1.) The Hunger Games ★★★★★
2.) Catching Fire ★★★★

Hello, I am here to finish off my breakdown reviews of The Hunger Games Trilogy! And ironically enough, Mockingjay was the last book I read in 2020! I will say, I feel like the series does get a little less enjoyable as I progressed through the trilogy all these years later, but I still think it is a solid series and I truly do think The Hunger Games itself is a masterpiece. But please use caution, because this breakdown will be filled with spoilers for each and every chapter of this book!

“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”

➽ Chapter One:
District 12 is gone, but Buttercup the cat is alive. Truly this opening chapter was so dark and really set the tone for this entire book, and Snow’s rose? Truly so scary and horrifying and a good reminder at how evil he actually is. Peeta is gone, and Katniss is officially with the previously thought dead District 13.

➽ Chapter Two:
Peeta is a guest being interviewed by Caesar for the world to see. And they are also showing the bombing of District 12 over and over to remind people what happens with you rebel against the capitol. We also get to see the hidden, unground District 13 base, and how they are very ready to rebel against the capitol and nothing will stop them. Katniss is going to officially be the Mockingjay to help rally as much support as they can get, while also trying to instill hope for a brighter future.

➽ Chapter Three:
We get to see what it is like to live in this new world that is the hidden District 13 and what is left of District 12, and we are easily seeing that things are very unfair here too.

➽ Chapter Four:
And Katniss is even starting to see how President Coin might not be too much different than President Snow, just a different guise for their evil.

➽ Chapter Five:
Katniss is getting fed up with always being used as a tool for someone else, but she finally has her bow back and is hoping the make the best of what she has left, even with Coin making her say lines to instill hope for the new war that is beginning.

➽ Chapter Six:
But it is getting harder and harder for Katniss to rally the districts without Peeta, because she has never been the best speaker, especially compared to him, and especially because him being held captive is impacting her so greatly. But truly, the foreshadowing in this chapter is very insane.

➽ Chapter Seven:
A hovercraft takes Katniss to see the sick people at a hospital, and the capitol bombs them immediately after. Gale and Katniss fight, and we start to see that they are believing two different stories, but Katniss and her anger at the capitol is growing and growing and because its on public display it is automatically rallying more and more people.

➽ Chapter Eight:
The Cinna mentions truly rip my heart out every time. But Katniss also is sneaking watching Peeta’s clips that the capitol is showing and the more and more distrust of District 13 is building and building.

➽ Chapter Nine:
The infamous hanging tree song, that still makes me a bit uncomfortable, but we get to really meet Katniss’ camera crew and see the torture they have also endured. Katniss and Gale reminisce about when they were kids, but Katniss is truly proving to the reader this was never a love triangle more and more because she deadass is like “I like that Gale likes to hunt” and it makes me truly giggle. Also, Peeta is getting tortured for information. :[

➽ Chapter Ten:
But Peeta still is able to warn District 13 of an incoming attack. So much foreshadowing with Prim, but Gale helps her find Buttercup and they make it safely to the evacuation zone before the first bomb hits. Katniss and Prim finally have a moment just for them and just between them and it really broke my heart because I have read this book before, hahaha! And Katniss and her trauma and anxiety making her feel like she is having a heart attack? Heartbreak again.

➽ Chapter Eleven:
More bombings are happening, but this time it is just to ensure that Katniss stays off television so she and her message will stop giving other rebels hope! Katniss and Finnick finally get to talk and Gale is annoyed with Finnick for no reason other than Gale is truly stupid and the bane of my existence. But Katniss leaves the bunker and Snow has left her more roses and every time it gives me goosebumps in the most disgusting way. Truly harrowing each time. But the resistance has decided they are going to do a rescue mission for Peeta and Annie! Also, let me just note that Katniss is mean to Buttercup in this chapter and it annoyed me too, lmaoooo!

➽ Chapter Twelve:
Finnick goes on the broadcast and talks about how he was sex trafficked as a child alongside many of the victors of the hunger games, and how Snow would kill their loved ones if they did not “willingly” participate. After, they are able to rescues Annie, Johanna, and Peeta. But… Peeta, because of the torture and brainwashing he has endured, tries to kill Katniss.

➽ Chapter Thirteen:
We get to learn a bit more about Peeta’s torture and the tracker jacker venom they used to “highjack” his memories.

➽ Chapter Fourteen:
They send Katniss to District 2 and fake Gale love triangle angst ensues.

➽ Chapter Fifteen:
Rebels start fighting other rebels and Gale is just… stupid. And Katniss gets shot.

➽ Chapter Sixteen:
Katniss is healing up slowly after what happened in District 2, and she is helping Annie find a wedding dress with the things she still has of Cinna’s, so that she can get married to Finnick finally. Please, I am crying.

➽ Chapter Seventeen:
Katniss is getting stronger and stronger. This chapter really shows how different everyone lives and tries to heal after the hunger games they’ve been a part of. And Peeta just has so much anger in him still.

➽ Chapter Eighteen:
They are all fake practicing storming the capitol, with fake gas and everything. We get to learn how Johanna was tortured (with water) and how that has very much impacted every day of her life since. But they all realize that this will be their last arena ever, but it fills them with hope to storm the capitol for real.

➽ Chapter Nineteen:
Peeta’s memories are reconstructed and he goes with them to end this once and for all. But a bomb gets triggered once they are in the tunnel.

➽ Chapter Twenty:
An emergency broadcast announces to the world that Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and everyone else are dead, and this could work in their advantage because Snow will not be expecting them, but they have to make it out of the tunnel with the mysterious black gel.

➽ Chapter Twenty-One:
They have their first death with Boggs :[ and they get to see this funeral for Katniss being broadcasted while they are all trapped and not trusting anyone.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Two:
Peeta is whispering “Katniss” all creepy-like, but they are able to break through this tunnel that they were trapped in with lizard-like people monsters. But… Finnick dies protecting them and it truly is the most sad and unnecessary death in this book and him and Cinna just deserved so much better. But Katniss kisses Peeta and I’m still giggling that people think this series has a believable love-triangle.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Three:
Katniss gives Gale stitches, and then Gale and Peeta have some sort of weird heart to heart together. This story really doesn’t have the “who will Katniss pick in the end” vibe so many people lead you to believe it does. We also meet the “tiger woman” and I was side eying a little while reading about her ten years later. But they are ready to finally go head to head with the capitol once and for all.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Four:
Listen, I don’t mean to laugh, but Gale trying to get Katniss to shoot him and her being like “no, you’ll be fine” and lets the capitol take him sent me a little bit, I am sorry. But we get to see how Snow has tried to protect himself by barricading the capitol with children, because he is banking on no one being cruel enough to kill them while trying to get him. But, parachutes come and… when I say this is the most harrowing and fucked up thing in this book… I mean it. The way these parachutes have been seen as a symbol of hope and healing for the recipients who get them in the hunger games, so the kids are happy to see them…. Only to have them explode and kill them, like… truly I don’t even have words for how heartbreaking that is to read and think about. But then, to add more heartbreak, Katniss sees a braid and a duck tail and… I truly am crying typing this. All this, everything, Katniss being selfless, Katniss willing to do everything to protect her sister, Katniss proving over and over she will do anything, only for the resistance to kill her so heartlessly. I truly weep. Prim’s death truly will always stick with me, and it is why I was impacted so viscerally when rereading The Hunger Games earlier this year and seeing the foreshadowing in that very first chapter.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Five:
Katniss is told that she is “lucky” to be alive after the bombs detonated, but she truly feels lost and that everything feels a little hopeless even now at the end of this war. Snow is to be executed, but Katniss visits him and she realizes that he is not the one who killed the children and Prim.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Six:
Katniss is questioning everything, including who chose to put a 13-year-old in combat. She goes to talk to Haymitch, but he is drunk. Katniss is stuck with her own thoughts, thinking about what life would have been like without the games, and if her and Gale ran away from District 12. She is also very much questioning if it was Gale’s bomb that killed Prim, and she knows she will question that for the rest of her life. But once she thinks at least everything is over, Coin states that she wants one last hunger games, for revenge, and it will star the kids of the people who were for the capitol. Katniss is supposed to be the one to finally execute Snow, but when her arrow flies, it flies straight into Coin, killing her and her idea for a new plan for evil.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Katniss is captured and thinking of suicide. She learns that the people “crushed” Snow to death, and maybe not ripped him apart like in the movie. But we get to see Katniss grieving and finally feeling like she can grieve unapologetically for everyone she has lost, Prim, Rue, Cinna, Finnick, everyone. We also learn that Annie and Finnick got pregnant before he passed away, and maybe that is a new symbol of hope.

➽ Epilogue:
Katniss and Peeta have two kids, and it took Katniss a very long time to actually have them, even though Peeta really wanted them from the start. The games are still over, but we see the grief and PTSD will always be in their lives. And even though they are trying to do the best for their kids, it haunts them that they are playing on a graveyard they will never fully understand.

Truly, this series is haunting and there are a lot of parallels that can easily and obviously be made to the world we are living in 2020. My heart does go out to Katniss and I do really like her as a character. I do feel like the series got a little less and less enjoyable as they went on, but the basic premise is just so unique and solid and really helped start the dystopian (and YA) surge. And Katniss and Prim’s relationship just really settles heavy in my heart, and it truly makes you think about a lot of things you’d be willing to do for the people you love. I do still giggle at the people who ship Katniss and Gale, because they must really like eating crumbs and my heart goes out to them too. But Finnick and Cinna are truly the brightest shining lights for me, and I’m so sad Suzanne Collins didn’t give us a proper spinoff of their past! But maybe one day.

Trigger and Content Warnings: torture, death, murder, war themes, blood depiction, talk of (fake) miscarriage, bombings, anxiety depiction, ptsd depiction, loss of a loved one, forced drugging, thoughts of suicide, talk of alcoholism, talk of rape in the past, talk of pedophilia in the past, talk of sex trafficking in the past, and slavery.

Buddy read with Lea! ❤

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins | Chapter Breakdown Review with Spoilers

July 15, 2020July 13, 2020 meltotheanyAside6 Comments

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Book Depository

Are we ready for another review breakdown in The Hunger Games trilogy? If you haven’t read my review summary for The Hunger Games, then I suggest you do so! Unless you just want a little fresher up in this second installment! I personally do not think that Catching Fire holds up as well as book one, but I still loved it a lot, and I’m very impressed with it, even in 2020. For some strange reason, I didn’t love the parts of the game in this book, but I loved the buildup, and the capitol, and the meeting of new characters (be still, my Finnick Odair heart). Ah, lets get into it before I start to gush! Also, again, this review will have spoilers, so use caution if you don’t want me to tell you what happens in each chapter of this book!

➽ Chapter One:
I love it when a tale starts out with the sipping of tea. Katniss and Peeta are both home and they both are remembering everything that they were forced to endure during the games. It has been a year already, and they are getting ready for (gosh this feels like a bad word, but…) celebration. We also get to see Gale, who is incredibly stubborn and works in the mines most of the time now and refuses to take any of Katniss’s winning fortune. Yet, this is the real start of the Gale versus Peeta love triangle for me. And I’m not the only one who notices, because President Snow soon comes and lets Katniss know he is brewing is own pot of tea.

➽ Chapter Two:
Snow proceeds to threaten Gale’s life and tells Katniss that she needs to make everyone (including himself) believe in the love between Peeta and her. And he also lets her know that they have a whole tour of all the districts, filled with opportunities to prove themselves and their love for one another.

➽ Chapter Three:
This year will be the 75th games, and that is especially important because it means it is a Quarter Quell! Which essentially means they have an even more wild game every 25 years. And during the last one? Haymitch was the winner. Katniss is suffering from extreme PTSD from everything she was forced to endure, and she keeps seeing Rue and it’s haunting her. She is also quickly realizing that she is going to be forced to keep convincing the world of her love for Peeta forever, because they will always be in the spotlight for the rest of their lives. Oh, and Peeta has an artificial leg now, and it makes me wish so desperately that they included that representation into the movies!

➽ Chapter Four:
Katniss feels like she is going to have to eventually marry Peeta, and again it is just giving her added pressure and stress on top of everything else that is to come. This is also the iconic favorite colors (green and orange) scene and I love it a lot, honestly. But Peeta and Katniss make their way to district 11 and they make their speeches to the people. And during Peeta’s speech he promises to give Rue’s family part of their earnings forever. After that grand gesture, an old man makes the whistle sound that Rue and Katniss made in the games, and he is promptly killed.

➽ Chapter Five:
After the heartbreaking end of that visit, Katniss promises to always keep Peeta in the loop with everything, and she lets him know about what Snow has said to her. Katniss and Peeta cuddle each night and try to protect themselves from the nightmares, while they go on their full tour to all the districts while being engaged.

➽ Chapter Six:
I’ll be honest, I had forgotten about the throw up drinks that the Capitol uses to take bites of all the food that they can’t possibly eat with their normal digesting stomach alone! I really liked this chapter, because it felt like Katniss and Peeta are able to slip into this world of winning for mere moments, when they are just abruptly forced to see these privileged people who don’t have a care in the world, while they remember how hungry and cold they had to grow up in district 12. Speaking of district 12, that is where they are going to end their tour, but Katniss finds her way into the mayor’s house where she secretly finds out that district 8 is uprising.

➽ Chapter Seven:
Katniss was going to run away with Gale, and he was all like “I love you” and Katniss was just like *microwave noises* a bit and it sent me, truly. But after that, Gale gets whipped and I felt really bad.

➽ Chapter Eight:
Katniss gets hit in the face while trying to get to Gale, but he gets medicine and stiches and is healing up as best as he can. Yet, they obviously are not going to run away any longer.

➽ Chapter Nine:
Peeta and Katniss’s marriage is going to be soon. And Katniss starts to really believe that maybe an uprising can spark a revolution.

➽ Chapter Ten:
In this chapter we get to learn about district 13, and how it was supposedly bombed and completely taken out. But we also learn about a conspiracy theory that they people are somewhere safe and waiting.

➽ Chapter Eleven:
Katniss is trapped by an electric fence and hurts herself returning home. She also learns that they are hiding something in district 8 and showing the same television clip over and over.

➽ Chapter Twelve:
Many districts start rebelling, and then the truly shocking twist of the special 75th games is announced: the victors of previous years will go back in to fight. Reminder that Katniss is the only girl who can go back, and Peeta and Haymitch are the only two boys.

➽ Chapter Thirteen:
Katniss and Haymitch get very drunk together. And then Haymitch is picked, and Peeta volunteers to take his place like the good boy he always is.

“The odds are never in our favour”

➽ Chapter Fourteen:
Peeta and Katniss watch Haymitch’s competition and see how he outsmarted the game with the force field that held them inside.

“He offered me sugar and wanted to know all my secrets”

➽ Chapter Fifteen:
Finnick Odair!!! We get to really start to begin to see the sad truth of what it means to be a victor in the games. Finnick and Katniss meet for the first time, and its so heartbreaking and heartwarming in the same exact instant.

➽ Chapter Sixteen:
We get to see a tiny bit more of Snow’s cruelty with the servant who is assigned to Katniss at a dinner. But Katniss and Peeta are meeting people and practicing their skills and abilities. Peeta, as always, is such a people person, who everyone loves, but Katniss just cannot bear getting close to anyone again. Even though her and Peeta put on very heartbreaking and memorable acts at the end of this chapter.

“I have to kill them all to save Peeta”

➽ Chapter Seventeen:
Peeta tells Katniss about his painting for Rue (I didn’t talk about this earlier, but I love how Peeta paints to heal some of his pain and trauma, while also remembering the story of what happened to them). Then Katniss and Peeta have a rooftop picnic where they just spend the whole entire day together. This is truly one of my favorite chapters, and just the calm before the storm. Or the calm before Katniss puts on the mockingjay outfit that Cinna has made for her.

➽ Chapter Eighteen:
We get to see Caesar again, and Katniss and Peeta have an interview with him. Then… the most heartbreaking part of this entire book happens, and while Katniss is in the tube to go up to the game, she is forced to watch Cinna be beat and killed before her. I truly wonder if Cinna knew what would be his fate, when he made that dress and when he unapologetically believed in Katniss with a love so strong that it was his end.

“Remember, girl on fire […] I’m still betting on you.”

➽ Chapter Nineteen:
It is the start of the games and Katniss is supposed to be pretending like she is pregnant, but she can hardly even see what is going on after the events that she was just forced to witness.

➽ Chapter Twenty:
Katniss, Finnick, Mags (who I said I would pay better attention too, because of the prequel, but honestly I didn’t and I feel a bit bad), and Peeta try to get away. Katniss believes Peeta to be dead. And then she believes Finnick to be kissing him, until she realizes he is saving him. Yet, that doesn’t stop the other tributes from dying all around them.

➽ Chapter Twenty-One:
They are still running away, but they soon realize that this game is unlike any other. Katniss and Finnick are forced to carry the other two, until the weight is too much to bear, and the deadly fog is creeping closer and closer. Mags understands the severity of the situation and throws herself into it, in hopes that the others will get away, safely.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Two:
Oh! And killer monkeys were in the last chapter too, because again, this year’s games is wild as all hell! But the three of them are still retreating when they stumble across another small group of Johanna, Beetee, and Wiress. You know, I haven’t talked about Johanna Mason in this review yet, but oh my word do I love her character and how she always keeps you guessing. But they are all somewhat injured (some worse than others), but Wiress keeps saying the famous like “Tick, tock. Tick, tock” which they have no idea what that means… yet.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Three:
Okay, it is “yet” and Katniss figured out it’s a clock all on her own. Basically, the map is one big clock and each hour some deadly force happens. And Katniss now believes she is hearing Prim.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Four:
She soon realizes it is a jabberjay, and she also learned seven of the hours so far! Also…. This is really sad foreshadowing of what is to come in Mockingjay and I gasped a little bit, truly. Oh, and Peeta is being really sweet and romantic to Katniss, because he refuses to let her sacrifice herself for him.

“You’re my whole life.”

➽ Chapter Twenty-Five:
They are trying to survive the best that they can, and Peeta gives her a pearl for luck, and Katniss is just so sure that she is going to die.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Six:
That is, until she makes the connection with this mysterious lightning tree, where she is able to also hit the game dome and break everything she knows and doesn’t know yet. And this time Katniss is positive that she is going to die.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Yet, she wakes up in a hospital, not understand anything. She heartbreakingly finds out that people knew and were part of a rebellion plan the whole game and used her without her consent or knowledge. And they chose to save Katniss, and not Peeta, because she is a symbol, even though she never asked to be one. Katniss feels so betrayed and helpless. And then the book ends with her finding out that district 12 has been firebombed and is gone.

Trigger and Content Warnings for talk of loss of a parent, animal death(s), abandonment, depression, PTSD depiction, blood depiction, alcoholism, gore, violence, murder, talk of suicidal thoughts, talk of death in the past.

Buddy read with Lea! ❤

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins | Chapter Breakdown Review with Spoilers

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 meltotheanyAside17 Comments

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Book Depository

Hello, I am back again with another breakdown review while I relearn how to write reviews. But basically the TL;DR of this review is that The Hunger Games truly holds up so well in 2020, and this reread was such a treat. I felt such nostalgia, happiness, and hope between these pages, and I already can’t wait to revisit this story again. Also, again, this review will have spoilers, so use caution if you don’t want me to tell you what happens in each chapter of this book!

“How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in the world I’m certain I love?”

➽ Chapter One:
This first chapter really starts off with a heartbreaking bang. We quickly learn so many characters, but we even more quickly learn what type of character Katniss Everdeen is. The basic premise of this tale is that there are twelve districts and once a year each district will select two young candidates to fight to the death in a game, which will also be broadcasted for the world to see. Every year, a teenagers name gets added once to this random selection pool, but each year they get older another time their name gets added. Also, you can add your name more times to get food and supplies for your family, and this is very much the norm for most children. Katniss’s sister, Prim, only has her name in the drawing once because it is her first time, where Katniss has her name added over twenty times. Yet, you see where this is going…

➽ Chapter Two:
Once Prim’s name is pulled, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place in the games. Meanwhile, the boy contestant is Peeta Mellark, who Katniss remembers giving her bread when her family was starving after the death of their father. Together, they are thrown into a competition that no one believes they will be able to come back alive. Especially since only one victor is allowed, therefore one of them will most certainly have to die.

➽ Chapter Three:
Katniss is given her iconic mockingjay pin that will literally change the world as she knows it.

➽ Chapter Four:
Haymitch punches Peeta to make him look rougher, lol. The journey Haymitch is about to take alongside these two kids as their mentor, whew.

➽ Chapter Five:
Cinna (my favorite character), makes Katniss a fire dress in which the world has never seen, and will be the first time the world finds it extremely hard to forget her or her name. Also, unknown to Katniss, a start of a public romance is brewing with Peeta to help their image. We also get to meet President Snow and start to get a vibe of all the evil things he has been stirring up for some time now.

➽ Chapter Six:
Katniss and Peeta make it to the training center and they start to learn about the other candidates from the other districts. We also get to learn about the different privileges of the other districts, and how some of these candidates view this as an honor to volunteer their life for (without needing to save a little sister). We also get to see Rue, and it’s really hard to not feel like you want to reach into the pages and protect her yourself.

➽ Chapter Seven:
Katniss makes quite the impression with an arrow and an apple, that many important people of the Capitol find very hard to ignore.

➽ Chapter Eight:
This is the start of the Peeta versus Gale debate, and the brewing of a very opinionated love-triangle. For me, personally, I always think it’s obvious in Katniss’s inner monologue that she only likes Peeta, but I digress.

➽ Chapter Nine:
We get to meet Caesar Flickerman and see Katniss and Peeta’s vastly different interviews with him. Peeta is coached to very much play the star-crossed lovers card, and he even tells Caesar that he loves Katniss more than anything.

➽ Chapter Ten:
This is the start of Part 2, where they games are finally going to begin. And Cinna says my favorite line in the entire series to Katniss. So simple, so beautiful, so heartbreaking.

“I’m not allowed to bet, but if I could, I’d bet on you.”

➽ Chapter Eleven:
The twenty-four tributes are entering the game, and in the middle is a cornucopia filled with weapons and supplies… if you are brave enough to make a run for them. Peeta distracts her at the very start of the game, so Katniss doesn’t go for the bow. And we quickly see that people are starting to form groups to take out some of the weaker players.

➽ Chapter Twelve:
Katniss is proving that she will do whatever it takes to survive.

➽ Chapter Thirteen:
Katniss is still up in a tree, surviving, when she sees Rue and they form a silent plan together.

➽ Chapter Fourteen:
She does get the medicine she needs from someone out there watching her in the world, who is rooting for her and her life. After with the help of some killer, engineered wasps… she is able to get down from this tree and gets a bow.

➽ Chapter Fifteen:
Katniss teams up with Rue, while they come up with a big plan to make it a little harder for the districts teaming up with all the supplies.

➽ Chapter Sixteen:
Yeah, Katniss blows up the whole cornucopia.

➽ Chapter Seventeen:
Yet, while Katniss and Rue are trying to meet up again with their mockingjay signals, Rue gets killed by a spear. Katniss sings to her, and realizes that nothing will be the same in her life again, no matter how long she has left.

➽ Chapter Eighteen:
Katniss is trying to deal with the hurt and pain and loss as best as she can, but she also is very hard of hearing in one of her ears now. And she also knows that Peeta has been wounded and is missing.

➽ Chapter Nineteen:
But beyond all else, Katniss is a tracker and a hunter, and she quickly looks for Peeta at a water source and finds him. They also share a kiss when they find shelter, and she vows that she is not going to let him die.

➽ Chapter Twenty:
This chapter has some beautiful foreshadowing of giving Peeta some berries.

➽ Chapter Twenty-One:
Basically, at this point, each contestant needs a certain supply very badly, so they place the things they need back in the middle of the map, and Katniss goes to retrieve theirs. She does get very injured in the process but makes it back to heal him. Thresh helped Katniss because of what she did for Rue.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Two:
Peeta takes care of Katniss and they get more care-packages because they are now the Capitol’s OTP and everyone is rooting for them and their romance.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Three:
Thresh dies, and it breaks my heart every time because I highkey always root for him too. District 11 just deserved better. Cato is still alive, still the biggest threat, and still hella annoying. And then we have some more berry foreshadowing when a girl dies eating some.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Four:
Now that there are only three people left (Katniss, Peeta, and Cato) the game makers want them to finally put an end to the 74th Hunger Games once and for all. Kato runs at them, while wolves start running after them.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Five:
And we quickly find out that the wolves are none other than the people who died in the games. Well, I think at least. They for sure have the tributes eyes, and it just makes it extra freaky. But basically, after some fighting and some monologues, Kato is dying to the wolves slowly, but Katniss puts him out of his misery. They were promised earlier that if Katniss and Peeta were the final two of the game that they could both win and live, but now the game makers are trying to change that game right before them. And since they are saying there can only be one victor, Katniss takes a risk with those beloved berries and her an Peeta threaten suicide before all the people watching from the comfort of their own homes.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Six:
But because they need a winner, they decide two is better than none, so they both are able to live. Katniss wakes up in a hospital where her body is healing and she is able to hear out of her one ear again. She gets to see Cinna, and believe that maybe their lives will be normal again. But Katniss quickly realizes that the Capitol is terribly upset that she played with them, and they are not going to ignore her actions in the game.

➽ Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Katniss gets to see Peeta again, and they are forced to watch all the deaths that happened in the game during their winner’s interview. They both have taken so much damage physically and mentally, and they know that Snow is not through hurting them, or the people they love, by a longshot.

Trigger and Content Warnings for loss of a parent, animal death(s), abandonment, depression, PTSD depiction, blood depiction, alcoholism, gore, violence, and murder.

Buddy read with Lea & Johely! ❤