The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

This time it's a review of the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. And what a book it was.

After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen has all the food and money she could ever want/need. However, she's still suffering depressive moments as well as new policies within District 12 and the possibility of an uprising.

To make things worse, it's the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games meaning a 'Quell' will be drawn. The result is that only the victors of each district will be put into the reaping ball. This means that with Katniss being the only female to ever win in District 12 there's 100 percent chance she will be pulled.

And so K is sent to the Hunger Games again. But, like the first book, there's a lot more than just a group of people fighting to the death. An uprising has begun in one district and there is expected to be another in District 12. The Capitol, a capitalist state still controls everything and each district takes care over various trades.

Written in a similar style to the first book, this is filled with cliffhangers, fast-paced scenes and is impossible to put down. The characters are interesting and much different to those in the first, the arena has been changed and deaths are very juicy. If you've managed book 1, you'll need to read this.

Ending with a very big cliffhanger, I feel rather eager to get stuck in to the final book. I can safely say it's been a long time since I've shot through a series of books. I'll also repeat this: despite being written for Young Adults, old adults will find these books an excellent read. The content is political (and very interesting from a Socialist point of view), the deaths are varied in style and, as previously mentioned, it's filled with cliffhangers resulting in a 6 hour read, desperate to find out what happens next.

One could even argue that Suzanne Collins is a writer not dissimilar to Simon Kernick, except she writes for children rather than adults.

Managed in around 3 or 4 days this is well worth a read. Buy these books.

5 out of 5