The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Catching Fire Synopsis:

Katniss survived the 74^th Hunger Games, after that special twist at the end of the games. Now Katniss must go and visit all the districts, which were forced to celebrate her win, as the Capitol rubs the deaths of their contenders in their faces. The president of the Capitol was into Katniss, as he was majorly pissed off from what she did at the last Hunger Games, considering that it have sparked a rebellion among the districts.

Long after the celebrations, it was time again for another Game. Katniss is already involved as she was to train District 11’s new players. It turns out that the 75^th Hunger Games marks the third Quarter Quell. On the 25^th Games, the districts were forced to vote for the kid to play in the Games; on the 50^th, twice as many players were sent to the arena; now it’s the 75^th and the Games is spiced up once again. Which means Katniss will be involved much more than she had imagined: a clear and direct punishment from the president himself. All the while, the spark of rebellion that Katniss created was slowly turning into a wildfire.

Mockingjay Synopsis:

The whole Panem was in a state of war. There are rebellion forces in every district which the peacekeepers try to subdue. With a lot of casualties, the rebellion needs a spark of hope and determination. They need Katniss, their Mockingjay.

But Katniss has been underground, in what was the secret community of District 13. With Peeta at the hands of the Capitol and with the death and destruction in her home district, she struggles hard not to break down. District 13 is leading the rebellion and has the technology, weapons, manpower to overthrow the Capitol. But they also need the all the other districts' help, so they also needed Katniss.

Seeing an opportunity to save Peeta from certain death, she strikes a deal with the District’s president to be the face of the rebellion, with her comeback as the Mockingjay.

The only official character artworks that I've seen.

Review:

Catching Fire is just as good as the first one. It started where the first book left off, but continued all through the year along the celebrations, the preparations for the next game, and well through the 75^th Games itself. A lot happened, but it did not feel rushed at all.

Although it started slow, the story develops beautifully in this book. This one had more, bigger, and better twists than the first one. The action packed scenes kept me on the edge, and it mercifully gives breathing rooms at the right moments. The love story is still there, as well as all the girly stuff from the first book, but it’s nothing to complain about. It makes the book better than it already is.

Mockingjay is a bit different than the first two. This time, most of the time, Katniss is in relative safety. There could have been a lot of opportunities to have some action packed fights, but as the story goes, it feels like it was all saved for last parts of the book. Even then, compared to the first two, I did not feel as much adrenaline.

This one however has at least two of the most heartbreaking moments of the series. Like I said on my first review, this is a book about killing. Like the second book, a lot of new characters were introduced in this one, though only a few joined the other cast to become major characters.This is also concludes whom Katniss will end up with. And I’m glad my team won.

The thing with a great book and a great sequel, it can’t be helped to have high expectations for the concluding novel. It was great, but just as I said, I expected a little more.