Catching Fire: Book 2

Katniss has just gone through the most traumatic event of her life where she was forced to kill other kids in order to survive. She returns home and is forced to put on a smile, act like everything is great, and like she loves the capitol. President Snow is breathing down her neck and attempting to get her to do propaganda for him so that the uprisings in the districts will stop. Peeta found out that Katniss was only pretending to fall for him during the Hunger Games and he and Katniss are now on rocky terms. Katniss talks to Haymitch about when she will be able to stop pretending and he breaks the news to her that she will always have to keep up the charade. They all later find out that the next Hunger Games will be with the winners of the previous games. Will they survive another set of Games?

The first book in this series has always been my favorite of them all. It is clean cut and does not really lend itself to a sequel. This book feels a little out of place and tacked on. Despite that, I do actually like the story being told in this book. Where these Games are held is completely different from the first. It also gives us a similar feel to the first, but keeps it fresh by making our main characters compete against older and more experienced opponents. There are deeper relationships made and better advice given. The set up for the next book felt a bit weird though. The core concept from the first book remains here which is why I still enjoy it.

If you liked this book, the next book in the series is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Other books like this one are: the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, the Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and the Legend series by Marie Lu.