Anyway, so I finished book two of the Hunger Games. I was a little confused because I thought some people said they hated it, then others told me it was their favorite. I really can't say which one I like more. They're really pretty different. This one may be a bit slower, just because we aren't so hooked on finding out if and who will die once we turn the page.
Something that may factor into the difference between my reading this book and reading the first is that, before I read the first, I watched me movie. Obviously, I couldn't do that with this one, so now I'm excited to watch the movie now that I've read the book.
I know. Like you care if I watched the movie or read the book first. I'll move on.
Catching fire, obviously, is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. We enter back into Katniss and Peeta's world to find Katniss still is on the fence with the whole guys-who-are-in-love-with-her issue yet she has avoided Peeta like the plague since she arrived. Kinda bummer to me, because I really like Peeta. I mean I can understand, Gale is Katniss' first love. But when you're thrown into a crazy situation like this with a guy, actually do like him a little, spend all this time with him, and - just for the heck of it, I'll add - are being forced to pretend to be in love with him: frikin' just accept that maybe God's trying to tell you something. Just sayin'.
You can tell I'm a romantic. So I'm just playing into Ms Collins' hands, letting her taunt me with the love triangle that never ends. I guess all I can say, and ever say, is poor Peeta.
So, Peeta and Katniss got the mansions they were promised, the rations and feast for their district has arrived, and for once everyone in it will sleep with full stomachs. Their greatest worry is really just finding something to do so they don't get bored. . . And then President Snow mentions whispers of rebellion. Says that Districts are starting to believe her eating the berries was her going against the Capitol, not a sign of desperate love. Tells her her current fake romance with Peeta won't do, and she'll have to step it up a notch if she wants everyone she loves to be and stay safe.
And then something unexpected happens: her and Peeta are sent back in the rink. A fight to the death. And this time, it's for sure: only one person is coming out alive. The question is just: who?
The second book may come across a little slower, because it's a little more focused on Katniss' emotions and thoughts and feelings, as opposed to the fast action from the arena in the first one. But I found it interesting. And interesting is enough to keep me going through a book. I also always love being taken somewhere I've never been before and seeing it in my mind. These books are adventures, which is probably why I love them.
VIOLENCE/GORE: It's a Hunger Games book, so there is a lot of violence. Enough to make an impression on you. In comparison to the first one, I almost want to say there's more, but I don't remember enough to compare. I may just be saying there's more because this book is fresh in my mind. But also because this violence happens outside of the arena. In a way, the violence inside the arena is acceptable because we're expecting it and it's in the rules. The violence outside the arena, in their every day lives, comes across more cruel and dastardly.
LOVE/SEX: Katniss and Peeta kiss vaguely and sleep in the same bed with each other, but nothing more than that happens.
DRUGS/ALCOHOL: Haymitch is as always struggling with his alcoholism. And there are two, what they call, morphlings, from other districts, addicted to drugs and presented as pale and sickly. Collins doesn't seem to be, in any way, advocating drugs or alcohol.
I'll read book three as soon as possible. =-)
