"Catching Fire"

When I finished The Hunger Games, I wanted to read Catching Fire right away. Luckily, my friend Jenni felt the same way! She finished the first book about the same time I did and went out immediately to buy the second book. She loaned it to me after she finished it, then I read it, and now it's waiting on Erin's shelf for her to finish her current book.

In Catching Fire, Katniss is back with her partner Peeta making their victory tour through all of the districts. After a visit from the frightening President Snow, she knows that she cannot even breathe the idea of rebellion at the risk of death to her family, but some events cannot be stopped once set into motion.

I did not expect this book to be as strong or as gripping as the first, but I was wrong. Catching Fire builds on The Hunger Games and improves the story. The more I get to know the characters, the more I am conerned about their lives. If possible, this book is even darker and more suspenseful than the first. At one moment of Capitol brutality, I gasped out loud in shock at the cruelty. I recommended The Hunger Games to my 13-year-old son, but I'm not sure I would encourage him to read Catching Fire.

Catching Fire ends with a twist in the plot and leaves you dangling in suspense waiting for the conclusion of the trilogy. Unfortunately, Book Three does not come out until August. Those of us wondering about the survival of Kat, Peeta, their families, and District 12 will just have to wait until then to get our answers