Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It is the sequel to the 2008 bestseller The Hunger Games. The book continues the story of seventeen-year-old Katniss Everdeen and the fictional, futuristic nation of Panem.

There are talks of a rebellion against the Capitol, one that Katniss and Peeta may have helped happen while trying to commit double suicide with poisonous nightlock berries at the end of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss has fueled a rebellion and, more disturbingly, she is not entirely convinced she should try to overthrow the Capitol. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

The book was released September 1, 2009, and was later released in Kindle and audiobook format. The book had an initial print run of 350,000 copies. Advance reading copies were available at BookExpo America in New York City, and were sent out to some booksellers, and offered as prizes in Scholastic's "How Would You Survive" writing contest in May 2009. Major themes include survival, government control, rebellion and interdependence vs. independence. Catching Fire has received mainly positive reviews. Reviewers praised the prose, ending and how Katniss became more sophisticated.

Catching Fire is followed by the third book in the series, Mockingjay, which was released August 24, 2010.

Main characters

 * Katniss Everdeen returns as the narrator and the main character for the second installment, facing new challenges. She is forced to show that she is in love with Peeta, and her desperate action at the end of the first Games was an act of mindless love. Unfortunately, she supposedly fails President Snow's inspection and is forced to marry Peeta. When she is forced to compete in the 75th Hunger Games, Cinna dresses her in her wedding dress for her interview, but because of his alterations, the dress burns off in synthetic fire into her mockingjay outfit. Katniss battles with her devotion to Peeta versus Gale, and remains undecided.


 * Peeta Mellark- Katniss's sixteen-year-old fellow tribute, who has now become her fiance. Peeta volunteers to take Haymitch's place in the Quarter Quell, wanting to keep Katniss alive. During the Quell, Peeta runs into a force field and his heart stops, but their ally Finnick Odair restarts it with CPR. Peeta is among those captured by the Capitol at the end.


 * Haymitch Abernathy - Katniss and Peeta's guide in The Hunger Games. He is an alcoholic, and drinks to ecape the world around him. He was the only living victor in District 12 before Katniss and Peeta in the 50th Hunger Games, another Quarter Quell. Haymitch is the duo's mentor throughout The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.


 * Gale Hawthorne- Katniss's best friend and hunting partner in District 12. He is nineteen years old, fiercely hates the Capitol, and wishes to start an uprising as the people of District 8 did. Katniss must pretend that they are cousins to keep him alive, or President Snow could order to have him killed.


 * President Snow- The President of Panem. He speaks to Katniss face-to-face for the first time at the beginning of Catching Fire. President Snow is described as having very puffy lips which was most likely from an appearance-altering operation that is very popular in the Capitol. Katniss describes him as having a smell of blood on his breath.


 * Finnick Odair- The handsome male tribute from District 4. He won the 65th Hunger Games by using a trident and net against other tributes; District 4's trade is fishing. Katniss was hesitant to make Finnick her ally, but he proved to be valuable. Finnick was a key person in the rebellion, as revealed to Katniss in the hovercraft at the end of the book.


 * Mags — The female tribute from District 4. She is around 80 years old and volunteers to take the place of a young woman, Annie Cresta, to spare her from the Games. Mags is one of the first people Katniss wants for an ally, along with Beetee and Wiress, due to her overall kindliness. Katniss observed that she can make a fishing hook out of anything. Unfortunately, while the group are trying to escape poison fog, Mags gives herself up without a question so Finnick can carry wounded Peeta to safety.


 * Johanna Mason — The female tribute from District 7. She won an earlier Hunger Games by pretending she was a weakling until there were only a handful of tributes left, then showing that she could kill viciously. Katniss remembers watching these Games herself, so Johanna is fairly young. Johanna is captured by the Capitol at the end, along with Peeta and Enobaria.


 * Beetee — The male tribute from District 3. He is very skilled with technology and used a simple wire to blow up the Game's arena's forcefield. Beetee joins Katniss at the end on the way to District 13.


 * Wiress — The female tribute from District 3. Wiress often doesn't finish her sentences; Beetee often finishes them for her. Though very intelligent, being able to figure out that the Quarter Quell arena acted like a clock with different challenges at different times, the male tribute from District 2, Gloss, slit her throat.


 * Enobaria - The female tribute from District 2. She is famous for ripping a tribute's throat out with her teeth during the Games that she won. She is a threat to Katniss in the arena, but is later captured by the Capitol along with Peeta and Johanna.


 * Cinna - Katniss's stylist, who risks his life to turn the wedding dress President Snow forced her to wear into a mockingjay outfit. He is killed at the beginning of the Quarter Quell.

Plot summary
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark both survived the Hunger Games. Both returned home wanting and expecting a somewhat peaceful future. But the Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

When rumors of a rebellion that she started reach Katniss's ears, everything changes. Now, as Peeta and Katniss are forced to visit the districts on the mandatory Victory Tour, everything can and might go wrong—if Katniss and Peeta cannot pull off their act as two madly-in-love teenagers. If they fail, everything they've worked for will be gone.

Part 1: The Spark
Katniss is now back in District 12 living in Victors' Village with her mother and Prim, and neighbors Peeta and Haymitch. Soon they will both have to leave home again for the Victory Tour where the winners of the previous Hunger Games travel to each district and make various appearances and public speeches. Katniss expected that when she returned home everything would be the same, but now her best friend Gale seems farther away than ever now that he works in District 12's mines twelve full hours a day, and with Victory Tour coming up, Katniss has more on her mind than ever. During much of the day Katniss is bored with her new life, because now that she has everything: money, a good home, and a constant supply of food. One day after Katniss returns home from hunting game outside of the District an unexpected visitor appears-- President Snow, the president of Panem. He explained to Katniss that during the last Hunger Games when she tried to commit double suicide with Peeta by eating poisonous nightlock, she ignited a possible uprising in the districts. President Snow and Katniss have a lengthy conversation about the fact that if she doesn't convince the districts that she made the decision out of temporary lovesickness, then he would personally make sure she suffered.

Katniss, now convinced she has started a fire she cannot control, tries her best to convince everyone that she and Peeta are madly in love. When she and Peeta finally set off for the Victory Tour everything is going smoothly, and Peeta has agreed with Katniss that outside of being star-crossed lovers they should try to be friends. When the tour arrives at their first destination, District 11, Katniss gets to meet the families of Thresh and Rue, two tributes that were killed by Careers in the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games. When it is time for the public speech to begin, Katniss thanks the people of District Eleven for their contributions to her during the Games and is about to leave when one of Rue's siblings gives her such a look that Katniss comes back quickly to make one final speech. Katniss tells everyone about the story of how Thresh spared her life, and how Rue became a valued ally during the Games. After her speech an old man whistles her and Rue's four-note tune that meant they were safe, and the crowd simaultaneously does a traditional District 12 gesture to show their thanks to Katniss. Right after Katniss finishes her speech, she realizes she forgot something, so she goes back to retrieve it. There, she sees a Peacekeeper shoot the man who whistled in the head.

Afterward Katniss and Peeta confess what had happened to Haymitch. He tells Katniss to explain to Peeta what is going on, so Katnis tells Peeta everything about President Snow, the threat of uprisings, and how they are all in jeopardy if something doesn't change soon. Peeta becomes angry and tells Katniss and Haymitch to stop keeping secrets from him, then leaves.

The rest of Victory Tour fell into a routine: Train. Speech. Dinner. Train. Sleep. Until finally they get to the Capitol. That night when she and Peeta go to get interviewed by Caesar, Peeta performs a fake proposal to Katniss which she accepts, Caesar is beside himself, the audience is hysterical, and the crowds in the districts are overflowing with happiness. President Snow then makes an unexpected appearance to congratulate the newly engaged couple. Katniss then makes a discreet gesture to President Snow to ask him if she was convincing enough to which he replies "no" with an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Katniss now knows her life is in constant danger, but despite that, she feels somewhat relieved, and carries on like nothing ever happened.

That night Katniss has dinner in President Snows's mansion and feasts like never before. Many Capitol citizens drank something that made them vomit so they could eat more. Soon it's time to go and Katniss and Peeta are on their way back to District 12. Katniss suffers from terrifying nightmares throughout the night on the train, so Peeta sleeps in her bed to calm her and keep her company. Finally they get back to District 12 and a huge party is thrown for them. While in the mayor's home, Katniss sees on the mayor's television that there is an uprising going on in District 8. Katniss arranges a secret meeting with Gale, at which Gale confesses his love for her but she says that she does not have those feelings for him. Gale gets angry and disappointed but before he leaves Katniss accidentally tells him there was a rebellion in District 8. Gale then says that they could have a rebellion in District 12 as well, and he runs off to spread the news. Katniss then goes to Peeta to ask him if he would run away with her and he says yes, but while they are discussing the plans, they see that Gale is being violently whipped in the square by an unfamiliar man.

Katniss steps in to stop the man, whose name is Romulus Thread, but he gives her a lash across the face. Katniss gets severely hurt but Haymitch and Peeta step in to save her. Eventually the people of District 12, including many who frequent the Hob, convince Thread to stop whipping Gale. As soon as he leaves everyone helps Katniss take Gale to her mother. Katniss's mother tries to soothe the pain by giving him medicine when suddenly Madge, the mayor's daughter, comes with some morphling to help soothe Gale's pain. Later on that night Katniss realizes she loves Gale and no one else.

The next day, there is a huge blizzard, during which Thread constructs several stockades, an official whipping post, and a gallows, as well as a series of machine guns perched on the rooftops in the square. While walking in town, Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta see these ugly tools of torture, and then the Hob is blown up by the Peacekeepers. The last thing Katniss notices when leaving the square is that she does not recognize even one of the Peacekeepers' faces.

Katniss realizes that she cannot stand to be at home, so she goes into the woods and heads to the lake. She sees two Peacekeepers, and before she shoots them one of them holds up a cracker with a mockingjay on it.

Part 2: The Quell
The two Peacekeepers were actually two young women who had run away from District Eight. Their names were Bonnie and Twill, and brought news to Katniss about the uprising in their district, the one that made Peacekeeper uniforms which explains why they are wearing the uniforms. They said they were headed to District 13 which to Katniss was unbelievable. They believed that people lived underground in District 13. And when the Capitol shows that they're in District 13, they're not. They are just using some old tape video of District 13. Bonnie and Twill know this because every time they show the tape you can see a mockingjay which shows proof that there is life in District 13.

She gives the women her food supplies and shows them how to hunt. When the evening comes, they leave her and she returns to the village. However she realizes that the fence to the district is now electrified and she is unable to enter the village through her normal passage. She decides she needs to go over the fence, and searches for the right tree. She climbs up and over and must jump from 25 feet in the air. She lands, and hurts herself. She returns home to tell her mother how she fell after fixing a leak on the roof of their old house, but there are two peacekeepers there waiting for her. They are surprised to see her, because they know she was in the forest.

They were waiting for her not to show up so they can bring her family in for questioning. Luckily, Haymitch, Peeta and Prim were able to go along with a story to cover for her. After the Peacekeepers leave, Katniss' mother examines her broken foot, and Peeta stays with her through the night after she asked him to stay. She is in bed for the winter, while Peeta keeps her company and they enter information in a book she is writing, with pictures that Peeta is drawing.

Once she is healed, her prep team comes in to help her with her wedding fashion shoot, along with Cinna. She listens to them speak of how they have not had shrimp in the Capitol for weeks and realizes that other districts are rebelling. The next day, she speaks to Haymitch and he tells her that because District 12 is so small, everyone would need to join in for them to overthrow the Peacekeepers and the Capitol. The same day, Prim comes home and tells everyone that there is a mandatory television scheduling that night, which she believes is the footage from the wedding fashion shoot.

Prim is partially correct, but there is also another big announcement. President Snow appears with a wooden box, and reminds the audience of the dark days and when the Hunger Games were born. He also states that every 25 years, the anniversary of the Hunger Games is marked by a Quarter Quell, a glorified version of the Games. He talks about the first Quell, when every district was made to vote on who was sent to the Hunger Games. In the second Quell, every district was forced to send twice as many tributes into the Hunger Games. The wooden box holds the information for the 3rd Quarter Quell. Snow pulls out an envelope and states that the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors. Since District 12 has only three winners, Peeta, Haymitch and Katniss, she knows that she is now going to be forced to go back to the Hunger Games.

She runs out of the house and into a basement of an empty house to scream and cry. She makes her way to Haymitch where he already tells her Peeta has come to visit him, and told him that Peeta wants to go back to the arena to be there for Katniss. She tells Haymitch that whatever they do, she wants Haymitch to make sure Peeta comes back alive. She and Haymitch get drunk and the next afternoon, she goes back to Haymitch's house where Peeta has emptied all of his liquor and has threatened to turn them or anyone who gives them alcohol in. He tells them that they will be training for the Quarter Quell because two people will come back alive, and begin to work out and also study the footage from the past winners to see their competition.