The scream begins in my lower back

…what?

“And you … in Thirteen … dead by morning!” Yet no one is asking about the messenger whose blood has been replaced by static.

Well, they do have more immediate concerns.  You know, like the threat that just got issued.  If they were just brushing everything off, that would be a valid complaint, but when they have bigger things to worry about, then you’re just whining.

“It’s not some big mystery! The boy’s telling us we’re about to be attacked. Here. In Thirteen.”

“How would he have that information?”

“Why should we trust him?”

Both valid questions which will never be answered!

Haymich claims that he’s been beaten for talking, so that’s proof that it’s true, but that doesn’t actually address the questions.  “They’re beating him for talking” does not answer “why would he know that?” Especially since they apparently beat him just for existing before now.

Why would they let him know about an impending attack?  Were they planning on him spilling the beans on-air?  Is this a trick?  When you’ve already painted your bad guys as lolzevil and discounted logical reasons for torture, you can’t use “well because torture” in a logical argument.

There have been two low-level drills since I arrived in 13. […]I stayed behind a pipe in the laundry room, ignored the pulsating beeps coming over the audio system, and watched a spider construct a web.

Yet another reason that your practice of ignoring everyone and everything around you is disastrous.  You have no idea what to do in the case of an emergency.

However, once again, the world orders itself to Katniss’s whim, never presenting her with a consequence for her actions, because here’s prior warning and someone to personally guide you to where you’re supposed to go.  Heaven forbid that any of Katniss’s actions mean anything. 

He still has a happy glow from Beetee’s success on the Airtime Assault. Eyes on the forest, not on the trees. Not on Peeta’s punishment or 13’s imminent blasting.

Yes, and?  So he’s a big-picture guy, that’s good, since you apparently can’t see the forest for the trees.  There’s a reason that phrase was invented, and it wasn’t to praise the trees-seeing person.  Focusing so much on a single person that you’d throw the war effort under a bus for them isn’t an admirable quality.

…unless you look at American entertainment media these days, where that quality seems to be getting quite a bit of praise lately. 

“The other people in the bunker, they’ll be taking their cue on how to react from you. If you’re calm and brave, others will try to be as well. If you panic, it could spread like wildfire,” […]Is it a matter of timing? Or is Plutarch right? Are these people modeling their behavior on mine?

Plutarch says that if she’s brave and calm, others will be, too.  So she goes to get her gear and everyone else queues up behind her.  But…why would they all be paying attention to her?  These are the people who didn’t hide in a supply closet during the previous drills, and no one was particularly panicking, and (I cannot stress this enough) she’s really not that special that everything she ever does is the center of attention.  So, the answer to that question is “the timing thing.”

But the book tries to use manipulative leading questions again.  Without her asking “are people imitating me?” there would be no reason to assume that they are.  It’s her question, not any actual evidence, that leads to that assumption, but because she asks it as a question, she gets to slip that idea in on the sly.  If she’d just said “oh, yeah, they’re totally doing that because of me,” that would run up against the part of the human brain that judges such statements.  Questions are processed differently.  Questions lead you to assume that there’s a reason the question was asked.  You naturally start trying to answer the question before you ever wonder if there is an answer.  This book is hella-manipulative, and I’m not sure if it even realizes that.

I squeeze my lids shut tight for a moment, to track her as I would prey on a hunt.

…wait, does Katniss track her hunting targets…by imagining them?  …just…I…what?

See her react to the sirens, rush to help the patients, nod as they gesture for her to descend to the bunker, and then hesitate with her on the stairs. Torn for a moment. But why?

…is Katniss psychic?

Because while I get what the book is trying to do – her thinking through what her sister would have done – that’s not what its describing.  What it’s describing is a psychic episode where Katniss is distance-viewing her little sister.  Why else would she “see” Prim hesitate without knowing that there’s reason for the hesitation?  Why not just think that she automatically went for the cat, or start off by wondering what she would have done instead of come to the bunker?

His ears flatten and he raises a paw. I hiss before he gets a chance, which seems to annoy him a little, since he considers hissing his own personal sound of contempt.

STOP WRITING ABOUT CATS WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY WORK CAT BRAINS ARE NOT HUMAN BRAINS CAT REASONS ARE NOT HUMAN REASONS LEARN THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE.

“Probably a bunker missile,” says Prim, keeping her voice soothing for the cat’s sake. “We learned about them during the orientation for new citizens.

There continues to be no consequences for Katniss lazing her way through truancy, because every time she doesn’t know something, another character is on hand to (without judgment) give her the information she needs.  She never has to exert effort to do anything more than exactly what she wants, and she gets away with it all scot-free.

“It was a close call, though. Thank goodness Peeta had the wherewithal to warn us.”

The only way this was a close call is if D13 has no way of detecting incoming aircraft.  Everyone was down well before the first bomb hit.  Prim was the only one who “just” made it in time, but even then, she was down at bunker-level and well below the safe depth before the first bomb dropped.  It’s not the doors keeping them safe, it’s being so far underground, after all.

Then again, it would be in line with this book’s current stupidity to have no early-warning system during a war.

I’m glad to have time with my sister. My extreme preoccupation since I came here — no, since the first Games, really — has left little attention for her. I haven’t been watching over her the way I should, the way I used to. After all, it was Gale who checked our compartment, not me. Something to make up for.

Yeah, that’s true.  The whole book was kicked off by Katniss caring just so much for her little sister, and a lot of the supporters of the character use “how much she loves her sister” as a positive note.  “She may be willing to fuck over the rest of the world, but it’s all for Prim!”  And, honestly, if this were shown as a selfish act by an anti-hero, that might actually work.  If it was a case of “the whole world is crap, and as a result I’m just looking out for me and my own, even though that’s probably not the best decision, but I’m broken and this is the best I can do,” then fine.  But.  1) The book never presents this as a “bad” thing, but instead acts like selfishly protecting only your loved ones is the right answer and 2) Katniss goes give a shit about her sister after the first book.  She barely spends time with her, and when she does, it’s extremely Katniss-centric.  Even she admits that she’s basically been ignoring the girl this whole time.

And when she “makes up for” all this…she has a conversation that lasts for five exchanges before it goes back to Katniss.  Wow, I can just feel the love.

Episode of MASH you should watch instead: C*A*V*E