Catching Fire : a review

(There will be knitting content later this week, I promise!)

In this sequel to Hunger Games, Katniss is back in District 12, where she now lives in the Victor's Village. But nothing in Panem is the same, thanks to a gesture she made during the games that inadvertently sparked a rebellion. With uprisings in several districts, the Capitol makes an unprecedented decision to try and stop this movement. I don't want to say anything more about the plot because it is full of surprises that you should discover for yourself.

One review I read of this book said that it didn't pack the emotional punch of the first book. That is something I would expect of a sequel because of its very nature, but in this case I would have to disagree. What happens in this book, well...some of it is similar to the plot of Hunger Games, but some of it is new and unexpected. Again, I don't want to give anything away, but I found it every bit as compelling and exciting as the first book.

Although the plot is different, I can't help but compare the themes of this series with Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. They are both dystopias wherein the government exerts control by making teenagers go through a rather extreme rite of passage, and in both series there is a rebellion in which the female protagonist plays a large and important part. If you like Hunger Games but haven't read the Westerfeld series yet, I strongly recommend that you do so. As for me, I can't wait for the final installment in this trilogy, which I've heard should be released next year.