(Barely) Catching Fire!

SYNOPSIS: 

Against all odds, Katniss 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 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.

REVIEW:

The first time I tried to read Catching fire  I just couldn't get into it. I was kind of bored and it didn't keep my attention. This time I did actually finish it, though sometimes I had the same feeling. Overall I liked Catching Fire, but it isn't often that I enjoy a movie over it's book and this was one of those times. I found the novel to be a little slow and, sadly, kind of boring. It wasn't "on fire" with excitement, it was more like the embers of a fire, providing a little heat here and there but not much in the way of substance.

There were some things brought up in the novel which wasn't in the movie that I enjoyed.I really enjoyed seeing Katniss and the tributes basically giving the capital the finger and also seeing Katniss grow genuine feelings for Peeta (who I think might always win my affection between the two boys.) Reading about Rue again made me cry and I did choke up here and there throughout the novel.

I will admit that the beginning of the novel seemed much stronger and more interesting than the second half did. The film did a better job with them being in the Arena than the book did but the Victory tour is much more interesting in the novel.

And of course I liked Catching Fire for the issues it raised, just as I liked Hunger Games for the same reasons, but this is simply a novel I didn't fall in love with.