Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Dystopian, Fantasy, Romance

Score: ⭐⭐⭐

Page Count: 405

Book #2 in The Hunger Games trilogy

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: September 1, 2009

 

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

 

Review:

PROS:

1. Yes, I'm very and highly aware that I'm extremely late when it comes to jumping on this bandwagon of a book (four years and three movies to be precise). I still love, however, that many of the people who visit my blog or follow me on Instagram have been following me on this "journey" if you will with reading these books because of a reading goal I made at the beginning of this year. Now that I've thanked all of you beautiful people, here's my very unimportant and late-to-the-party review!

 

2. The first thing I really liked about this book was that it goes into a little more detail about how the government works and what exactly they're willing to sacrifice in order to keep their laws and ways of living under control and will pretty much show no mercy to anyone in order to do that. Even if it means killing off the most rebellious of the people. In the first book, the whole story was supposed to be focused on the Games but I liked this sequel more because it offers more insight to how the leaders' way of thinking is and also has a bit more world building that I liked a little better as well.

 

3. I also really liked that this book had more action and suspense than the first book. This one didn't seem to bore me as often and it actually had me a little more excited about what was about to happen next. I wouldn't say it had me on the edge of my seat exactly but it was more entertaining and kept my attention a little longer. I mean, when you have flesh-eating monkeys, blistering fog and a mysterious beast that literally rips you apart, it's hard not to be focused on the story.

 

CONS:

Sadly, that was about all I really liked about this book.

The reasons why I didn't give this book a five-star rating was because I still didn't really like any of the characters in this book. Katniss still annoyed me and so did some of the other characters except for Peeta and Finnick and even then, I still didn't love them. There just wasn't enough character development for my personal liking and I thought the story also dragged on a little too much.

 

I had a hard time staying focused and reading this book without wondering when the book was going to be over. I just wasn't invested in the story enough to really care about what was happening and I found myself just kind of dragging myself through each page. I wanted to like this book but it ended up being just an okay read for me.

 

The Hunger Games (My Review)

 

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you want me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!



Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (THG #1)

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Drama, Action

Score: 3.5 stars

Page Count: 374

Book #1 of The Hunger Games series

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: September 14, 2008

 

The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The 'tributes' are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.
When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives. , she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature

 

Review:

PROS:

1. After being encouraged to finally read this book by pretty much everyone I know, I finally did so and read it to make everybody happy. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't excited to read it but I wasn't exactly over-the-top about reading it either. Most of the hype that surrounded this book when the first movie came out ruined the book for me and made me stay away from it. What's worse than hype you guys? Nothing, that's what. But, I read it nonetheless so here's my review!

 

2. The first thing I came to love about this book was the world in which everything takes place. I liked how messed up and cruel the system of things was and it seemed a decent enough world that no one really wants to live in. It was pretty complex in a way but simple to understand. It was interesting to see just how exactly they justify the cruel way in which their world and government works and it honestly was a pretty cool dystopian world.

 

3. I really liked how much the book focused on the survival element of things. Most of the book takes place and follows Katniss as she struggles to make it out alive and in one piece back home. I liked seeing her actions as she tried to survive and outsmart the other "contestants" in order to stay alive for as long as possible. You even pick up a few survival tips from reading the book and it was pretty interesting.

 

CONS:

1. Even though I liked the book for the most part, I didn't really like any of the characters. I couldn't connect with them and honestly didn't really care what happened to them. Katniss, for me, was a hard character to like since she was always expecting someone to betray her or turn their back on her. It was a little annoying and I couldn't relate to her. The other characters, Peeta, Gale, Rue, Prim and whoever else, lacked personality and I couldn't relate to them either. They were an okay group of characters but they definitely weren't my favorite.

 

2. I was also expecting more from this book but didn't get that. I was expecting a lot of action and suspense like I was led on to believe but the book fell short of my expectations and I didn't get any excitement. It was also really slow for the first half of the book which I could've let slide were it not for how long the slowness progressed. The romance in this book was just flat-out annoying to me and I would've been happy if it was taken out completely. It was just way too forced into the story and it didn't flow well with the storyline. Don't get me wrong, I love a little romance in a good dystopian but for this book, it just didn't work.

 

Overall, it was a cool book and I'm sure it picks up in the next two installments of the series. I might pick up the second book in the future but as of now, I'm in no hurry to continue on with the books.

 

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!