WE CAUGHT FIRE in The Hunger Games Catching Fire | Book 2 Review & Summary | Bonus Minisode

Welcome back to Ashley & Liz’s dystopian sci fi episode bonus series: The Hunger Games!

We spend ½ of this episode playing the piano (yes, you read that right) and the other ½ convincing you to read this series. If that doesn’t do it for you… we don’t know what else you could want! 

If you’ve been following along and watched our “From 1984 to Hunger Games” dystopian themes in media and literature episode then you know we’re fascinated with everything about this genre and needed to delve into this discussion! It just happens to be a BIG bonus that Ashley had never read it before. 

The debate currently on the book talk table is whether or not books (and the act of reading) are inherently political. We’d encourage anyone who has a doubt in their mind to read this series… with themes like media control, a totalitarian regime, and rebellion, it’s hard to see how it ISN’T political.

Episode 2 covers book 2: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The first five-ish minutes are spoiler free with our one sentence rapid star reviews. Then we jam pack this mini episode with an entire plot summary in five sentences, discuss what our faves and fail characters and plot points are, our feelings, notable quotes, the necessary Gale vs. Peeta debate, and end with a fun piece of Hunger Games trivia. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 8:20 Hunger Games Catching Fire Book Review
• 12:34 Catching Fire Book Summary and Deep Dive
• 20:03 Favorite and Least Favorite Things book 2
• 37:40 Dystopian Themes in this book
• 39:10 Notable Quotes in Hunger Games Catching Fire
• 42:32 Surprise Question!
• 43:50 Team Peeta or Team Gale
• 45:24 Hunger Games Fun Fact

Transcript

0:00

[Music] welcome to the besties in the books podcast guys I'm Liz and I'm Ashley and welcome to part two of six of our Hunger Games minisode series you know and I'll thinking about it today and I was like you know we say minisode more like miniseries episodes they're not always mini and Link no we do our best but but sometimes things just need to be said we're not going to cut our we're not going to cut ourselves off we're not going to stop talking about what we want to talk about just for like a Time reason that seems crazy I'd say our Harry Potter episodes were pretty mini but like Hunger Games it's deep man yeah it goes deep we got stuff to digest and talk about and that's what we're doing today with you guys book two which is Catching Fire and I caught it I caught fire it was crazy guys it was crazy so this is our dystopian sci-fi series we kicked it off with that full length episode we talked about where we go deep into dystopian themes and where they come from and all of that and why like we are as humans are so obsessed with the dystopian themes Liz and I really go in deep with that too yeah and it's important for many reasons but especially to kick off this series because it's very dystopian puts it like into perspective kind of sets the framework for what we're going to be discussing moving forward and also you know there's a big chunk of that episode where we shared all of your guys' input so what you think of as far as like popular media goes when you think of the word dystopia so whether that's like you know movies books TV shows whatever and then also like what your guys's opinion was when we asked you the question why do you think we're so obsessed with it so we share a lot of your guys' feedback in that episode which we really appreciated and it made it really fun and interesting for sure for sure uh so with these mini episodes we're going to be releasing them every Friday in case you didn't know so make sure notifications are turned on wherever you like to listen your favorite podcast including YouTube I'll just put that out right now we're at best the books podcast everywhere might as well go follow And subscribe while you're turning on those notifications and we'll end it with our sixth episode which will kind of be like our wrap-up episode of the entire series by that point we will have read and filmed for you guys our reaction video like this for the new release of book five which is called remind me sunrise on the re there we go so that's like a prequel little sprinkle in there so we're going to be re reacting to that a wrap-up video will cover our overall thoughts and opinions but also including the movies cuz we're watching them right now we just finished one last night and we got thoughts on that you know like the differences what we think is better like kind of do like that quick thing like we've done with Harry Potter and Twilight now like of the movie versus the book which better for each one cuz sometimes it surprises us yeah I mean and Ashley and I were talking last night too about how it' be fun to do a like you know smash or pass of the character but like the character in the movie versus the character in the book yeah because I feel like you know we'll get into that more later but they are depicted very differently sometimes yeah definitely definitely so yeah so today we're going to be giving your our you giving us our own thoughts giving you guys kind of we haven't really talked too much about it it's been really hard not to discuss every little detail just the bare minimum I feel like is what we talked about just to you know plan these episodes and kind of like you know I wanted to get some of Ashley's reactions cuz that was kind of part of the joy for me um you know someone who I had read it before previously but it was a long time ago and it was really popular originally this is Ashley's first time reading all of these um and you know that has been one of the most fun times is just seeing how Ashley is reacting not just to the books but also now to the movies as well um so yeah why did we decide to do this we feel like the themes are just really important all the time you know especially we talked about this in the dystopian episode but coming from you know we're the generation of uh high schoolers who was reading a lot of dystopian yeah fiction um as assigned parts of the curriculum so yeah books like uh Brave New World Lord of the Flies Etc you know you guys are pretty familiar with that but we just thought that it would be a it's timely it's important we want to go over the themes and it's just exciting because we wanted to be able to read sunrise on the reaping yeah with you guys which reminds me that we do have Fable groups and chats up for all these books so if you're new here and you're wanting to read them with us you know we do our book club every month we do buddy reads and then we do our mini episodes reads so over at besties in the book club you can find all of the Hunger Games and our thoughts in there if you want to read them or just read comments yeah just be a lurker and read comments that's totally fine too do whatever makes you happy but it's nice especially in I was utilizing the fable app a lot the Fable chat like cuz you do it chapter by chapter and I needed to like tell someone you know oh my gosh other than obviously Liz too but like chapter 13 this specifically happens I'm a wreck la la la la la whatever and it's nice to be able to like get it out and not just be like alone in a puddle on the ground crying myself to sleep you know yeah no I mean I think that's one of the things that I appreciate so much about this community is that it's like when I first got kind of into the space I just didn't realize like obviously the Hunger Games are a little different because they exploded and everyone was reading them and watching the movies but like I had no idea that like if I'm reading this book like it started off with me with um I want to say Bridge Kingdom by Daniel Jensen and um shout out to bridge Kingdom if you haven't read it you should read it um but I just didn't even realize I was like oh there's so many people out there that are reading this book that like I didn't know people were reading and so I can go and talk to a bunch of people about it yeah that's so cool so cool so if you want to feel that join us on Fable over at Instagram um but yeah so first five minutes of this episode will be spoiler-free we'll give you guys our basic star reviews and one sentence reviews that way you can um just kind of know what our opinion on it our two senses uh moving forward and then we will get into our spoiler section we will give you a warning though so just so you know but before we get into that we just want to say thank you for being here yeah seriously thank you for being here like I said before you know you can make sure to like follow comment subscribe anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast including YouTube we have a full if you want to feel the Hunger Games Vibe come check out our YouTube setup because it's a Vibe So speaking of the YouTube setup I am drinking electr lights because I feel like whenever I'm traveling cuz I'm visiting Ashley right now we're actually filming together I don't get enough like I just don't drink enough water I'm like out of my habit so anyways I feel like it's literally a crime but I'm like drinking out of a plastic water bottle right now just like call you call yourself out yeah I'm like it's better to just call myself out right now publicly before someone says something like why is she drinking out of like a plastic water bottle it just was easier to mix my mix in and you guys could probably hear the crinkle crinkle crinkle so that's what it is we're just try to be healthy I know don't come for me please we're in our electrolyte era we're like talking about The Hunger Games and drinking out of or drinking out of plastic bottle sorry listen we see the you know the irony the irony and all these things we're reading about H it's crazy it is crazy but yeah you guys we're going to be talking about like putting up polls and question box too for different things throughout this episode so make sure to follow us on Instagram cuz that's where we'll be putting them when we talk about doing oh we'll put it to the people you know that's probably the easiest way to interact with us is at besties in the books podcast on in Tik Tok too but it's a little less like poll friendly so yeah check us out there we love hanging out with you guys and thank you freaking for watching man yeah on this fine Friday or whatever day you were able to finally listen to this episode cuz life is busy man life is busy so okay so let's give our spoiler free spoiler free which is the hardest part of this book is to stay spoiler free right now yeah um spoiler free star rating and one sent review all right let's go okay do you want to go first do you want me to go first I think I'm prepared this time but I'm not but I am like a little bit more last the last book was such an emotional like you know feeling this time this is what I have to say about it okay five stars obviously um I didn't know at all where they were going to take this story after leaving the last book I love that for you so yeah it was super I don't want to say fun because it's like super fun crazy but it was so it's it was a nice surprise to see how the scene and the setup changed and the different and we got even more involved in the story and if you're still on the fence about reading The Hunger Games trilogy because oh it's like for high school kids oh young adult don't just read it please just give it a try if you're like I don't know I'm not sure just like go like someone you know has a copy okay the library for a dollar at my daughter's boob bash yeah yeah like or obviously it's a book that the library is going to have you know what I mean go on your Libby app whatever you need to do if you're like I don't want to commit to buying it cuz I don't know you know fine just this this is the challenge that we will give you read two chapters yeah and then see what happens see what happens you're not going be able to stop yeah exactly people listen to this are like we love it we know w i were here God but also you guys get it you know everybody needs to bring it also as someone who only had like a you know now we finished the first movie now recently cuz I barely have memories of the first one like it's surface level yeah so if you're like well I read I watched the movie so this will be good enough you know that's enough context for these episodes yeah it is but it's not because like you still need to read them and I mean the movies are are good and yeah the movies are good but the books just I mean you guys it gives all the context like there was a lot more I wasn't emotionally involved in the first time watching the first movie that obviously the book lays out for you they only can fit so much I mean we know how it goes it's like you know unless you're looking at and even this but unless you're like unless you're watching the Lord of the Rings which took on a completely it's own identity you know what I mean it's like not all movies can hit that hard you know what I me and it's like these movies are great but they and they're entertaining for sure but the books are just going to make you so much more invested yeah yeah for sure so for me also yeah that was my one sentence review yeah great that wasn't like giant discussion 10 minutes later okay now is yours so mine would be five stars as well obviously um like two stars two I know one star was terrible I hated it get me out of here it's like the twist that you guys all weren't expecting imagine like actually I hate this series sorry I convinced you to read it um no five stars and I would say that for me I really enjoyed this book because of the fact that the twist and turns were not something that I saw coming the first time that I read it and even the second time there was a lot I didn't remember so like I remembered generally what happens but I love that when you're like like how you know are we going to get right into a war Revolution no like things are getting way more crazy before that so I really appreciated that yeah mhm yeah so five stars for being able to surprise me yeah and in a ya book at that yeah you know um and because it just has to be said because we do it for every single one of these this is a zero spice as well yeah so there is that so should we get ready to get depressed and now you guys know what time it is time for me and I'm getting the piano right yeah yes I'm getting the piano guys let's go all right we got the piano here for encouragement Liz for her five sentences let's see if she earns it okay so this is our five sentence summary for the Hunger Games book two Catching Fire go go after outsmarting the game makers and both winning The Hunger Games Katniss and Peta go back home to District 12 as Victors where they must maintain the ruse of them being in love in order to evade a rebellion and appease President Snow who came and personally threatened[Music] catniss great job it's like the Hunger Games but make it 80s and kind of Peppy but it's not at all yeah H I love that okay uh Katniss is considering running away when Gail is publicly whipped almost to death for hunting and she realizes she loves him and must stay to help with the growing Rebellion they keep hearing hints of and that she and Peta saw when they were on the Victor's tour yeah it's so like it's so wow the juxtoposition is strong yeah it you're talking lot of horrible things on the piano Gil almost got whipped to death but yeah uh it like it paints a picture of like uh Capital versus districts there you go yeah exactly um I was thinking more so like you know how like in fantasy and stuff there's always like a Bard like Ashley would be The Bard right now so like it's like Hunger Games it's all depressing and like everything's gray and then Ashley pops out with her keyboard to like tell the story through song you know I'm The Witcher guy You're The Witcher guy yeah what is it toss a coin toss a coin to ashleyy okay detour okay yeah lots of them so President Snow announces that the twist in the games for the quarter quell will mean that the contestants in this year's Hunger Games will be chosen from the pool of previous Victors which means Katniss is automatically Chosen and Peta stands in for hitch this time around oh Dash this time around Katniss and hitch decide to keep Peta[Music] Alive Now turn that into a song that's telling the story but also a poem yeah one dayter quill and something I can't do both at the same time I'm not that musically gifted yet but you guys I'm do it you must that was three like sentence three but here's the thing I'm like picturing like literally I can't stop picturing it now it's like the Hunger Games and it's all of its depressing this is like playing on this side of my brain and then like this is happening over here you yeah okay uh during the games we meet several other Victors like Finnick Bey and Johanna Mason who are clearly skilled and are intentionally keeping Katniss alive and because of be's Tech skills Katniss is able to shoot a flaming arrow through through the quote [ __ ] in the armor of the Arena causing an explosion in the destruction of the force field[Music] o things are getting real intense they've been intense this whole time though yeah mhm that's the problem okay uh Katniss wakes up on a plane with hitch Bey Fini Gail and plutar who she finds out have been orchestrating her survival and escape with the rebellion in District 13 the rest of the districts uh so that was like a semicolon the rest of the districts are in open Revolt mode and the capital destroyed District 12 after Gail got their families out[Music] yeah the end so basically she like wakes up on this plane and it's like craziness yeah so it's like it's a it's a cliffhanger but like in the best way yeah yeah I mean I immediately needed to keep reading yeah of course so of course there you go like how do you what was it like for you guys who read them as they came out and you had to wait cuz that would be a hard one to wait for that would be hard yeah when I read them I just binge them all in a row yeah were you there when it was born when the L was written yep okay so this is my request for a formal petition all right so the five sentence SU was born out of a need to summarize uh most books in a concise way starting with Harry Potter because that was crazy okay then it's stuck because we enjoy it and it's fun yeah Ashley came up with the musical element all on her own we have evolved to this level and it's great yeah so this is my submission of a formal petition that someday in the future Ashley has to do a five- sentence summary as well but you have to do it musically oh jeez yeah how I'm not it's like a little performance I think that you'd be able to do it I mean I'll the occasion the sentences don't have to be long like this it could just be like a little it could just be a little song jig okay I'll do it yeah I'll do just one of these days yeah someday yeah okay and you can't tell me about it in advance well when would I know which one time I'm going to do it and you're going to do you'll just surprise me like I'll have mine all written and you'll be like but I've prepared a song all right okay that way it's like a jump scare but like the good kind yeah we love that great okay so I'm sure that wasn't a hard summary to follow along with whatsoever considering our constant detours go you guys know you've seen the movie you've read the book If you haven't you're here for the Vibes obviously obviously I can't imagine it's like somebody is like you know I really want to know what Catching Fire is about I'm going to go listen to Liz and Ashley's podcast because I think it'll be really like thorough concise and straight to the point easy to understand that's on you if you're here for that that's on you like you you might need to go now it's all right thanks for coming by we hope you enjoyed it well the thing for us is that's out there we have a lot of friends that have great podcasts that are thorough and concise yeah we don't have it in us to be that way any longer no we did AP we did colge you did College I didn't I took AB classes it's like a little bit of college yeah and we're good yeah now we just want to have fun with it yep we still get I mean we got pretty deep on the last episode and I'm sure we're going to today but not with before Shenanigans it's balance it's balance and that's life and that's show biz and that's chz show baby okay what are we doing now we're going to talk about our favorites and least favorite things about catching fire is let's let's ping pong on to you this time you're going to go first right what was your favorite part in Catching Fire um this is going this sounds so depressing when I say it out loud my favorite part in Catching Fire was getting to know finck character through him like basically like carrying through his relationship with mags yeah oh so him like carrying mags like this sounds so morbid but I would say probably my favorite part in book two was that whole insane scene where they're all running from the like poisonous fog or whatever you want to call it and you know he's literally running like through the woods or whatever they're in like with mags like on his back and you know then he's trying to you know save Peta because Katniss can't carry him anymore and he has to let mags go and she also knows I mean she's like willing to sacrifice herself I think she probably is old enough at that point to understand that she wasn't going to make it yeah um but I think that like that to me is my favorite part because that's when I got really attached to finix character for sure for sure it's brutal yeah mhm just showed like who he was like in the you know what I mean like who his character is yeah because you don't know at first you think he's some Playboy like whatever show booer you know yeah and so we get to officially see that I mean he resurrected Peta essentially too resuscitated not resurrect because he's from the district with all the water so he knows how to do CPR that's a very useful skill it was nice being able to see yeah everybody's skill sets from their districts as well and speaking of people being able to swim like in the last episode where Liz said that if you missed it I asked her what her secret Talent would be in The Hunger Games to help her win and she's like I could tread water for a really long time I that's all I've got you know we wanted to talk about how yeah that's true some people can't in the districts cuz Katniss only learned cuz her dad had taken her to the lake yeah so that came in handy that was so great like so being able to see the people's different strengths from their districts being able to use against the capital in this case was really cool yeah with like the technology with like Bey specifically yeah it yeah it was cool I agree it's like using the things the capital is using them for and turning it against them mhm so that was an act of rebellion as well abely and the freaking you know the tributes having to go back again was like yeah I didn't see that coming cuz I was like how is Hunger Games continue like what is what's going on in this book I have no idea I'm going in blind and yeah they have like how brutal not only like the old people that have been you know like mags who are done that's crazy that's crazy but then the like pea and Katniss obviously it was completely up like they wanted to get rid of them 100% they were so pissed so I I'm completely in the boat that that was staged orchestrated by snow and yeah can you imagine you get out of The Hunger Games you just survived 9 months later you're back in it essentially or yeah like as people like mags or like if Peta wasn't there to take the place of like hach hech would be backing it's like these people who have been out for a really long time like I don't know it would be harder being young and going back in immediately or being a lot older and going back 30 years later or something like that like that's crazy so that was my favorite part like I feel like everything is just like Bittersweet at this point exactly yeah um what about you my favorite part of this book was specifically when Cena had orchestrated that wedding dress transformation I always say Cena seta uh her stylist because that was again such an act that was like the official moment that we got to see Senna is in on this stance against the capital yeah and had that whole cuz it was so frustrating to see your having to put on this show for the fake wedding and then to have him have made this like okay fine you want her to wear her wedding dress like that's so morbid I'm going to turn it into a symbolism for the mocking J yeah so that was a beautiful moment mhm I loved that I loved that the the you know the arena was a clock that was so cool that was really cool so that's what I mean like with my review earlier I was like it was fun it's because like it was so outside the box of what I would have been able to create in my mind that the arena was so different from the last one you know and being a clock and so many things being tied together with plut talk um is that how you say it plutar you know little movement that he showed her like trying to hint at something catch it but like all those things that get tied together I eat that up in any kind of genre you know yeah well it's like that very satisfying everything in these books has a purpose yeah nothing's in there for fluffy time yeah I can't stand that like I can't stand that I don't like just these side quest that go nowhere cuz it's like it we have enough brain space we need to use all the time and I don't want to catalog things that don't need to be cataloged yeah I need to know is just a fun side quest that I'm reading just because you know yeah I don't want to I want no it's like everything was very intentional it's like you're saying it's you know because you kind of start getting the hints and she's even wondering Katniss is even wondering like why are these people like trying to save my life like everyone's trying to keep her alive and it's like you're kind of getting that sense like you're discovering it as she is discovering it I feel like like who is in on the Rebellion who's not it's like you're saying with Plutarch and his like I think it was like a pocket watch that had the mocking day kind of like on like the meeting starts at 12 or something on the dial or whatever yeah exactly so you know there's those hints coming through and you really get the sense that like yeah everything everything's in there for a reason um which I really appreciate everything coming together like that for sure so what was your least favorite part oh just just finding out that they have to go back into the Hunger Games again that was like a very very like like obviously something had to propel the plot along or wondering how that was going to go but it was also like that sinking horrible feeling like because I feel like we're so invested in the characters that it's like we can feel their yeah emotions around that you know and I think they even talk about that like how like unjust it is they're supposed to be able to do it once and you're done like you some of them like Katniss it was it was her last year that she would have to put her name in right right right and then she finally got it well her sister got it it was her first year but she took her place so she should never have had to do it again and she had to turn around and do it again it's it's like you know it's part of their own like you know hostility they're creating and trying to squash Katniss and what she represents are actually making it so much worse yeah totally you know which Yeah by because it's like you're taking away it's like what we talked about the first episode you're taking away the Hope because it's like if the hope is gone if you now have nothing to lose yeah cuz now you can be in The Hunger Games and win and later get pulled in again for some reason or another cuz the capital says so like you're not actually it's that little bit of hope that they already gave them that they're now like snatching away so it's like what is the point of playing yeah why should we keep playing along with this yeah um so it was that and then also like um C I mean I mean we can assume that he is dying in this episode yeah yeah we don't really know we don't get a confirmation but he's just like violently taken away as she's going up so she essentially thinks he's safe in a way and then they purposely make her see that right before she's getting transported into the arena to disorient her yeah that was brutal so those were my least I tried so many times in this book uh in each of them but this one too yeah cuz again like even with like mags and stuff we only like know them for a brief time mhm and the way she does it is so brutal even when he's resuscitating Peeta I'm like crying you know trying to read the words with ice full of tears it's hard it's crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way you know yeah well yeah because it's like there's nothing that we like more as readers I think than like being so immersed in a story and in characters that you care about the outcome it's like nothing's worse than not caring about the outcome yeah exactly like oh another one died of course duh yep um who's your favorite character in this book Finnick same yeah and Joanna was growing on me so I'd like to see where that goes she definitely like turned my mind around but Finnick for sure would get that and obviously Senna we got to see that moment I was hoping for in the last book I was like cuz I was like something's there oh yeah where he officially so we officially get to see him so I mean I have a laundry list of who my favorite ones are you know but those are the ones that stuck out to me yeah I mean there was a lot of good characters but yeah no Finnick was my favorite for sure yeah yeah yeah um who's your least favorite this time obviously Snow Yeah like he's such a menace to the world yeah um and then also a shout out to the Peacekeeper that whipped Gail you know shout out to the Peacekeeper who sucks yep shout out to him he's the worst you know just ultimate boot licker for sure yeah and also like what's in it for you because when they freaking come to 12 to blow everything up they're probably going to blow you up too sure I'm sure he's done yeah you know done and dusted cuz like gez yeah it was it that was such a hard part to read about too not only because of the whipping but that you know you have the districts which we got to see in the last uh book how different each of them operate you know and with r you know even in this dystopian Society they are being oppressed even more than Katniss's you know district and you know they obviously have access to food and they're punished if they steal sometimes put to death right away and their peacekeepers are intense but then in district 12 they're very LAX and like scratch my back you scratch yours because they're probably also more coming from that oppressed system than the ones that are just wanting to get into the capital so well I mean we could see it just with the change when all the peacekeepers are sent reped every and Bally they in G ands and all this it's like they're just it's basically Snow's way of saying like you guys have got had it easy up until this point yeah so good luck from here on out you know yeah that was really crazy so yeah snow was definitely my least favorite in this book for sure it was that was a very easy pick yeah cuz now we really got to see him it was very I think I might have voice memed you about this it reminded me of when you're in high school and then you have like this teacher that you can't stand and you hate you want to get rid of them and then for some reason they are gotten rid of and the new teacher comes in to replace them and they are 10,000 times worse and you wish you had the old teacher again yeah that's what it felt like like oh be careful what you wish for you want to wish for change this is who's replacing them yeah I think that was maybe a little foreshadowing too yeah um so how did this book specifically make you feel I felt pissed I felt ragy and I felt wrecked yeah what about you yeah I mean I think that this is the book where it's like you really want to believe that it's going like it's going to wrap up the ne like it'll wrap up the series with a Triumph of some kind right so it's like but we don't know yeah and so I think that it just made me feel like extra invested because I'm 100% invested in these characters in their plight at this point but I don't know where it's going because at you know we have been made to understand that no matter what might be going on in the districts and I think it's also important to note here that lots of times districts don't know what's going on in the other districts because they intentionally separate them and isolate them from one another so even though there could be Rebellion acts of um Defiance Revolution going on in other districts that doesn't necessarily mean that all the rest of the districts know what's happening yeah so I think is the reader what is unique about this book is that we know a little bit but we don't know really a whole lot more than Katniss knows yeah like that's when she sees the mayor's TV right and sees that the rebellions are kind of going on so they're kind of telling the Mayors get your stuff together you know or things are going to get even worse yeah so it's like we she knows there distress and something going on but she doesn't fully know the extent right and then they kind of are all able to probably piece it together all the tributes cuz they're getting together so they can let them know like they're probably discussed amongst each other like this is what's going on in our district what's going on with yours so that was a mistake of the capital well they don't expect more than one to live yeah so it wouldn't matter if you had that knowledge necessarily you know true true but I think that that's what's important is like you're really controlling like um The Narrative because it's so much harder for one group to like rise up if they think all the rest maybe all the rest of the districts are doing just fine and we're the one that's really suffering you know yeah um but I think so anyway to tie it back to how it made me feel I think that it made me feel like I don't know excited to keep reading because I want to know what's going to happen but also like cautious very cautious because of the fact that we don't know I didn't know at this point is this going to be a quote unquote happy ending is this going to be a terrible ending like you know I haven't read anything else except for this you know the Hunger Games franchise from Suzanne Collins I don't know what kind of books she writes you know what I mean so I think that uh uh cautiously hopeful yeah yeah um and also just like amped up like you really like feel that like you know I don't really know how to say it's like you know they use a lot of the symbolism of like the fire it's like the Ember burning it's crackling below the surface like something's going to explode soon and we can feel that as the reader yeah for sure sure for sure yeah what about unanswered questions moving into the next book why does snow smell like blood yeah he drink blood he secret vampire like what's going on is he eat people that's that's all mentioned a couple times yeah that was gross though for sure unanswered questions like I mean I just wanted to know what was going to happen how is this going to explode I think the biggest part was like obviously now we know because she you know wakes up on this plane we know District 13 exists yeah I think that that was a big question from the first book right is like you know there were there were inklings that people had that District 13 was still in existence below the surface but we didn't really know she came across those people in the woods right exactly we're headed to District 13 because of this conspiracy that they have about the TV footage so yeah that was like oh huh yeah so I think for me it was more so like this idea like what's going on in 13 yeah and why has it been 75 years yeah who's down there what are they doing what's the you know like those were the unanswered questions but like not in a bad way just in like a very curious like they've been managing to like hold out this whole time like what's been going on why haven't they been doing anything about it or like yeah so is this a whole different Society is this a utopian society like what's so I feel like those were the questions that I had but all I mean those were intentional intentional exactly yeah yeah so obviously I was very excited to read uh the next one yeah it's like one of those things where it's like you're excited to read it but you also know you're gonna be sad when it's over yeah one way or another you're gonna be sad yeah I mean yeah what about any dystopian themes in this book that stood out to you um let me see here what did I put down um you know the same themes that we kind of talked about in the first book overlap obviously in the second book so um you know government overreach government control lack of resources I feel feel like this one we get a lot more of like the media control as being like extraordinarily important to the outcome um and then I also put War because this is when I think you know we start getting the vibe that that's like definitely where this is going yeah yeah yeah yeah same same media control yeah that's huge that's huge and yeah I feel like you know that's also foreshadowing because we get to see how that works on both sides moving forward yeah and it's like propaganda you know gets like a it gets a bad rap because obviously it's about controlling the masses and telling people what to believe and think yeah but it can be used for good too so that brings up some really interesting ethical questions yeah so do you have obviously at this point you were excited to read the next one too right literally duh yeah yeah I'm like do I have to ask that yeah yes we I I wish there was even more coming out like like that's the thing well there is one new one but I'm like I have other people that I want to know more about yeah um so do you have any notable quotes that you wrote down specifically from this book so at one point Gail finally tells Katniss I love you and Katniss says I know just like Han Solo and Princess Leia I love that I was cracking up even though obviously it's not meant to be red like that that's 100% I love you I know that is awesome Yep and that was like after him saying he's going to run away with her and like they're going to do all that so funny so funny what about you one I wrote down mine are not funny yeah well you know comic relief yeah comic relief um so I feel like for me a big theme in this book is is the idea that like people can only be oppressed for so long this is why Empires fall this is why Empires fall yeah period right there's like so I highlighted two quotes one of them is kind of long but I think that it's important so this is you know Katniss obviously is saying this from her perspective it's my job to protect her so she's talking about Prim I pull the blanket up over my head and my breathing is so rapid I use up all the oxygen and begin to choke choke for air I can't let the capital hurt Prim and then it hits me they already have they have killed her father in those wretched minds they have sat by as she almost starved to death they have chosen her as a tribute then made her watch her sister fight to the death in the games she has been hurt far worse than I had at the age of 12 and even that pales in comparison with ruse's life I shove off the blanket and suck in the cold air that seeps through the window panes Prim Rue AR AR they the very reason I have to try to fight because what has been done to them is so wrong so beyond justification so evil that there is no choice because no one has the right to treat them as they have been treated mhm and I thought that was really important because it's that idea that it's like you know it starts off as a personal thing right it's like that you know it's the personal is political but then it's like her realizing it's not going to get any better like and they what what are we around waiting for for them to hurt us worse like they're already hurting us every day in all these systemic ways yeah totally um and then the other one that I chose um you know it's like I was talking about before it's like all the imagery with you know obviously the mocking J but also fire Catching Fire all that kind of stuff um she says you can feel something in the air the rolling boil of a pot about to run over not everywhere some crowds have the weary cattle feel that I know District 12 usually projects at the Victor's ceremonies but but in others particularly 8 4 and three there is genuine Elation in the faces of the people at the sight of us and under the Elation Fury and it's like that to me was just super telling and describes that's how the book made me feel yeah totally like something yeah it's like that something simmering under the surface like getting ready to explode in some way or another something ruined something to breu crazy so crazy so do you have any surprise questions for me today my surprise question for you today Liz is which part of the clock of the Arena would you try to hide in would I try to hide in or like what would your strategy be with that oh jeez great here we go I just die let's be honest which way would you like to die um okay let's recap though so there we don't even know all of them of the ones we know yeah cuz we like what would your strategy be so we got we have monkeys that eat your absolutely not I'm so monkeys are terrible so no we have waves that'll take you in like sneaker waves we have um the mocking JS not the mocking J yeah we have the poisonous fog that you're dead instantly don't touch it the the like it's like a type of bird that like tells you your Horrors yeah I mean I would probably go with that one the bird Horrors I was going to say and there's the fifth one I don't remember what it is but yeah yeah I feel like that's the that's obviously mental emotional Warfare but at least you'd be like physically intact yeah whereas the other ones it's like great you're just going to get burned up and die or whatever horrible yeah yeah the monkeys might be the most brutal though you're right I mean I don't like monkeys in real life I mean neither so yeah yeah gross okay um now after reading Catching Fire mhm team Pea or team Gail last time we both said Gail what say you now I think at this point I'm still team Gale yeah same mhm I see more of peta's perspective and he was more piny this time even more so yeah but I think that like you know we can see his this sounds so bad we can see more of his value as a character feel like in this book where I struggled with that a little bit in the first book um so I don't dislike Peta as much as I did maybe the first time I read it yeah um but yeah I'd still definitely say I'm team Gail because he's just he's the one who's willing to do stuff yeah like who will help you like live longer which I mean that's ironic because like really AR You could argue that she wouldn't have lived as long as she did if it weren't for PETA it's true too yeah it's like you know Gail he's literally laying down his life for her constantly yeah you for better or worse so you know that's arguable but it's like Gail I feel like has more maybe practical real life skills yeah like survival skills yeah but I feel like this is where it gets a little bit harder to choose for sure yeah it's getting harder and harder it's a little gray area e yeah for sure mhm so okay do you have a fun for us do you have a fun super fun fact so you know it was crazy like she had that deaf ear in the first book oh right catniss so and it's repaired and everything well the real life Jennifer Lawrence in the second movie while they were filming went deaf in one ear for months really yeah from what do you know so due to all the water stunts and catching fire that required her to be diving and submerged in water for long stretches of time she got several ear infections and even punctured her eardrum because of a water jet crazy yeah so it's crazy they're like well here you go yeah there's your real life immersion yeah yeah but that was supposed to be the last movie great yeah crazy there you go that is my fun fact yeah fun fact of the day so do you feel like you have any last any last words before we go into you know like our next episode's going to be mocking jay guys the finale of the original trilogy anything we want to say before we get to that intense time good you're good yeah I feel like we pretty much covered everything as well I'm ready for I'm ready for this explosion to occur it's going to be crazy it is going to be crazy all right so with that said thank you guys so much for sitting in with us today and listening what we have to say about Hunger Games Catching Fire book two make sure to tune in next week which was on Friday for book three mocking J yes like follow And subscribe anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcast including YouTube Turn those notifications on we have our normal episodes coming out too every Tuesday during the same time you're getting two double the dose double the book talk double the fun peppermint gum whatever it's called speint double Min double Min gum double mint gum let's go all right you guys we'll see you next Tuesday and and next Friday bye[Music]