** spoiler alert ** 
 This one is tough to review. Hunger Games meets...the Hunger Games... combined with...maybe...Blood Red Road? And zombies. Underground. I'm reaching here. 
 I loved the hell out of the first half of this book, the underground world and it's hypocrisy and lies, the dynamic between Deuce and Fade, the action sequences. Fade and Deuce built a steady romance that I thought was going somewhere awesome in a well paced, well thought out way. Everything's great and I'm pouring through this book fifty pages at a time, and suddenly, they go topside. 
 This is where the book lost me. I liked the world topside, how dark and equally threatening it was. There were some really intense, scary suspenseful scenes of these Gangs and their violence and depravity. The Freaks were horrifying zombies. I am so glad it did not take the "biting infects you" route where someone in our foursome gets bit and has to bite the dust in return. Zombie fiction really needs to understand we've seen it all before. 
 Here is my problem; anyone who is introduced to me in real life or in media who has raped before, I can not see as likable. Especially under the circumstances of how Stalker behaves towards women. I found him disgusting, and a great villain. Until the author decided he wasn't a villain anymore, he was shoved into a love triangle. No. 
 I can understand that the point of their survival was for them to get over their shit (poor, poor Tegan). I get it. Priorities. But a love interest? Deuce is actually attracted to a rapist who was going to sexually assault and murder her a few dozen pages beforehand. I don't care if he came around and tried to redeem himself. No. You do not let someone like that get close to you that way. And one of his victims is traveling with them, who has been raped countless times by his lackeys and suffered two miscarriages. And she is described by Stalker and the narrator as WEAK for not fighting back. They judge her for getting raped. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, hold on. I need like, four drinks until I feel safe enough to talk about this. VICTIM BLAMING. IS NOT. AT ALL. OKAY. EVER. 
 This book lost a star for handling rape like a republican politician. Oh come on, let me have that one dig. 
 Also he gives her the nickname "Dove" because doves can't fight back, they only run away from danger. 
 ... 
 .... 
 .... 
 Deuce, run for it. Actually. You're next. 
 So the love triangle was incredibly forced. The entire jealousy subplot would be resolved in twelve seconds of "Wait, you don't like Tegan, you like me? Okay, I like you, not Stalker. Glad we sorted this out." Instead we have moping that gets us no where. This is the points in the Hunger Games that really fell apart for me, and the worst of the love triangle in Catching Fire is in every moment of the latter half of this book. 
 Which makes me sad, because Deuce and Fade are characters who share a lot of chemistry and room for some serious interesting growth (who also have ridiculous names). I mean, the narrator even says, "I miss when it was me and Fade against the world." She should. That was the high point of this book. Them growing together, learning to trust and respect and need each other. Then it's like they're too lazy to like each other anymore. 
 All that said, read this book. The rapist stuff will continue to drive me crazy, but I'm eager to get my hands on the next installment. The lead female is a badass fighter with all the emotional density of Katniss Everdeen, blessings and curses. This book started out SO GOOD with all this potential and I feel like the relationships just lost me. Deuce and Fade could have fueled ten books. The author should have stuck with the good thing she had going for her. But still, I recommend this book despite it's moments of weakness, and I actually can't wait to see where it goes. Don't make me regret this.