Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic, 2009.

If you haven't read the first in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, this is a **spoiler warning** for that title.

Though the Hunger Games are over, Katniss is still in danger. The government is watching her, believing her attempt to eat the poisonous berries with Peeta to be an act of defiance and a possible spark setting off revolution in the Districts. The President himself threatens her family if Katniss can't play her role as a lovesick young woman well. But she didn't ask for revolution, and she just wants to run away and be safe with her family and friends.

Once again, the tension builds as events in Katniss' life swirl out of her control. Though the story starts out slower than The Hunger Games, there is still a pervading sense of unease because of the threats to Katniss, her family, and her District. The government isn't giving out any news of uprising, but Katniss is able to put together enough information that you realize there's much more going on beyond what she knows. The intensity in the story builds as we learn about the Quarter Quell, the special Hunger Games that occurs every 25 years, leaving me breathless by the end and extremely glad that I have Mockingjay here ready to go.