The Girl Who Was on Fire Review

Title: The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy

Author: Leah Wilson, Carrie Ryan, Ned Vizzini, Lili Wilkinson, Blythe Woolston, Sarah Darer Littman, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Mary Borsellino, Sarah Rees Brennan, Terri Clark, Bree Despain, Adrienne Kress, Cara Lockwood, Elizabeth M. Rees

Genre: Anthology

Page Count: 210 pages

Book Type: Library Paperback

Publisher: Smart Pop

ISBN: 97819356180401

Picture from Amazon

From Goodreads: Katniss Everdeen’s adventures may have come to an end, but her story continues to blaze in the hearts of millions worldwide.

In The Girl Who Was on Fire, thirteen YA authors take you back to Panem with moving, dark, and funny pieces on Katniss, the Games, Gale and Peeta, reality TV, survival, and more. From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss’ world really is.

• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch’s drinking, Annie’s distraction, and Wiress’ speech problems?
• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?
• Why isn’t the answer to “Peeta or Gale?” as interesting as the question itself?
• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history&mdashand what can we?

The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

My Review: The cover for this book is perfect. I love the smoking arrow. It fits The Hunger Games trilogy completely.

This book is obviously for fans of the series. If you haven’t read the books, this one would be a major spoiler for pretty much everything in the series. In all honesty, this review may be a little spoilery as well, considering the subject matter. Just a warning for all of you non-Hunger Games readers out there (Rachel @ Fiktshun, I’m looking at you). Actually, upon further reflection, I think I kept the spoilers out of my review. 

About halfway through this book, I went and requested a couple more Smart Pop books from the library. I requested the Twilight one, the one about the Sookie Stackhouse books, a Harry Potter one, and finally one about the Gilmore Girls. These are seriously addicting. Anything that analyzes books is a-okay with me.

There were a lot of references to early Romans that I hadn’t noticed while reading. The authors also brought up some really good points about our current culture and how the games aren’t that far of a stretch from where we are. I really want to purchase this book to have on hand whenever I read the series again. I think it will be really enlightening. I was in love from the start because one of the first essays was about how the series is much, much more than Team Gale vs. Team Peeta. I cannot express how annoyed I get when this series is broken down into only a love triangle. I am cringing at all of the Team Peeta/Team Gale merchandise that will come out closer to the release of the movie. 

This book really just reaffirmed my love for The Hunger Games and I’m so glad I read it. It made me think about how I viewed the series and will no doubt have an impact on my future readings. This book is definitely for all of the book nerds out there like me (and probably you). If you have ever wanted to analyze The Hunger Games (and really, if you’ve read the series, I’m sure you want to), then I would suggest checking out The Girl Who Was on Fire!

My Reviews of the series:

The Hunger Games Review

Catching Fire Review

Mockingjay Review

Have you read this one yet? Any other good anthologies like this that you can suggest to me? I’m obsessed now!