I really enjoyed the build up of psychological weapons and forces employed by president Snow on the district inhabitants - if you weren't aware of how bad things were in Panem in the first book (where it's primarily the Peeta Katniss loveshow in front of a backdrop of Hunger Games horror and an angry Gale), Catching Fire sure conveyed the state of the country. The events are frankly terrifying and I keep forgetting just how violent the books are - a common experience, especially when you realize that the movie versions of the characters are played by much older actors for exactly that reason. There's a great photo online of the actresses and actors at the ages of the characters, and it's completely horrifying.

I'm still rather iffy about District 11 and some tonedeaf stereotypes being used for worldbuilding: the former southeast of the US, where a primarily Black population now harvests most of Panem's food supplies, the first to rebel against the Capitol which results in masses of peacekeepers brutalizing the rebels, without any clear sign of victory on the side of the District. Given that the midwest is also a prominent agricultural region... Hrmpf.

Nonetheless, Catching Fire was better than I remembered and did a very good job at setting the stage for the rebellion and Mockingjay. The shift from "only" physical violence to the overwhelming amount of psychological warfare done in the third book is handled very well, and all of the new characters cement that fact, in one way or another. Hands up in the air for our sexy king Finnick Odair (and Peeta Mellark, as always).