Catching Fire

I'm going to go back to my regularly scheduled weeks next week or the week after. I've read a lot of great adult books I want to review, but then a friend introduced me to Suzanne Collins and her Hunger Games series. I was up until 2:30 last night (with a long day ahead of me work-wise) finishing the 2nd, Catching Fire. About 70 pages from the end I remembered book 3 isn't out until August. I railed against the unjustice of it all, those people who encouraged me to read this anyway, but I couldn't stop reading. It was that good.

(I suspect they just wanted another reader to be hooked enough on the story to wait in agony for August with them. Could be wrong, but I don't think so. OK the book was also just that good. But still. August? sigh)

I can't say I like Katniss, but I love how she sees everyone around her. Katniss is a blind, self-absorbed, stupid girl who can't figure out anything not to do with herself or hunting without a literal life and death struggle. But the supporting cast is amazing and I found myself reading faster in hopes to see what happened to THEM. Peeta, Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, Finnick, and Johanna-the things they do, the reasons they do it, are great, only glimpsed at (the story is told in 1st person from Katniss POV), and make me wonder just what else is going on around Katniss that she hasn't realized and don't care about.

The supporting characters in Katniss's home are less realized (mom, sister, best friend/maybe boyfriend) but I don't care about them anyway. The plot was typical, easy to spot, but I enjoyed it because the cast and they way they went about it really held my attention.