Let's get the preliminary issues with this review out of the way first. First off, yes, The Hunger Games and its sequels are Young Adult books. But there are a lot of good books that fall under the that heading. Heck, I reviewed The Giver, and that's definitely YA. I don't see any particular problem with adults reading YA books. Secondly, hey, wasn't The Hunger Games compared to Twilight at one point? It definitely was, but I'm guessing the comparisons between the two were made either by the ignorant or as a marketing ploy. There is not much to connect the two series.
Given The Hunger Games' overwhelming popularity, there seemed little reason to review it for this blog. But Catching Fire is much less omnipresent, and I figure that means there might be some room for a critique of it on the internet. So how does the sequel stack up to it's celebrated predecessor?
Fairly well, I'd say. Catching Fire is lighter fare than The Hunger Games, but it has the same energy and verve of the original. The main thing holding Catching Fire back is that it lacks the powerful core survival theme of the first book. The fact is, The Hunger Games didn't particularly demand a follow up. To me, any standalone book continuing its story feels kind of superfluous, no matter how well written; a problem that usually afflicts movies more than books. Think about the movie Rocky. Rocky is a perfectly self contained story. It tells the gritty tale of a low life aspiring to greatness, and tells it well. Get in, get out, over and done. But because of Rocky's runaway success, there needed to be a sequel. The problem was the core of what makes Rocky great couldn't be reused. Rocky had won, he was a celebrity, he was cool. So the elements that made the original movie a success (the grit, the struggle against overwhelming odds) were out. The core hook was missing, and Rocky 2 was destined to be less than its progenitor. And so it goes with Catching Fire.
Catching Fire picks up right where the last book left off. Katniss is a big celebrity now. She and her family have a nice house and plenty of food. The central conflict of the book, then, is no longer about survival. It's about trying to maintain a facade of ditzyness. Which for a smart, impulsive young woman, is tantamount to torture. The first half of the book revolves around this and other internal conflicts. As Katniss is coming apart at the seams mentally, the greater nation of Panem is caught in the throws of rebellion. This is all handled fairly well- the boilerplate prose does these long action-less sequences little good, but the filling in of so many little details and facets of the world is appreciated. Unfortunately, the down time also means that the love triangle sub-theme of the first book gets a lot more time and attention. Really the only part of Catching Fire I felt uncomfortable reading was the teen-girl-pandering 'which studly guy will Katniss choose?' stuff. There isn't too much of it- the book doesn't turn into Twilight or anything- but it screams to the adult reader, "You are reading a book for teenage girls!"
Luckily the book picks up in its second half, where, spoilers I suppose, Katniss must again compete in the Hunger Games. With the original book having already established all the basic rules and rhythms of the Games, Catching Fire has the freedom to go wild with the death-match arena concept. Instead of focusing on Katniss's moment-to-moment solo struggles as the first book did, Catching Fire is about the larger overall strategy of the Games and group dynamics. The Hunger Games had the problem of having largely faceless opponents, but Catching Fire is filled with colorful characters. So yes, easily just as, if not more, exciting than the original.
Meanwhile, in Neo Nippon...
Ultimately what it comes down to is this: if you liked The Hunger Games, than you'll enjoy Catching Fire. But it is by no means required reading. Entertaining but not essential. Which isn't bad for any book to achieve. Catching Fire wins 9 out of 13 districts.
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