Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

My sister visited us last week and the only criteria I gave for letting her stay was the loan of the second and third books in the Hunger Games trilogy.  And so yesterday afternoon, when I should have been unpacking boxes, I curled up on the sofa and started to read Catching Fire.  With breaks for dinner and a bit of cleaning, I finished the book at around half past 10 last night.

In some ways that says everything that needs to be said, but given the speed with which I read the first book it's unsurprising that I found this one easy to get through.  The story starts around six months after the end of the first book, shortly before the Victory Tour is about to commence.  The major events of the missing six months are slowly filled in as the story progresses.

The break in time does allow for more 'important' storylines to be the focus, but as a character fan it also feels a slightly wasted opportunity.  It almost feels as though they were marking time, and that the relationships have changed very little from where they were before.  Any tense feelings that lasted for those months seem quickly forgiven and forgotten, although it is true that some things last on.

Far-fetched is a word that popped into my mind a lot when I was mentally replaying the story last night.  Some aspects of the plot seemed overly dramatic and all very sudden.  And our storyteller does seem to quickly change her mind about the most important of decisions.  However, on reflection, it wasn't quite so far-fetched as it seemed.  The gap of six months allows plenty of time for build ups, and the lack of communication between Districts would account for everything seeming sudden.  And thinking about it, it's often the most important of decisions that are the hardest to make up your mind about and yet the clearest when the right answer has been reached.

I enjoyed reading Catching Fire, but I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow for a true opinion as, like many second books in a trilogy, it's hard to judge the build-up without knowing the conclusion.