Brief Reviews: Catching Fire & Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439023491
• ISBN-13: 978-0439023498

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.

Catching Fire is awesome! I love how Suzanne describes the relationship between Katniss and Peeta. Katniss is not sure about her feelings for Peeta, but in this novel, she is determined to save him when the Capitol announces that for the 75th Hunger Games (Quarter Quell), tributes will be selected among existing winners. President Snow must have thought that Katniss would perish while facing with a bunch of past winners. I pitied her that nightmares continued to haunt her dreams. As usual, Suzanne surprises readers with twists and turns in the story. And the games are more creative this time, with new dangers and traps. Catching Fire is a wonderful continuation of The Hunger Games.

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Mockingjay (Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press (August 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439023513
• ISBN-13: 978-0439023511

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.


Peeta is captured by the Capitol. Katniss is saved, but broken. She keeps blaming herself for unable to save Peeta from the Capitol's iron grip. She has only one way to rescue him, and that is to act as the Mockingjay and fuel the rebels' determination to overthrow the Capitol. But what she does endangers Peeta's situation even more.

Katniss is not the brave, strong-willed heroine anymore since she realizes that Peeta has not been saved. She is consumed by her own pit of despair and is on the brink of breaking. However, these emotions are understandable, since she is under such an immense pressure and heartbreak.

Gale's personality has changed in this novel, after he witnessed the destruction of his hometown, District 12. He becomes a scheming person who has no compassion for his enemies. This is not unusual, since the districts are at war with the Capitol. He contributes his knowledge of setting traps and alters them into deadly weapons.

This book shows all the actual horrors of war and how one can do anything to disintegrate its opposing force. There is no happy ending in this book. You may feel down after reading this book because of the many events that reflect real life. However, I will still recommend this book to you as it is the final part of The Hunger Games series. You will be interested to know how the rebellion ends. And so is the love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta.

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