It should come as no surprise that you are seeing Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire here... the only surprise, depending how you look at it, is either how long or how quickly it took to get here!
Many of my friends (and friends of friends) -- I can think of 6, which is pretty darn amazing (and all adults) -- have raced through all of the Hunger Games trilogy. Heck, even Todd who I think was fairly skeptical about the first book, but relented to my "you have to read this!" coercion even read Catching Fire before I did. So, in that respect, it seems like it took me a long time to get around to this book.
However, as I have stated in the past, I really don't like to read series back-to-back or even that close together. I still have the last Twilight book to go (which seems blasphemous to even mention vs. this series) and I am many books behind from the newest installments in series I read by Alexander McCall Smith and Daniel Silva... and still have that last Stieg Larsson book to go! So, in that respect, that I read the first book last October and read this one in February, it is a pretty big deal for me.
I was a bit hesitant going into this book, having loved The Hunger Games so much so that it even landed on my Best Books of 2010 list. I felt there was no way that the first book could be topped, if for nothing else, that the "new car" smell would have worn off. Also, while I try to avoid reading too much about a book before reading it, I did hear buzz that there was an enthusiasm decline with each book. So I went in with slightly lower expectations and while I still enjoyed it from the get-go, I'll admit that there were signs of slippage.
I am going to try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can, but throughout much of the first half of the book, I was really wondering how there would be enough plot to sustain the rest of this book (let alone the last/third volume). When the twist that would propel the second half's action was revealed, I have to admit I was a mix of "oh, brother," skepticism and a bit of a cop-out once it got going, I fell for it... and fell for it hard. Likewise, again knowing there was one more book to go in the series, I didn't expect any closure with this book, so while I did not waste any of my time or brain power trying to figure out what the cliffhanger would be -- other than suspecting that the principal characters would survive -- I was still surprised with what Collins pulled off. Again, probably too convenient for some... but not for me.
I rated The Hunger Games 4.5 stars (rounding it up to 5 on GoodReads) and while I give it an ever so slight advantage to it over Catching Fire, I did not find myself loving it any less, even in spite of feeling a bit more suckered in with this thrilling and, almost to the point of embarrassment, enjoyable read! Now to see how long it takes me to the final book, Mockingjay... I really want to read it, but knowing it's truly going to be the end will probably push it off for just a bit.
I"m glad you liked it!! I do think the first book was the best, but Collins did such a great job with all three that I can't ask for too much more. Now don't leave hanging and read Mockingjay! Quick! :0
p.s. I'm not loving The Office this year either. Makes me sad.
Posted by: Amy | Tuesday, March 08, 2011 at 02:40 PM