book last moment. I feel that the first part of the book could have had some pieces removed to make everything flow better. I felt no connection to this book at all either, the characters seemed a bit hollow and I felt that they were not fleshed out enough for me to truly understand them.

I really hope a lot of the information that I found to be useless has a reason in book three, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for that.

But I'm only giving CATCHING FIRE a three fedora for those reasons.

If you've read HUNGER GAMES I suggest this book to you because it does tell a story, I just felt like pieces of the story were a waste of time and drawn out.

To each their own!

THE HUNGER GAMES Review - Suzanne Collins

THE HUNGER GAMES - Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 384

Release: September 14, 2008

My Rating:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins tells the story of Katniss Everdeen who resides in the district of Panem. Each district sends one male and one female to battle in the annual "Hunger Games"--the only rule is to survive!

During BEA last year I was graced with a copy of CATCHING FIRE. I had no interest in reading the Hunger Games series. I passed the copy on to a good library friend. This past February I took part in a live podcast with bestselling authors, they all had nothing but great comments about the series. Yet again, I refused to read the series.

I gave in when it became apparent all of the FiveAwesomeYAFans (Season One) had read the series, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of the book.

I can say that this book is the reason that I'm a blogger, the reason I write, the reason I love the publishing world. I'm not saying that I haven't reviewed books in the past that didn't fuel the passion but this book had everything that the bestseller list was missing.

It's odd when a book like this comes along. Nobody is expecting a book like this, the same can be said for Harry Potter and the Twilight Saga. There may be several kinds of dystopian books but THE HUNGER GAMES contains the bug that keeps you reading.

While reading the book I felt like I connected with Katniss amazingly well. Which is hilarious as I am not a female, sixteen, living in a dystopian world.

I imagined myself as the main character though, I felt my heart break when hers did, my heart raced during a fight scene and while reading the book I kept thinking what would I do if this really happened to me?

I would suggest this book to any young adult reader, it's a heart pounding thrill ride.

I can see why everyone is so hyped about this series as well as the third installment MOCKING JAY. Which I admit, I made fun of the name of the book... "WHAT THE FUCK IS A MOCKING JAY?!" Well.... Now I know, I can't wait for the third book!

What did you think of THE HUNGER GAMES?

xo

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