Catching Fire the second in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, with no need to explain the mechanics of the world, allows itself to play out as a mystery novel. I dove straight into this book, thanks in part to Collins masterful use of the cliff-hanger ending. So good is she at this, that it is very difficult to stop reading at the end of a chapter, and I usually found myself stopping mid-chapter when reading time finally ran out. The mystery running through this book, is what are Snow’s plans for Katniss Everdeen, and what, if anything, she can do about it. This gradually shifts into what are the rebellion’s plans for her, and again what, if anything, can she do. We realise that for all her fame and seeming importance, the only freedom and independence she has, is inside the tournament arena. Just as before the reaping, the only freedom and independence she had from her responsibilities, was outside the wire, hunting with Gale.
The mystery element is largely composed of the resistance, if it exists, and to what degree it is organised if it does. Snow clearly believes it is a threat, and Katniss could be a decisive element in threatening Panem. Given this, it is perhaps strange that he doesn’t just quietly arrange for an accident, and instead opts for controlling this dangerous element in an attempt to spin positive outcomes for the Capitol. The Quarter Quell (the third 25th anniversary Hunger Games) is to be reaped from the living victors in each district, so Katniss and her on-screen love interest Peeta are centre stage again. This again seems like a huge strategic error from Snow, and is my main quibble with the book.
One note on structure- so far each book is made up of three parts, each of nine chapters. Nine chapters to a part, nine parts to the trilogy. Collins has already completed two prequels. I do wonder if she has already contemplated a total of nine books of three trilogies…
Perhaps because the visceral cruelty of the games in the first book inured me, but I didn’t find the games in this one as shocking. Or at least only as shocking as the banality of evil of life in the districts. The romantic interest, other than as a tool for generating angst in our protagonist, also left me rather cold, but this may be due to authorial intention. Katniss, appears to see Peeta and Gale’s romantic attention as a distraction most of the time. Thanks, however, to masterful pacing and another cliff-hanger, I race on to Mockingjay!
