Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins.People, I am in agony. (Long SIGH). Just finished reading this about an hour ago. It took me that long to collect myself enough to turn on my computer. It is going to take me so much longer to get the story out of my head. The closest I can come to describing how I feel is to invoke memories of how YOU felt after the 4th Harry Potter book came out, you were drawn into the story, and then it ended without any satisfactory resolution. If anything, you felt more compelled to read the 5th book than ever, even though it wouldn't be published for another year or so. That is how I feel right now. I desperately want to dive right into the next book.

I started reading The Hunger Games on Thursday, finished it Friday. Bought Catching Fire Saturday night (I knew if I bought it in the morning my Saturday would be a wash) and couldn't put it down today.

Its so tough to write about how I'm feeling, and a brief synopsis of the story without giving away spoilers. I need someone to talk to about this. About what has been going on and what we think the 3rd book will bring us. I have read reviews on Catching Fire that were a bit derogatory when comparing it to The Hunger Games. I completely disagree. I think that the games and arena pictured in Catching Fire were appropriate given the tributes who were present. And anyone who doesn't think the traps and snares and trials throughout were as intense as the first book has become completely desensitized in my opinion.

Angst.

I am so looking forward to reading the third and final book in this trilogy.

River Secrets

By Shannon Hale.

Like Enna Burning before it, River Secrets picks up right where its predecessor novel leaves off. Therefore, to get into it you've really got to read the first two books in this Bayern trilogy.

Can I just say, to get it out in the open, that reading River Secrets made me kind of angry? It is such a good book---and it just brought to my mind The Blue Sword and The Hero And the Crown by Robin McKinley, and made me so angry she never wrote a 3rd Damar novel! It would have been wonderful! Shannon Hale has managed to write 3 really great books, all centering around the country of Bayern, all told from different perspectives and involving different adventures and twists and turns....and Robin McKinley could have done this with Damar and she ended up going a whole different direction. Makes me, as a reader, feel snubbed. And I know RM published those 2 novels almost 20 years ago, but reading a really great "third novel" just brought out all these repressed feelings of what might have been. Sigh.

ANYWAY: River Secrets is told from the point of view of Razo, another friend of Isi and Enna. Kind of fun to read about Bayern and Bayern traditions from a male perspective this time. Razo and many others of the soldiers belonging to the king's personal guard, Bayern's Own, accompany an ambassador to the capital city of Tira, in an effort to establish good relations between the two countries. However, a lot of people are still upset about the war which recently ended, and seem to stop at nothing when it comes to stirring up conflict, false accusations, and potential uprisings. Razo has to solve a few mysteries in order to ensure a 2nd war isn't begun.

These Bayern books are truly enjoyable. Go read them now if you haven't already!!

Enna Burning

by Shannon Hale.

After I read The Goose Girl, a lot of people told me I absolutely had to read Enna Burning. It took me a while to get a chance to check it out of the library because our library seems to have it on constant hold-status even though it was published in 2004.....but I finally got my hands on it.

What can I say? Enna Burning was in fact really good! I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you have read The Goose Girl though, because the story picks up a few months after The Goose Girl ends, only this time it is told from the perspective of Enna, Isi's friend who was a fellow animal-keeper in The Goose Girl.

Enna is hilarious. The things she says just make me laugh out loud. If you've read The Goose Girl, you'll remember that Isi learns the language of animals. Well, this story is about Enna learning the language of fire. It turns out she's quite good at controlling heat and pulling or pushing it away, but the story really pivots on whether the fire will eventually consume her since fire is an all-consuming force. Take into consideration that Tira, the nation to the east of Bayern has declared war on Bayern and is trying to take over the country and you've got a great fanciful read that really has an ending the reader doesn't expect. Good read.