It also makes them a great couple, even if Katniss stays a bit slow to realize what her true feelings are regarding Peeta and Gale. His love for her and his savviness with understanding emotions and motives, which Katniss is pretty much blind to, and her ability to solve puzzles and survive dictate their ability to survive the traps the Capitol sets for them. Katniss and Peeta’s complementary strengths carry into this book, too. They were very different from each other and different than the tributes Katniss faced in the Arena in The Hunger Games. I thought the characters, in particular the other victors, added a lot to the story. So only the plot events can be fresh and new. In Catching Fire, we already acclimated to the brutality and high stakes of Katniss’s world. In that first book, the whole idea of the Arena, the districts and Capitol were so stark and fresh. I feel like The Hunger Games is a hard act to follow. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. 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. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Peeta has turned his back on her completely. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Published on SeptemAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsĪgainst all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games.

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