Anyone who hasn't read AT LEAST The Hunger Games, go away unless you want it spoiled.

In honor of Mockingjay coming out (technically) in less that twenty-four hours, I am doing a book review of Catching Fire so that on Tuesday my post can be a review of Mockingjay and I won't have two book reviews in a row because that's against my rules of blogging.

Before I start, I want to say that I have become insanely obsessed with blogging recently. All I seem to talk to my friends about on chat is that I can't think of anything to blog about or that I just figured out what to blog about. I feel like Kady/Cady from Mean Girls who gets obsessed with Regina. But it's totally not the same because I am a nice girl. (-snicker snicker-)

This is your second to last warning. Unless you want The Hunger Games and the beginning of Catching Fire ruined for you I recommend closing this page RIGHT NOW. Which is not something I would usually recommend, since I want people to read this. And if you haven't read the books, I suggest you go out and get them in the next twenty-four hours and read them as fast as you can and then on Tuesday go and get Mockingjay. And then you'll be free to read these book reviews. Also, if you haven't read the books and you want a review, go read THIS post. It's a review of the first book.

This is your VERY final warning.

Alright. Welcome to my fabulous book review of Catching Fire. If you haven't read The Hunger Games and you're still reading, I'm very disappointed in you, though I completely understand since I got lazy when I was ten and the Half-Blood Prince came out and I stopped halfway and I looked up spoilers anyway to find out that Dumbledore died. If me saying that Dumbledore died is a shock to you (and/or you don't know who he is), you need to get out of that hole you've been living in since the late nineties and read them Harry Potter books. Not the movies, the books.

Back on track, this is my fabulous book review. I'm going to give you a spoiler. KATNISS DIES. Hahahaha. JAY KAY! She doesn't die. I mean, it's from her point of view, so unless that changes in Mockingjay, I wouldn't expect her to die until the very end if at all. I think I should stop messing around and find my funny little review thingy that I did for the last one so I don't keep getting off track.
 
Background— Alrighty, so I think I might have to sum up the previous book for y'all, since I'm assuming that there are people who still haven't read it reading this. I'll try and do it with less than ten bullet points that are shortish.

• In the future, there's a country called Panem with 12 (used to be 13) districts (they're like states or provinces). They rebelled 75 years ago and the Capitol stopped 12 and destroyed the thirteenth. The Capitol created a thing called The Hunger Games.
• The Hunger Games are a yearly thing where each district has to send two (boy and girl) tributes to an arena to fight to the death.
• At the 74th games, a girl named Katniss (our main protagonist from district 12) and Peeta (a mini-protangonist from the same district) win, though very strangely. Before the games begin, Peeta announces his love for Katniss in front of the whole country. 
• Peeta is terribly injured through pretty much the whole thing, and when it is announced that two people can win, Katniss nurses him to health and plays the lovers thing to their advantage. When they're the last two left, it's announced that only one can win. They both start to eat poisonous berries, but before they can, they are announced the winners. 
• Now the president is pissed because it seemed like an act of rebellion against the Capitol to the other districts and uprisings began to start again. 
• Katniss was sure that the whole Peeta loving her thing was a thing to keep them alive in the games, but it seems like he seriously is in love with her.
• Oh, there's another factor, Katniss's best friend, Gale, who she hunts with to keep their families fed (which is technically illegal, but it's overlooked since the peacekeepers like the meat). And many people think they're a couple which proves to possibly be an issue in Catching Fire/Mockingjay.
• I think I'm done.

Characters— Okay, so I already said the names, but I think we need a bit more in depth.

• Katniss Everdeen. She's the main thingy. She was in the 74th Hunger Games and won. She won and kept both of them alive by pretending to be in love with the other tribute from her district, Peeta. She's not a very nice person and very skilled with a bow and arrow. Her father died in a mining accident when she was eleven(I'm being really weird on spelling out numbers today) and has had to bring home most, if not all of the food since then. She has a younger sister, Prim who she loves dearly. Her sister's the reason she got into the games. Her sister's name was called at the Reaping and she volunteered in her place.
• Peeta Mellark. He's the baker's son and a very good artist. He's in love with Katniss even though she's convinced it was just for the audience. He's really strong, but not very good with any weapons. It's a miracle he survived the Hunger Games in the previous book.
• Gale. Katniss's best friend. They hunt together and most poeple assumed that they are a couple until the games. At the beginning of this book, it is said that a short time after she returns from the games, he kisses her.
• Cinna. Katniss's stylist who she's insanely close to. He's from the Capitol, but strangely laid back and not like the other Capitol people.
• Haymitch Abernathy(I think I spelled that right.). The only other living winners of the games beside Katniss and Peeta. He was their mentor during the games that they won. He's a drunk, though they really can't blame him now that they're out of the arena since it haunts them so much.
• Finnick. A previous winner of the games. Really good with a trident. He's from district four which is fishing.
• Johanna. Another previous winner who is fabulous and arrogant. I forget what district she's from.
• Mags. An elderly winner of the games who is generally unintelligable.
• Nuts and Volts. I forget their actual names, but they're from the technology district.
• I think that's it. If I forgot any, feel free to remind me. Oh, I and I left out Effie on purpose because I can't think of what to say about her and it's already two in the morning and I want to get to bed at a decent time.

Plot— Well, this is after the games where Peeta and Katniss wins. It starts out right before the victory tour where they go around to all of the districts and have feasts and deliciousness. But before that, Katniss is visited by the President himself (who rarely leaves the Capitol) and he tells her that because of the berries incident, she has to convince EVERYONE that she's madly in love with Peeta even though she totally isn't. She has to strive and convince the President.
And once they get to the Capitol for the giantest feast of all, the president says that she hasn't convinced anyone.
Soon after, it is announced that the President is throwing Katniss and Peeta a wedding. And not long after that, the quarter quell is announced. The quarter quell is a special version of the games that happens every twenty five years. That year is the 75th. They open up an envelope that looks like it had been sealed since the games began (though it probably was just filled the previous day). They announce that for that year's quarter quell, instead of reaping from 12-18 year olds, they will reap from the previous winners. And since there are only three from district twelve, and Katniss is the only girl, that means that she's going back into the arena for sure.
DUN DUN DUN...

My thoughts on it— Possibly better than the first. The ending of the whole thing was very confusing and I had to read it several times over to get it mostly (for people who've read it, the whole Johanna thing and the tree). It leaves you hanging a trillion times more than the first. (Guh, 22 hours until it comes out.) I had an advance reader's copy four months before the actual thing came out of Catching Fire, so if you've read it and you think that you've been waiting forever, THAT'S A LIE. I HAVE. I almost wish I hadn't read it early. Whatever. I still love Caitlin for giving it to me for my birthday last year.


Movie? Sequel?—Apparently there's a movie set to come out at the end of 2011 of The Hunger Games. Sequel? Well, I've been squeeing about it throughout this entire post. I think you know that there is a third. If you didn't catch on, it's called Mockingjay and from the moment that I'm writing this, 21 hours, 42 minutes, 27 seconds. 25. Just an FYI, I didn't do the math. I'm far to lazy for that. There's a nifty little countdown widget.

Recommendation—EVERYONE GO READ IT NOW.