i love this series so much so far, but i had just a few qualms with this one that i didn't necessarily have with the first book 💔 as previously mentioned in one of my updates, it felt like it took a long time to actually get into the Games portion of the book, which is of course due to the necessary build-up, explanation of politics, and laying the groundwork for the rebellion, but man, i kept thinking about the movie and how it didn't feel like it took that long (curse of watching the movies first, i think). the foundation is definitely important and once you understand/piece together the story with Katniss at the end, you are a lot more grateful for the beginning in my opinion, especially because i feel like i had such a hard time understanding what was going on in the movies. i would've given this book 4 stars like i did the first but Collins loves to sum up a conversation by going "so i told [insert character here] everything. about this thing, this thing, this thing" and while i understand the need to wrap up stories since we, the reader, have already gone through it with Katniss, i just kept getting annoyed by the repetitive use of this strategy 😭 i would've loved to see more dialogue, especially between Katniss and Haymitch, but i know i'm getting more in the next book! i'm having so much fun with series so far, i'm so excited to keep going!

I’m not sure how I would rate this if I hadn’t already seen the movies, but having watched them, I did still LOVE this book! It is fairly similar to the movie, but I appreciate knowing Katniss’ thoughts as it really helped me understand her motives and responses more. Also getting more information about her dad?? I love getting to know more about why a character is the way they are. I’m so excited for Catching Fire!