Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire Novel ☑️ Recommended

Hunger Games Trilogy Book 2

Catching Fire Summary

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.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.

ISBN-10 ‎ 0545586178

ISBN-13 ‎ 978-0545586177

Publisher: ‎Scholastic Inc.

Catching Fire Release Date: May 28, 2010

400 pages

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Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. As the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games, it continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and the fictional, futuristic nation of Panem. Following the events of the previous novel, a rebellion against the oppressive Capitol has begun, and Katniss and fellow tribute Peeta Mellark are forced to return to the arena in a special edition of the Hunger Games. The book was released September 1, 2009, and was later released in eBook and audiobook format. The film will be released on November 22, 2013.

Major themes include survival, government control, rebellion, and interdependence vs. independence. Catching Fire has received mostly positive reviews. Reviewers praised the prose, the ending, and the development of Katniss's character. The third and final novel in the series, Mockingjay, was released August 24, 2010.

Setting

Catching Fire takes place in a fictional country called Panem, which is located in what was once the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is told in the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a seventeen year old girl, who, one year ago, won the seventy-fourth Hunger Games with fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark. The Capitol, the chief city and seat of government, is located somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. District 12, Katniss' home, is located in the coal-rich Appalachian region. There are a total of 12 Districts, but there once was a 13th, which was destroyed in a rebellion against the Capitol. The Hunger Games take place annually in an arena specially built for the event in an unidentified location.

Plot

After winning the 74th Hunger Games in the previous novel, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12, the poorest sector in the country of Panem. Katniss and Peeta are preparing to embark on a "Victory Tour" of Panem, but have rarely spoken since they won the Games and Peeta realized the emotions Katniss displayed towards him were exaggerated at the request of their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. Katniss is struggling to understand her emotions involving Peeta and Gale, as she was kissed by Gale upon returning to District 12. The day Katniss is due to leave, the Capitol's President Snow arrives at Katniss' home and tells her she needs to convince the people of Panem that she and Peeta are really in love because their actions in the Games have sparked unrest across the districts, who believe their attempted suicide was an act of defiance against the Capitol rather than love. He indirectly threatens Gale and Katniss' family.

The first stop on the Victory Tour is District 11, the home of Katniss' friend and ally in the Hunger Games, Rue, before she died. During the ceremony, Katniss and Peeta deliver quick speeches to the people of District 11, thanking them for their tributes and Peeta offers to donate a portion of his Victory winnings to the families of Rue and Thresh, the other District 11 victim. When the speeches conclude, an old man whistles a tune that Rue used in the arena to tell Katniss that she was safe. The song acts as a signal and everyone salutes Katniss using the same gesture that she used to say farewell to Rue. However the old man is shot dead and the Capitol refuses to let the pair make any personal speeches during the rest of the tour. Katniss and Peeta then proceed to travel to all of the twelve districts and the Capitol. Katniss informs Peeta of their need to emphasise their love and Peeta responds by, during an interview, proposing to Katniss publicly. As Katniss says when trying on wedding dresses, in Panem there are no traditional weddings. The marriage concept is going to the Justice Building, signing a marriage certificate, and receiving a house. The couple then has a housewarming party with cake. Despite this, Katniss learns that their attempts of subduing rebellion in the districts and convincing Snow of their relationship have failed. At a celebratory dinner back in District 12 Katniss sees a secret TV report showing a violent uprising in District 8 and the resulting killings of many citizens by the Peacekeepers, Panem's security force. After this event, security is massively tightened in District 12 and the Peacekeepers are replaced. Gale is whipped by the new Head Peacekeeper for hunting and the fence surrounding District 12 becomes electrified effectively barring Katniss from escape or hunting. Katniss still escapes into the woods and encounters two runaways from District 8. She offers them food and they explain a theory that District 13 was not wiped out by the Capitol and that its residents have gone underground. When she returns home, Cinna and his stylists arrive to help her prepare for her bridal shoot. The stylists tell her of shortages of supplies across the Capitol that lead Katniss to realize rebellions and uprisings are spreading across Panem. President Snow announces that, for the 75th Hunger Games, as part of the "Quarter Quell", a special edition of the Games every quarter-century, tributes will be reaped from a pool of all living Victors of past Hunger Games. As she is the only living female victor from District 12, Katniss is chosen for the Quarter Quell by default. When Haymitch is chosen as male tribute, Peeta volunteers in his place to protect Katniss. Desperate to prepare, the trio begin training and studying the winning tactics of past victors.

After arriving at the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta look for potential allies among the other tributes. Katniss meets Finnick Odair, a 24-year-old man who successfully survived the Games at the age of 14, and Mags, Finnick's 80-year-old mentor, both from District 4. She also meets Beetee and Wiress, an older couple from District 3 who are said to be "exceptionally smart" and adept at working with electronics. Beetee and Wiress tell Katniss that the Capitol leaves the control panels for their force fields vulnerable in plain sight. During the training display to the Gamemakers the pair show their defiance of the Capitol and returning to the Games, Peeta painting Rue's death and Katniss hanging a dummy and labeling it "Seneca Crane" in reference to the executed previous Gamemaker. During the interviews, Katniss wears a bridal gown. Following the conclusion of the interview, the dress burns away to reveal a mockingjay costume. This costume transformation had been planned in advance by Cinna as an act of defiance. Before the Games begin, Katniss is forced to watch in horror as several Peacemakers beat Cinna and drag him away.

The Games take place on a beach and jungle terrain, with a dome shaped force field enclosing the tributes and the Cornucopia located on a small island in the middle of a miniature sea. The arena is set up to resemble an analog clock with one lethal event occurring every hour on a twelve hour cycle. When the Games start, Katniss and Peeta form an impromptu alliance with Finnick and Mags. They try to find the arena's perimeter, but Peeta runs into the force field at the edge, stopping his heart. Luckily, Finnick is able to perform CPR to revive him, although Peeta is weakened from the incident. At midnight, lightning strikes a tree nearby, and the next hour the Gamemakers release a poisonous fog in the group's location. The toxic fog causes nerve failure and muscle spasms which inhibits their running while Katniss tries to carry Mags and Finnick carries Peeta. Mags sacrifices herself when Katniss cannot carry her any longer, allowing the other three to escape. After Mags' death, the group is attacked by mutated monkeys, but all three survive, thanks to the female tribute from District 6 sacrificing herself to save Peeta. Katniss, Peeta and Finnick join forces with Johanna Mason, a sarcastic and often cruel victor from District 7, an injured Beetee, and Wiress, who is in shock and repeatedly mumbles "tick tock". From Wiress' words, Katniss realizes that the arena is arranged like a clock, with the Gamemakers' disasters occurring on a timed chart, signaled by the lightning at 12 o'clock.

While gathered at the central Cornucopia the Careers attack the group, killing Wiress, and a battle ensues until the Gamemakers cut it short by rapidly shifting the terrain and disorienting the Tributes. Beetee devises a plan to harness the arena's lightning to supposedly electrocute the rest of the Career tributes when they venture near the water. At night the group splits to prepare for the plan, but is attacked separately by the remaining tributes. Katniss is knocked out and has her tracker removed by Johanna. Johanna then leads the two remaining careers away from Katniss. An injured Katniss comes across Beetee, holding a knife tied to the wire and appearing to have planned to direct the knife into the force field. Katniss directs the lightning at the force field's control panel with an arrow tied to the wire, destroying the arena force field and resulting in her temporary paralysis. When she wakes up, she discovers she is being transported to District 13: a place that is widely thought to no longer exist. She is joined by Finnick, Beetee, and Haymitch, but learns that Peeta and Johanna have been captured by the Capitol. Katniss is informed that from the beginning, there had been a plan among most of the tributes, Haymitch, and Head Gamemaker Plutarch who is secretly against the Capitol to break her and Peeta out of the arena. Katniss' image is being used as the symbol of the rebellion, which has spread to almost every district during the Games, and all the victors in the alliance were determined to keep Katniss alive at the expense of their own lives. The book ends with Katniss' best friend, Gale, informing her that, although he escaped with her family, District 12 has been bombed and destroyed.

Themes

One of the main themes in the book is survival.

Another main theme is interdependence versus independence. As one reviewer noted, "In The Hunger Games book 2, Katniss and Peeta are definitely interdependent. They are both helping each other to survive. As a matter of fact, they want the other one to survive more than they do themselves." The reviewer goes on to comment how this actually increases the chances of each character dying.

Government control is another important theme throughout the book and the series. After overpowering the first rebellion, the Capitol sets up rules in order to restrict and control the citizens' lives. Examples include how, "the 75th annual Hunger Games have 'new' rules that cause Katniss and Peeta to be in danger once again. More 'Peacekeepers' are placed in districts to squash any hope that the citizens started to have after the last Hunger Games." Other themes in the book include morality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, and law.

Additional information and source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catching_Fire

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