My First Post About a Sequel!

So, if you've already browsed through the rest of this blog, you probably saw my rant about how amazing The Hunger Games is. And I'm not gonna lie; I reread that book way too often for my own good! So far I've mostly been posting about series as a whole, not individual books. I've decided that sometimes, I'll do an overview of a series and later I'll go and do individual books in that series. Sound good? Great.

So here's my first review of a sequel.

*ALERT: THERE ARE MILD SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T READ THE FIRST HUNGER GAMES BOOK YET.* (Sorry!)

Catching Fire is, you guessed it, the sequel to The Hunger Games. It wasn't as great as the first one, nor as epic as the third, but I wasn't disappointed. I did find it rather repetitive though, if only because Katniss finds herself in the arena yet again. What I was dying to find out about though was her relationship status with Peeta. Peeta is, quite possibly, my favorite love interest of any main character; he comes in second only to Ginny Weasley. So I'm Team Peeta. For a while though, i was undecided, I have to admit. Gale was the type of guy the heroine almost always falls for in other novels. But my heart did break for Peeta at the end of book one, when he finds out that Katniss was just putting on an act for the cameras. I just couldn't decide! So I determined that I would let Katniss do the choosing and when I found out who she picked, I would be okay with it either way.

In book two, Collins adds yet another cast of interesting tributes, including Finnick (to be played by Sam Claflin in the upcoming movie), Mags, Beetee and Wiress, and Johanna. I loved all of these characters. The clock arena was, by far, one of the most captivating mysteries to unravel in the book. I have a friend who actually drew a map of it and showed it to me. It was incredibly detailed - kudos to her.

The ending was a bit confusing to me at first; I had to reread it to fully understand what happened. But when I finally understood it, I went to the library and searched for Mockingjay immediately. I love when that happens; when all the scattered details you picked up on the book before suddenly click into place and set you up for the ultimate ending. It was like the Horcruxes in Harry Potter.

Suzanne Collins has, once again, transported us to her vivid dystopian world and made you want to laugh and cry with Katniss. The movie of this book is coming out in November 2013, I think. Will it be as good as the book? Probably not. But I'll be in that movie theater anyways.