Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
After rereading Hunger Games and confirming my initial impression that Katniss was an emotionally stunted character who I wasn't able to connect with or her motives. The second book has Katniss as a much more developed character, with deeper emotions and is appropriately confused by her feelings for Gale and Peeta. Catching Fire also has a much more going on plot wise, although it loses none of the rapid and gripping pace from the first book. Despite the improvements in Katniss' behavior she still isn't my favorite character and I still have a hard time connecting with her and what drives her.
Anyone who reads the first book knows that her sister Prim is her priority but little else. In the second book her priorities change to keeping Peeta, Gale and his family, and her family alive as well as surviving her second round in the Hunger Games Arena. Katniss' emotional state changes little from romantic indifference towards Peeta and Gale to hesitantly and cautiously in love with Gale and Peeta.
So far the series is worth reading because it is so different from other Young Adult novels but isn't my favorite. Speaking of Young Adult novels I think the books should have been published as Science Fiction/Fantasy instead of YA since it is so blood thirsty, gruesome, and has some adult themes and social commentary which younger readers won't necessarily grasp (but that's my personal opinion).
Side Note:
I finally watched the movie for Hunger Games and by it's self it's a good movie and I like that the author was one of the screenwriters, that we saw the events from more points of view, and you could connect better with Katniss, but the book has a lot of plot details I wanted added (the muttations' eyes, how Katniss got the Mockingjay pin, and Katniss spilling to Peeta that the romance of the Games was an act, to name a few).
