Collins continues her all-out assault on everything she finds wrong with Western culture by putting Katniss through more hell on Earth.

There are fewer irritating little flaws in this volume (though some carry over from The Hunger Games) but, as if to compensate there is one big flaw; Katniss goes back into the arena. With Peeta. Again. This makes the latter-most two thirds or so of the book so closely a repeat of the first volume that it leaves one thinking, couldn't you come up with a more interesting idea?

It's still utterly gripping, though.