Are You Hungry for the Hunger Games Part 2

Ok I am back for the next part of my unreasonably long post, but since this is kind of the whole reason I started this blog ( to talk incessantly and endless and at length, redundantly about books) I figure we're all good.  Let jump right into book two shall we
Catching Fire is the second book in the HungerGames trilogy.  It is probably my least favorite of the three, as I said before.  It felt a little repetitive and seemed to not have a lot of new insights.  In my humble opinion they could have put most of the vital information in the other two books and called it a day.  So here is a quick summation of book two.

We start with Katniss at here new home with her mother, and sister Prim.  This is one of the prizes Peeta and her received for winning the Hunger Games.  As a winner she is obligated to go on a Winner's Tour to all of the districts, where they are forced to have a party in the winners honor.  This is cruel as it throws in the districts and families faces the fact that two of there children were killed so that the winner could live.  Right before they leave she is visited by President Snow, the leader of Panem.  He tells her that a lot of the districts have seen her threat to commit suicide with Peeta to have no winners in the Game was construed as an act of defiance and has led to talk of rebellion among the lesser districts.  He reminds Katniss that this was the reason the Hunger Games were instituted in the first place, to remind people the consequences of insubordination.  He tells her that as she travels she had better convince the districts that it was her mad love of Peeta and not rebellion that led to her rash and foolhardy move.  He then proceeds to make a subtle threat on her loved ones if she does not accomplish this goal.  Katniss relay's all of this to Peeta and their mentor Haymitch to try and sort out what they can do. Peeta is hurt that Katniss does not "really" love him, claiming that he has loved her for years.  They come up with a plan for Peeta to propose to Katniss to prove that they are just a couple in love, not rebels.  The first stop on there tour is District 11, which Rue the girl Katniss befriended during the Games came from.  During the games Katniss showed much kindness and respect to Rue both before and after she died.  District 11 acknowledges this and someone starts to whistle the simple song Rue taught to Katniss.  The act is one that results in brutal force being brought against the "instigator" who first whistled the tune, being accused of sedition.  Shaken  Katniss and Peeta see signs of a rebellion that is not fully suppressed in many of the districts they visit.  They themselves, especially Katniss seem to be unintentional symbols of this movement (one of the things I did like about this book is the fact that Katniss never had any intention of starting a rebellion, she is made into a symbol initially completely against her will). 

After the tour ends, it is time to pick this years Tributes, but as this is the 75th year of the games a "Quarter Quell" an extra twist is added.  This year the Tributes will be selected from previous winners of the game from each district.  As there have only been 3 winners out of district 12  (Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss) it is soon apparent that Katniss and Peeta (after volunteering in Haymitches place) are headed back to the arena.
They pretty much go through the whole process again, this time though Katniss tells Haymitch that they are going to do everything possible to keep Peeta alive, even at the expense of her life (awww).  They meet Tributes from former Games, and find out that the Capital pretty much uses and abuses them for the rest of their lives, and if they don't comply there loved tend to die in "accidents".   The games play out similarly to the first book, with the addition of some allies this time around.  The book climaxes with one of the Tributes coming up with a way to electrocute the other teams.  Turns out his real goal was to disable the force field to allow the allies to escape.  Katniss is injured and wakes up in an unfamiliar place.  She is informed that she is in District 13, which was not completely destroyed because of the nuclear weapons stored there.  Instead they made a deal with the Capital to keep the story alive that the District was destroyed.  They live in tight quarters underground, keeping to a strict regime to survive.  Her friend Gale comes in to inform her that as punishment for her escape District 12 has been bombed to oblivion, with most of the population being killed.  Gale has however managed to help her family escape and they are there in District 13 as well.  The other bad news is that Peeta has been captured by the Capital.  This is where the book ends.
As long as this synopsis is :-)  I still feel the book was very repetitive, the Quarter Quell felt like a gimmick to get Katniss back in the Games which was a big draw in the first book.  A lot of the information and actual getting of Katniss to District 13 could have been done quit well in 2 or 3 chapters and not lost anything.  The hopelessness was still very much in the forefront, but with a little less hope then the first book.  Again this wasn't a bad book, just unnecessary.  Okay another long post, will put up another installment later.  Let me know your thoughts up to this point!