Catching Fire & Mockingjay - by Suzanne Collins

Yes, yes. I'm doing a double review. Why? I don't have a lot to say about each of them except that I am disappointed.

Catching Fire wasn't as bad as Mockingjay. I was really excited at the thought of another game and the shock of choosing the competitors between the victors was a good one but kinda expected. Although I still expected more of the games it was fun especially the water arena and getting to know the other victors However, I think Suzanne messed up too much with Katniss's personality. Katniss simply becomes so boring and too much of a scaredy cat. Where is the Katniss we know with all the fire inside of her? Not happy. And her constant thoughts about Gale or Peeta started to get on my nerves but excusable.

By the third book we are already fallen in love with a couple more characters. Especially dear Finnick. Who became so important in the books and marries his long love Annie just to soon die off quickly and not be given a mourning thought by our main? Katniss is also left with a "broken" Peeta. He has been brainwashed by the Capitol to hate Katniss. Now I don't have a problem with that exactly but more on the lack of gradual recovery from that. It seemed to me that out of the blue Peeta is suddenly quite well again! And is not quite trying to kill Katniss. Jeez. No explanations there at all. Last but not least, the biggest shock on the book for me is when they kill Prim near the ending. Suzanne simply didn't give us enough time to absorb the happening! To me the description was really weak and rushed. It lacked order and it seemed as if Prim simply popped out of nowhere to die. Which was what happened. . .

It made me very sad because my whole excitement about the Hunger Games definitively crawled down a notch for me. On the bright side - bring me the next exciting series!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Review

The story evolves around this annual event that is broadcasted on national TV, the Hunger Games, in which a group of children ranging from 12 to 18 fight each other for their life, with only one to remain standing.
Suzanne Collins created this post-apocalypse world that is quite beyond our current technology capacities. Full body polishing, anyone? I 'd sign up for that miracle procedure. But back to the story . . . there are 12 districts and one boy and one girl of each district are sent to the arena to fight. As you grow older towards 18 your name is put more and more into the draw for the games. That and you can put your name in again for basic rations. As you go farer from district 1 the poorer the area is. And the main character, Katniss Everglade, lives on district 12. With her mother and little sister. Her sister goes for the first drawing of her life and she is picked. With only one of her name entered into the drawing. Bad luck? Yes. But not for the little 12 year old. But for Katniss who enters in her place.
And so the book continues with the training and the games itself and the final outcome. It's a brutal reality for Katniss (am I the only one who doesn't hate her name?), the Games are brutal but Suzanne Collins managed to make it quite balanced for all ages of readers.
Overall The Hunger Games seem to be the new fever between young readers. With a movie coming out early in 2012. And you can definitely count me in with the fever!

It's an amazing book balancing tension, violence, romance. . . It's a fast paced good read and I absolutely love it!