Since it's publication date in 2009, Catching Fire has been generally well recieved, having been reviewed by many critics. Here you can read a selection of reviews, good and bad, about the series we have all come to love.
"If this second installment spends too much time recapping events from book one, it doesn't disappoint when it segues into the pulse-pounding action readers have come to expect. Characters from the previous volume reappear to good effect: Katniss's stylist, Cinna, proves he's about more than fashion; Haymitch becomes more dimensional. But the star remains Katniss, whose bravery, honesty and wry cynicism carry the narrative...Collins has also created an exquisitely tense romantic triangle for her heroine...by the book's end (and it's a cliffhanger), readers will be picking sides - Peeta or Gale?"
"Collins has done that rare thing. She has written a sequel that improves upon the first book."
- Gabrielle Zevin (The New York Times)
"...this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment."
- (School Library Journal)
"Again, Collins' crystalline, unadorned prose provides an open window to perfect pacing and electrifying world-building, but what's even more remarkable is that aside from being tremendously action-packed sf thrillers, these books are also brimming with potent themes of morality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, law, and, above all, survival. Honestly, this book only needs to be good enough to satisfy its legions of fans. Fortunately, it's great. And if you were dying to find out what happens after the last book, get ready for pure torture awaiting the next."
- (Booklist)
"Beyond the expert world building, the acute social commentary and the large cast of fully realized characters, there's action, intrigue, romance and some amount of hope in a story readers will find completely engrossing. Collins weaves in enough background for this novel to stand alone, but it will be a far richer experience for those who have read the first installment and come to love Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and the rest of the desperate residents of this dystopia. A humdinger of a cliffhanger will leave readers clamoring for volume three."
- (Kirkus Reviews)
"Collins ratchets up the tension in the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. With a host of well-drawn new secondary characters and more lives on the line, this will keep readers of all ages up long past their bedtimes."
- (Romantic Times Book Reviews [4.5 stars/5])
"Collins has once again delivered a page-turning blend of plot and character with an inventive setting and provocative themes."
Disclaimer: Mockingjay.co.uk is an unofficial fan site and is therefore unaffiliated with Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, Lionsgate Entertainment or any other party related to the Hunger Games Trilogy.
