Catching Fire

Did You Know?

• The initial hardcover release date was September 8, 2009, but was moved up to September 1 at retailers' request.
• Advance reading copies were offered as prizes in Scholastic's 'How Would You Survive' writing contest in May 2009.
• The initial print run was 350,000 copies, growing to over 750,000 by February 2010.

Plot

Six months after winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have returned home to District 12. President Snow visits Katniss and tells her that her televised acts of defiance have inspired rebellion; he demands she convince the country she acted out of love for Peeta, or her family and friend Gale will be executed. Katniss reveals this threat to her mentor Haymitch Abernathy but not to Peeta. During the Victory Tour, Peeta announces he will give part of his winnings to the families of Rue and Thresh, and Katniss delivers an impromptu speech; an old man who salutes her is immediately executed.

Katniss tells Peeta of Snow's threat, and Peeta proposes to her on television, which she accepts, but Snow remains dissatisfied. Back in District 12, Gale is caught poaching and publicly whipped. While hunting, Katniss meets refugees from District 8 who plan to reach District 13, believed destroyed. Katniss learns that Districts 3 and 4 have also risen up.

Themes

In Catching Fire, survival and sacrifice are central, with Katniss and Peeta so focused on each other’s safety that they risk their own lives. Their interdependence, where each wants the other to live more than themselves, can actually make death more likely. Government control is key: after the first rebellion, the Capitol tightens its grip through new Hunger Games rules and extra Peacekeepers to crush hope. The media’s power to shape public emotion and opinion is another major theme. Other themes include morality, obedience, sacrifice, redemption, love, and law.

Critical reception

Catching Fire received mostly positive reviews. Publishers Weekly noted that while the book spends time recapping events from the first novel, it delivers the pulse-pounding action readers expect. Booklist praised the unadorned prose for providing perfect pacing and electrifying world building. The New York Times gave a positive review, stating that Collins wrote a sequel that improves upon the first book and praised the development of Katniss's character.

The Plain Dealer wrote that the last sentence leaves readers gasping. However, some reviews were less favorable; the same Plain Dealer review expressed displeasure with 150 pages of romantic dithering. Entertainment Weekly found the book weaker than the first, criticizing the lack of distinction between Peeta and Gale and the absence of erotic energy. Time magazine placed Catching Fire at number four on its list of the top 100 fiction books of 2009, and People rated it the eighth Best Book of 2009. It also won the Publishers Weekly 2009 award for Best Book of the Year.

Film adaptation

Lionsgate released The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22, 2013. Gary Ross, director of the first film, did not return due to a tight schedule; Francis Lawrence was announced as director on May 3, 2012. New cast members included Jena Malone as Johanna Mason, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Lynn Cohen as Mags, Alan Ritchson as Gloss, Sam Claflin as Finnick, and Jeffrey Wright as Beetee. Production began on September 10, 2012, and concluded on December 21, 2012, with filming in metropolitan Atlanta, rural Macon County, Georgia, Hawaii, and Oakland, New Jersey. The film grossed more than $800 million, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2013, and received positive reviews. It was followed by the two-part adaptation of Mockingjay, released in 2014 and 2015.