Stack of Spines

So, it appears I’m on a sequels kick.  I had to wait a while for this one at the library so the timing was interesting.

I don’t want to spoil too much here, other than to say, Catching Fire was not what I expected.  I was not prepared to be as drawn to this book as I was the first, The Hunger Games.  Collins set up a more than excellent cliffhanger, much like with the first book in the series, to ensure readers came back.

The first half was undoubtedly slow compared to the pace I was used to, but the plot twists and turns were just unreal.  I found myself reading with mouth agape like I did so many times at the unspeakable horror that is the Hunger Games.  Katniss and Peeta are back, this time with seemingly even more ‘adult’ problems on their hands.  I love a novel where a character grows, the emerging moral fortitude of the *ahem* female heroine is lovely.  A series that grows with the reader is a bonus as well.

Speaking of the intended audience, my only beef with this book was the occasional cheesy “doomsday” line about the world being in Katniss’s hands.  It was, to be sure, but the sentences that summed up her plight so neatly seemed to cheapen it a bit.  I imagine the young reader needs reminding from time to time of the weight of the situation?  That is the only justification I can think of at this point.

I may have to consider buying the third book, currently in production.  Not sure I can fight wait 600 people again in line at the library.