The Hunger Games Book 2 - Catching Fire

Suzanne Collins, how dare you? How dare you make me experience a roller coaster of emotions a la Ron Burgundy? While I question some of her plot points, I have to say that the characters Collins has created in the Hunger Games series have me dying to find out what happens to them. I'm just going to have to distract myself until August 24th when Mockingjay hits store shelves.

The first book left me with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, mainly because I thought Katniss was being too much of a silly little twit for her own good. Then I remembered being sixteen, and promptly realized that it is difficult for a young lady at that age to be anything other than an annoying brat. I stand firm to my assertion that the young women of today do not need another boy crazy heroine, and even though Katniss keeps telling us how boy crazy she isn't, the fact remains that she is. There's also an undercurrent of staying with someone to make other people happy even if it makes you miserable, which is gross, but it seems as though in the second book, Collins is at least giving Katniss the brains to stop that relationship from becoming something it should not be.

Once again, it's hard to review this book without giving way too much away, but let me say that I do appreciate Katniss: 1) admitting she's annoying; 2) realizing what her real potential is; and 3) absolutely embracing it. One great thing about Katniss is that although she might sulk for a bit, she truly understands that she has absolute power, and she knows that it really scares some very important people. Which is pretty cool.

Throw together a few new characters, the potential for another love interest (this brings dear Kat up to three), the fate of their world squared on her shoulders, some very covert attempts to end her life and there you have this book. While Geronimo complained that one of the plot points was rehashed, it didn't bother me as much, as I felt it seemed the only logical direction the story could take.

When I read the final installment, Mockingjay, I'm sure I'll have much more to say about this story overall, but until then, it's just going to be a whole lot of stomachaches and wondering.

(Here's the credit for the lovely rendering of Katniss - http://rohanelf.deviantart.com/)