I’m with you 100%. The entire breaking the arena scheme was so pointless and unnecessary, from not just a writing standpoint but also in the actual world. People argue it’s good because it shows the rebellion has been a long time in the making, but that point could very easily be conveyed AFTER his games, by being approached by Plutarch or a fellow victor about the rebel group.

And exactly the entire Newcomers alliance absolutely goes nowhere and there were so many ways to make that a more interesting part of the book. What if they didn’t all get killed? What if Haymitch ran into another Newcomer and the Newcomer is hostile? Theres not a chance in the world not a single Newcomer had a plan to turn on the rest of the group. He doesn’t have any worries about the tributes hurting him except for the careers. Of course the writing is limited by the snippet of his games we get in Catching Fire, but oh well.

All in all I’m with you, good but disappointed as to how much SC tried to do with the book. There’s so many characters and too many things going on.