Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games #2)

Catching Fire is the second book of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Check the review of the first sequel here
Check the review of the third sequel here


Read from August 11 to 13, 2013


MY REVIEW:

A page-turner, a cliffhanger; no less than the first book.

Before reading the book, I thought I might dislike it because of the love-triangle thing, but I was surprised that I didn't dislike it at all. I actually felt it was relatable and I felt as confused as Katniss. It's good to know her point of view through the whole book, and feel as scared, worried, confused, sad as she feels.

I like how the characters developed even more deeply in this book, I finally figured out Katniss' character and how she operates. I also like how she figured out that the Capitol people are actually caring, and she started to feel like maybe if she was raised there she would be as dumb as they are. And since the theme of this book is about rebellion, it makes much more sense because we're experiencing this in Egypt, and I always love a good dystopian novel.

After directly finishing the book, I couldn't figure out if I liked the first book or this one more, maybe because it's been a while since I read the first and I forgot how much I've loved it, or maybe because of the great plot twist in the end of the second book which made me too thrilled to pick my preference rationally.

But after some analysis and thinking, I think I preferred the first because it was more emotional, I was more curious to know the characters (esp. Katniss), and romance was not a primary thing in the book; her family and surviving seemed more important. The first book also seemed more dystopian, the comparison between the Capitol people and the poor ones in her district was more frequent, and I liked that.

However, book two is awesome. More creative. Katniss' bridal dress, the mockingjay, the clock arena, the force field, District 13, President Snow, the rebellion, the twist. Mind Blown.

Book one = Better details. Book two = More creative.

I can't really make up my mind as for the rating, but I chose 5 stars because in the end even though I preferred book one more and I thought I shouldn't give them the same rating, I don't think it was as low as a 4 so by approximating it's almost 5. (Book one should be 5 stars, and book two 4.7 or something)

Anyway, all I know is that I'm dying to read the third book. The end of book two is more thrilling, so I'm left holding on waiting so eagerly to read book three.



QUOTES I LIKED:

"I think how there was no going back after I took over caring for the family when I was eleven. How I will always have to protect her."

"After they've exhausted the topic of the Quarter Quell, my prep team, launches into a whole lot of stuff about their incomprehensibly silly lives. Who said what about someone I've never heard of and what sort of shoes they just bought and a long story from Octavia about what a mistake it was to have everyone wear feathers to her birthday party."

"I feel bad about how I go around feeling so superior to them. Who knows who I would be or what I would talk about if I'd been raised in the Capitol? Maybe my biggest regret would be having feathered costumes at my birthday party, too."

"One of the few freedoms we have in District 12 is the right to marry who we want or not marry at all. And now even that has been taken away from me."

“The main thing I feel is a sense of relief. That I can give up this game. That the question of whether I can succeed in this venture has been answered, even if that answer is a resounding no. That if desperate times call for desperate measures, I am free to act as desperately as I want.”

"We are what no one wants to miss at the party. I act delighted, but I have zero interest in these Capitol people. They are only distractions from the food."

"All I can think of is the emaciated bodies of the children on our kitchen table as my mother prescribes what the parents can’t give. More food. Now that we’re rich, she’ll send some home with them. But often in the old days, there was nothing to give and the child was past saving, anyway. And here in the Capitol they’re vomiting for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again. Not from some illness of body or mind, not from spoiled food. It’s what everyone does at a party. Expected. Part of the fun."

"Safe to do what? Starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the reaping? You haven't hurt people, you have given them an opportunity.They just have to be brave enough to take it."

"..which makes them laugh more. And I think, This is why they've made it this far, Haymitch
and Peeta. Nothing throws them."

"You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him, you know."

"It'd be better if he were easier to hate."

"I only got engaged to save people's lives, and that completely backfired."

"I'd actually figured out what I wanted my last words to my loved ones to be. How best to close and lock the doors and leave them sad but safely behind. And now the Capitol has stolen that as well."

"Real rebels don't put a secret symbol on something as durable as jewelry. They put it on a wafer of bread that can be eaten in a second if necessary."

"The idea of being strong for someone else having never entered their heads, I find myself in the position of having to console them. Since I'm the person going in to be slaughtered, this is somewhat annoying."

"Finally something I'll be good at."

"Old or young, lovely or plain, rich or very rich,.."

"I'm determined to keep him alive, knowing the cost will be my own life, but the part of me that is not so brave as I could wish is glad that it's Peeta, not Haymitch, beside me."

"To break through the smug veneer of those who use their brains to find amusing ways to kill us. To make them realize that while we're vulnerable to the Capitol's cruelties, they are as well."

"My prep team. My foolish, shallow, affectionate pets, with their obsessions with feathers and parties, nearly break my heart with their good-bye."

"Don't worry. I always channel my emotions into my work. That way I don't hurt anyone but myself."

"The people in this arena weren't crowned for their compassion."

"Have they all joined hands? Taken a vow of nonviolence? Tossed the weapon in the sea in defiance of the Capitol?"

"While you live, the revolution lives."

"See, this is why no one lets you make the plans."

"At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it."

"We are unforgiving.
And I love it. Getting to be myself at last."

"Aim higher in case you fall short"

"So that's who Finnick loves, I think. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home."

"It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down."