halooo 's review for:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

4.0

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It’s been years since I first read Catching Fire, and revisiting it now as an adult has completely wrecked me in the best and worst ways. Suzanne Collins doesn’t just build a sequel she deepens every layer of the world, the trauma, and the rebellion simmering under the surface. The emotional toll of the Quarter Quell is unreal. Seeing Katniss and Peeta dragged back into the Games, alongside past victors who are already broken and bruised by the system is both heartbreaking and infuriating. And yet it’s so sharply written so full of tension and subtle resistance that you can’t look away. Katniss remains such a fierce, flawed, relatable protagonist. Her sarcasm, her anger, her grief all of it reads so authentically. Peeta is as always the calm within the storm: endlessly kind, endlessly brave, and somehow still selfless even as his world crumbles around him. He’s the kind of character that quietly carries the story on his back and I adore him for it. Then there’s Finnick, who I forgot I would immediately fall in love with again. Underneath the charm is a deeply layered, broken man with far more depth than people give him credit for. And Mags? Don’t even get me started. That scene in the fog will live in my chest forever. The arena twist with the clock mechanism? Brilliant and terrifying. Every hour brings a new horror, and the way Suzanne writes it keeps the tension razor-sharp. But it’s the emotional stakes, the characters, the sacrifices that make the story unforgettable. And don’t get me started on Johanna and her very justifiable rage! She was supposed to be free of it all just to be dragged back in!? SICK AND TWISTED FOR ALL OF THEM! The ending?? Shocking, devastating, and the perfect launch into rebellion. LOVE LOVE LOVE! onto Mockingjay!