Christmas eh? And New Years? Who'd have em? Exactly. And so on and so forth. You get the drift.
Anyway, first post on here of 2013! I ummed and aahed as to what to do but in the end there was one choice really; I would delve back into my frantic attempts to catch up with what everyone else read two years ago. So without further ado, I give you...
Katniss Everdeen survived the Hunger Games but in order to ensure that friend and potential love interest Peeta did too she had to embarrass the organisers, and by extension the administration of creepy old President Snow; an act which has made her an unwitting, and indeed unwilling, symbol of hope for a burgeoning resistance movement. All Katniss wants to do is be left alone, but let's face it; she's the lead in a trilogy, and is only one book in. She's not getting an easy life any time soon; that's just science.
Sure enough, President Snow comes up with a way to strike back at her for her
impertinence (and keep the series going); he re-jigs the entire concept of the
Hunger Games to get past winners back in the arena, and since Katniss' native
District 12 doesn't have that many to choose from, it's back to the Capital she
goes.
Catching Fire isn't really about the games themselves though. The Hunger Games took a while to get Katniss and Peeta into the arena, yes, but the main thrust of the plot was the games; here we have to wait even longer before the games start, and when they do it's clear from the off that something isn't quite right with them.
There is a much greater amount of time spent establishing the other entrants in the games this time around; presumably because they are going to be important later, as opposed to the first book's glorified cannon fodder; but Collins does it with a sure hand, never once allowing them to distract her too much from the job at hand. That being, making Katniss annoying.
And that, right there, is the rub of the nub. Sorry fans, but as much I enjoyed this book there is no getting away from the fact that Collins has fallen prey to the same pitfall that so many others before her have fallen into; namely, having a first person narrator who is the least interesting, and most annoying, character in the story. And I say this as someone who praised the Katniss character in my post on the first book.
For some reason all of her 'quirks' and the little annoyances that I forgave the first time around just seemed amplified in this book and made it harder and harder to like the girl. Maybe I'm being dense; maybe the point is that we aren't supposed to like her. In which case, well done, mission accomplished.
Plotwise, however, the book is fantastic. It takes what could have been a carbon copy of the original and turns it on it's head, while the finale; uber exciting action set piece that it is; sends the characters, and the entire series, off in a totally new direction that there is no coming back from. Mockingjay is going to be something else.
Catching Fire isn't really about the games themselves though. The Hunger Games took a while to get Katniss and Peeta into the arena, yes, but the main thrust of the plot was the games; here we have to wait even longer before the games start, and when they do it's clear from the off that something isn't quite right with them.
There is a much greater amount of time spent establishing the other entrants in the games this time around; presumably because they are going to be important later, as opposed to the first book's glorified cannon fodder; but Collins does it with a sure hand, never once allowing them to distract her too much from the job at hand. That being, making Katniss annoying.
And that, right there, is the rub of the nub. Sorry fans, but as much I enjoyed this book there is no getting away from the fact that Collins has fallen prey to the same pitfall that so many others before her have fallen into; namely, having a first person narrator who is the least interesting, and most annoying, character in the story. And I say this as someone who praised the Katniss character in my post on the first book.
For some reason all of her 'quirks' and the little annoyances that I forgave the first time around just seemed amplified in this book and made it harder and harder to like the girl. Maybe I'm being dense; maybe the point is that we aren't supposed to like her. In which case, well done, mission accomplished.
Plotwise, however, the book is fantastic. It takes what could have been a carbon copy of the original and turns it on it's head, while the finale; uber exciting action set piece that it is; sends the characters, and the entire series, off in a totally new direction that there is no coming back from. Mockingjay is going to be something else.
 |
| Suzanne Collins |
And that was my, somewhat less than any good at all post on Catching Fire. I really did enjoy it. A lot. Honest.
Next week will see the blog play host to a collection of comics featuring everyone's favourite immortal mystic, Madame Xanadu. See ya later.
Next week will see the blog play host to a collection of comics featuring everyone's favourite immortal mystic, Madame Xanadu. See ya later.
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