catching fire + mockingjay

Hey y'all! I here to triumphantly tell you have finished the Hunger Games series! It was one of my goals for my mini-12-day-summer-vacation, and I have also hit books #10 and #11 in my 12 books in 2011 ambition. Looks like I'll be hitting my 12 hopefully! I want to review the two sequels for you, and encourage you to scoot on over to your local library or bookstore and get a start on the series! So. Good. 

If you missed my review of The Hunger Games, you can read it here :)

[these following reviews contain a bit of a spoiler for the 1st book, FYI]

Catching Fire 

by Suzanne Collins

Miraculously, Katniss and Peeta survived the 74th Hunger Games. This book picks up in the aftermath of the games, back home for Katniss in District 12. Everything she has ever known has changed since the Games. Her relationship with Peeta, Gale [her once best friend and boyfriend], and her mother and sister are on the brink of being destroyed as a result of Katniss's actions during and after the Games. The nightmares from the arena haunt Katniss every moment of every day. And Katniss's final moment in the arena were an act of ultimate defiance of the Capitol, an act the President is determined to punish Katniss for by tearing apart her life person-by-person.

As the 75th Hunger Games are being planned, Katniss learns they are the Quarter Quell - a "special" year of games to "celebrate" another 25 years since the Dark Days of the districts' rebellion. The Quarter Quell gives the President an opportunity to punish the districts beyond the regular severity of the games. He mandates that this years contestants be comprised of previous winners of the Hunger Games. This is completely unprecedented, as all Hunger Games victors have always been guaranteed immunity from the games for the rest of their lives. 

This exciting sequel takes you through the 75th Hunger Games, and a plot for district rebellion against the Capitol is slowly revealed. It was not as "I can't put this down!" as the first book, but definitely worth your time!

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

The third book is the final installment to the Hunger Games series. It follows Katniss and crew at the abrupt ending of the Quarter Quell. Rebellion is all around Katniss, and she is expected to be an inspirational rebel leader because of her televised Capitol defiance during her first trip to the Hunger Games. This book wraps everything up, and follows the country Panem as they embark upon an all out civil war. Lives are lost, but will the freedom they fight for be gained?

I said it in the Hunger Games review, but this series is kind of a cross between 1984 and The Giver for me. It has 1984's political storyline, but you are more connected to the characters like you are in The Giver. I was connected alright, shed some tears in Catching Fire, and BAWLED my way through the end of Mockingjay. 

I am SO glad I read these books!

Well on my way to my 12 books in 12 months self-imposed challenge :)

And I CANNOT wait to see the Hunger Games when it hits theaters in March!!! 

The cast looks phenomenal! 

Cheers [to good reads!]