Continuing with my reread of The Hunger Games series, the next book is Catching Fire (dystopian/science fiction, 391 pages) by Suzanne Collins.

“Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. 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, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.”

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I’m very interested in how my first thought about this continuation story of how our lives are on track to get even worse in the future if we continue to allow evil, heartless dictators use their selfish greed to burn the world for their own benefit by realizing that when Panem was created, the main thing they did was update North America’s rail system to have extremely high-speed trains used as the primary means of transportation.

Like. The modern society we know today, right now, broke so badly that everything we know went down the toilet. And then when a new nation was formed, they updated and upgraded the entire North American rail system. Katniss, Peeta, and their entire entourage get on a train and use it to travel to all the other districts on their “Victory Tour”. Even President Snow makes a random appearance first thing in the book to Katniss’s house and it’s assumed he arrived there silently, without fanfare, on a train because any sort of aircraft would have been noticed.

Personally, I think it would be great if we could upgrade our entire rail system before the end of the world as we know it and who knows? Maybe updated trains could be what prevents us from sinking any farther into the quagmire of dystopian future.

About a third of the way into Catching Fire, Katniss comes across Twill and Bonnie, refugees from District 8, who tell her about the uprising and the rebellion, and how the people of District 8 actually used the televised and mandatory Victory Tour interview with Caesar Flickerman to take over key government facilities. And these two strangers recognized Katniss and used a cracker with a mockingjay baked in to show they were on her side.

One of the things often overlooked when people discuss this series as a whole is how smart Katniss really is. She puts a lot of information together in her head without discussing anything with anyone. She understands President Snow’s threats but she also pays attention to the little comments made by her prep team when they arrive and realizes how much of Panem is likely rebelling. And she pays attention to all of it, while also respecting everyone else in her life.

She goes out of her way to take care of as many of the people in her area that she can, spreading out all the game she brings in across the Hobb and helping as many people as she can. She doesn’t judge anyone else, just accepts them as they are, where they are, when they interact with her. The only difference is when she refers to The Capitol or the Peacekeepers, those in authority who don’t do anything to make the world better for anyone, even though they would have the means and resources to do so.

When they go back into the Games for the Quarter Quell, it’s Peeta this time who has the ability and opportunity to demonstrate compassion with another tribute’s death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss befriended little Rue from District 11 and gave her a beautiful memorial, singing to her until she was gone, then covering her in flowers. In Catching Fire, it’s Peeta who tells one of the District 6 morphling addicts about the different colors he can paint and describing those colors to someone who loved them so desperately.

This is what sets Katniss and Peeta and those she allies herself with apart from those who put her in the Games and those in charge at the Capitol. How we treat our dead is a sign of who we are as people. The Careers from the lower number districts volunteer to go into the bloodbath of the Hunger Games, but they aren’t used to being hungry themselves, nor are they used to having less than what one would need to survive. The Careers kill as a matter of pride and leave the bodies for someone else to clean up. Katniss and Peeta and the others mourn the loss of the person who was and they respect the road that person traveled, no matter how it ended.

Overall, this was a very good book and I’m glad I own it and reread it. I’m probably going to reread it again many times in the future. This is probably a low four on my rating scale. And it really is getting harder to read books like this as our world continues to spiral.

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Scholastic Press, 2009.