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Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) |  | Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $10.52
as of 3/16/2010 23:28 CDT details
You Save: $7.47 (42%)
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Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 101
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0439023491
EAN: 9780439023498
ASIN: 0439023491
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product 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.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Just about the best series ever. Don't want it to end. March 16, 2010
Life After Jane (Hattiesburg, MS)
Once again I am amazed and in awe of the depth and magnitude of Collin's imagination. It's nothing to create a fantasy world that takes us away and makes us wish for a bit of the miraculous in our everyday lives but it's quite another to conjure up a vivid, vibrant world so detailed that it becomes almost tangible and then make sure you never ever want to go there.
In this sequel to The Hunger Games we are once again the spectators- the downtrodden hopeless plebs of the Districts and the spoiled, sadistic privileged people of the Capitol. Only this time, instead of being sold on a victor by means of carefully timed and planned marketing and strategizing, we our watching Katniss and Peeta, our victors- the ones we chose, the ones we wanted to win. When a tribute is victorious in the Hunger Games, and survives the grueling ordeal of a televised, free-for-all murderous battle in which children from each District slaughter each other in an effort to stay alive he or she is sent home to live in comfort and luxury for the rest of his or her life. Until last year, the 74th annual hunger games, there has traditionally been only one victor. But when Katniss and Peeta, the seemingly star-crossed lovers from District 12, in an act of defiance against the very game they're forced to play, threaten a double suicide, the nation of Panem demands a last minute rule change that allows both tributes from a District to win. Now Katniss and Peeta reign as the nations sweethearts, the boy and girl who survived the game due only to their love for each other. To the brats in the Capitol they are the latest fad, and to the withered people of the Districts, their manipulation of the Games is the stuff that can spark rebellion.
The system of government in place in the nation of Panem and the Hunger Games themselves, are all meant to be reminders to the people of the District that they are at the mercy of their government, and at any moment they can crush them. In a place where such a constant show of force and brutality is needed to dim the people's rebellious spark, would Katniss really be left alone to live out her life in the comfort her new title brings? Or will the nation of Panem place new demands on their hero? The government demands that the people's hero help quell the threat of rebellion. The citizens demand that their hero, the girl on fire, set the nation ablaze.
Oh wow. I just loved it. Best cliff hanger in a book, hands down. I love that Collins is letting her character explore various different types of love. I know a lot of people are unhappy with the Peeta/Gale struggle but I think what the author is showing is very valuable. Katniss is a teenage girl who is learning that one love is totally different from another. That she can love Peeta the way she does and yet feel a romantic love for another. I don't feel that she's written a love triangle at all. And oh I love Peeta! All of the big surprises in this story came from him!
You must read this and then join me in pining for the third book.
 Fun stuff! March 10, 2010
bionichands (washington, d.c. area)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not going to argue that this is great literature or even the most original book I've ever read. But its a quick, engaging and fun read even if its pure bubblegum. I also think I enjoyed this book more than The Hunger Games.
Catching Fire Burns with Excitement and Satisfaction. A Must-Read! March 8, 2010
Clare OMalley (Irvine, Ca)
*** DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY READ The Hunger Games. ***
How could things get any worse or any more tense after Katniss and Peeta won the Hunger games? Both of them are alive, and they made it home. But Kat has to deal with Gale, her (male) best friend and hunting partner who is confused about their relationship. The whole nation saw the televised kiss that Kat gave Peeta, and their love (even if it was staged for the cameras) kept Kat alive. If that were the only problem, we'd have a slight Edward Cullen/Jacob Black situation on our hands, and the book would be a disappointment. Good, but not great. (Yet, who would be Edward and who would be Jacob?)
But the bland and menacing President visits Kat and with blood on his breath (yes, actual blood, ugh...) he commands her to quell any possible uprisings in other districts and show allegiance to the Capitol. Apparently, by threatening to eat the berries, Kat was defying the Capitol and giving people hope and defiance for the first time in years. Kat's mockingjay pin, her standard, has become an underground symbol of the resistance. If, by her words and deeds, she cannot manage to crush any uprisings, her family, and Peeta's and Gale's, will be killed.
Fatal ultimatum for both parties. Kat immediately plans to run away, taking everybody with her. But she can't take the whole village, and she owes almost everybody in the village for sending packages to keep her alive during the Hunger Games. She realizes the futility of running away and instead just plans to be a sweet, girlish airhead during the required Victory Tour, as she and Peeta tour all the districts. Only in Rue's district does she see a few minor signs of rebellion and the brutal way the detractors are punished. And then rumors that a demolished District 13 might still be functioning add only more adrenaline and worry to the story.
But then the Capitol plans something more sinister - two winners from each district must compete in the Quarter Quell, with only one ultimate winner, again. Having another Hunger Game, only with more contestants seemed like an author cop-out, but at the same time, Collins wrote about them so well, I knew that I would enjoy them with shock and horror. Kat and Peeta each compete against 2 competitors from 11 other districts, again with only one surviving winner. But this time, Kat has one mission - Keep Peeta Alive.
Kat's so curmudgeonly and so grumpy, with a fierce love that barely shines through her rough and practical ways. As she's about to enter the arena for what she believes is the last time, "My prep team. My foolish, shallow, affectionate pets, with their obsessions with feathers and parties, nearly break my heart with their goodbye. It's certain from Venia's last words that we all know I won't be returning. Does the whole world know it? I wonder. I look at Cinna. He knows, certainly. But as he promised, there's no danger of tears from him."
Satisfying, stomach-turning, surprising, Catching Fire does not disappoint. And I can't wait for Book Three - Mockingjay.
Couldn't put this one down either... March 8, 2010
melmoiselle (Atlanta, GA)
A well-written follow-up to The Hunger Games. Just as exciting, if a little slower to get into. We find that, despite our hope from the ending of The Hunger Games, very little has changed for Katniss. She has new scenery, but the same problems. She no longer has the things she enjoyed, such as hunting in the woods with Gale, who has not quite forgiven her affection for Peeta. And she learns that all she feared is true: the Capital is angry with her and she must do the impossible and make it right.
These books really are very good. They are engaging, exciting, and horrifying. The characters continue to be developed in manner consistent with the first book. I found myself physically reacting to deaths and unexpected funny events. I felt involved and I cannot wait until book 3 in August.
Review From The Neverending Shelf March 7, 2010
The Neverending Shelf (TN, USA)
Review in 75 Words or Less: Intense, nail bitting, thought provoking, the list could go on and on. Catching Fire begins shortly after The Hunger Games. Katniss has found herself basically between a rock and a hard place... both politically and romantically. Collins begins the novel slowly, luring the reader in until they are so captivated that there is no escape until the last page. I can only now count down the days till Mockingjay. It is going to be epic!
Final Verdict: Catching Fire lived up to all my expectations and more. This series has quickly become one of my favorites of all time. Everything about this novel and its series is captivating. I can't wait to learn more about this world and its characters.
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