Seeing a fic featuring Foxface as one of the winners is fantastic. I love the interactions she has with Katniss as well as the fact they used the same means to survive as Katniss and Peeta. Just remembering Rue died still hurts but that's soothed over by the anger at Katniss having to see her die twice. I also have to appluad you for keeping Katniss in character so well. I could hear the lines in her voice and imagine her in the scenes. Overall, this is another fantastic story!

It's good but at the same time horribly dull and boring. I quite like how you changed the story up a little so that It was Foxface and Katniss who survives in the end. But I personally don't think Foxface's personality was like that. Though I did find it cute. Also there's just no amazing style of writing, just a dull list of over used vocabulary and openings. But Good Job on the plot!

Holy crap. This is amazing! I look forward to seeing more stories like this! :)

It was a interesting switch of endings that was really well written, as a fellow writer and reader I rather enjoyed it. Thank you for a wonderful story and I'm looking forward to other stories of equal interest.

This is how the book should have ended. Seriously, this was so good! I'd actually want to see more of it, see how it would continue for the rest of the trilogy. You've definitely got a skill for writing, I'll say that!

Hello there.

Unlike some of the other people reviewing, I really liked the use of animal-like descriptions with Foxface, because Katniss in the book very much refers to her animal-like and it sticks to the canon in this sense quite perfectly. The Katniss you write is different from canon though: yours is less self centered (which becomes plainly obvious with the interaction with the dogs, especially when she sees Peeta "reincarnated" and the mercy killing was quite nice).

The ending, for me, was rather refreshing - the way you wrote it made Katniss seem more rebellious and more selfless. The fact that she does it for someone she barely knew speaks volume, much better than how the book did it with the stupid love thing going on with Peeta. Not ending with them succeeding or failing is probably the best part about this piece too - it just concludes well for me. I also like how, in the end, Foxface had no idea there was a plan. That was just beautiful.

I like the interaction with Katniss and Foxface - especially since Foxface calls Katniss "Firegirl."

I didn't like how Katniss didn't feel anything when she saw Peeta. At the very least, she never really did thank him for the bread, which sort of makes it an incomplete arc (even if it is only made by the canon) since Katniss should feel some regret. Maybe even feel regret for thinking he was plotting against her when he had joined up with the careers, too, and she never got to pay him back for saving her life (if I remember correctly, he does this with that whole wasp escapade).

I also would have liked to see Katniss have more of an emotional reaction to the beasts too, besides when she almost drops her arrow at the sight of Peeta. Like, why didn't guilt come up? Especially when he saved her life, and did that favor with the bread that Katniss had felt guilty about since the beginning? I get he's a wolf but she must have felt something at seeing him again. If nothing else, it should have sparked some hatred towards the Capitol.

Then she mercy kills wolf-Rue. (The one with the brown eyes she shoots and it spasms and dies was Rue, right? Just checking.) I, again, would have liked to see some more emotional reaction to seeing Rue like that too. Like Peeta, if nothing else, it should have sparked some hatred towards the Capitol.

Overall, I liked this piece. You have a good command of English (which you don't see a lot of around here), and the characterization and the plot are developed quite nicely. For me, it didn't matter that it stuck to the original plot (in a sense of the wolves and the announcement and the berries), because the interaction with the berries and the new Katniss was refreshing and nice to read. It could have been better, though, especially on some of the things I pointed out, but it was done well overall.

Thanks for this! Hope you write more :)

Nice story. I wonder if there'll be more chapters. My one gripe: it should have been titled Firefox...

Dialogue is not written as "Hello," she said or "Hello!" she said, always "Hello." She said or "Hello." she said or "Hello," She said or "Hello" she said. The only exception to this is if the next sentence does contain a speech verb, in which case it's written as "Hello dumbbitch." farla grinned like an idiot, never "Hello," she grinned or "Hello," She grinned. Note that something is a speech verb just because it's a sound you make with your mouth, so generally stuff like laughed or giggled is not in any category. Furthermore, if you're breaking up two complete sentences it's "Hi," she said. "This is it." not "Hi," she said, "this is it." or "Hi," she said "this is it." or "Hi," she said "This is it." And if you're breaking up a sentence in the middle, it's "Hi. This," she said, "is it." Also, remember that generally "said" is the best speech verb to use, and even more importantly, "stated" is no*** yada yada yada. this is what you call a review, you fuckking cunt?

you cannot write a story for gods sake, why do you exist

I'm not done with chapter 2

Nice! I like this story! Gives a good, new perspective!

I think that, among all your stories, this might be one of the best. The characterization is spot-on and the way you describe everything is nice. The animal symbolism did go a little overboard, but it isn't something I couldn't overlook. It's interesting to see what would happen if you were to replace one character with the other.

Sucks

I know this story was uploaded back in 2011, but I wanted to leave a review anyway. Because this is really quite good! I like reading stories where a main character is swapped for one of the secondary characters. It's a bit more interesting when things actually play out differently based on that swap, but even though this ficlet ended in (presumably) the same note as the original Hunger Games did (minus all the romantic drama), the interaction sort of makes up for it. Besides, same-endings are a whole lot forgivable when it's one-shots, because what you want to focus on is the characterization and differences in interaction.

Anyhow, this is one of the first fics I read with a third-person point of view in present tense, and while it was a bit unusual (I think it might've been better to stick to Katniss's first-person POV, or just move to third-person past tense entirely), it wasn't jarring, and it's very readable.

On a bad note, I thought you went kind of overboard with the animal comparisons. I know the Hunger Games trilogy has a thing for comparing people to animals, which I always assumed was because Katniss was a hunter: she spends more time with and understands animals better than people, and she's always calling deduction and intelligence an "instinct". So Katniss compared people to animals often, but in the first half of this fic, it's really shoehorned in, and it's just awkward. I would complain that maybe Katniss shouldn't be calling the girl "Foxface" to her face, or at least not calling her hideout a "den" so boldly, either. But then, Katniss has always come off as pretty arrogant and self-centered, and she did confess to those camera-people that she thought of them as bugs of some sort in the third book.

Either way, sorry for the input, specially if it's unwelcome, but I kind of rant when I find a fic I like. Keep up the good work!

Part of the Chapter Review Exchange.
I think it's a cool idea and I'd like you to check out my story Checkmate.

This was a great. It's a pleasure to read because there are no structural mistakes and the characters are very well portrayed.

Katniss is prejudiced in the books, so it's great to see her use that hate she has for Careers to good effect and as a plot driving force. For once Katniss really acts instead of just surviving what's thrown at her. I also liked that she seriously debated killing more than once, especially killing Foxface.

Foxface is younger than what is usually portrayed and it adds to her vulnerability. Like in canon she's quick to accept a painless death (oh, I'm supposing here she knew about nightlock in canon and committed suicide. I just remembered she doesn't know about it here. I liked the short but vivid facts on District 5 btw. Doesn't matter, I still liked the end). She's true to her observant and skittish nature. I loved that they never exchanged names and stayed suspicious of each other.
The pacing was great, not that Katniss has ever been very introspective anyway, but the balance between dialog and action was very good. None of the action was confusing, which is actually pretty rare in fics.

Making Cato last for hours was gruesome and I was surprised he lasted that long. I suppose you wanted to show that mutts weren't programmed to kill quickly? I found making Rue's mutt the main antagonist wolf a nice touch.

Katniss' reaction to the mutts was a little mild, just like at the deaths, but she's never been emotionally very expansive either and I prefer this to two chapters of wailing and angst. Also, her mildness makes you able to use some rather horrid imaging ("the bloody meat of his body moves") without making such a big deal about it. I like it.

I was surprised and very pleased at the ends when she says she hates everyone. At last a bit of passion from her! And it fits that she still expected some fair-play from the Capitol (just like she expected 'Rue' to have a go at her and not at Foxface).

The line 'she killed for them' (referring to the Capitol) made me roll my eyes. No. She killed for herself, for Prim and for her other loved ones. But I guess such thoughts are IC...

I also liked that you justify her knowledge (her mother is a healer, her father showed her plants...) because it reminds us where she comes from and makes it more real.

The only sentence I found a little jarring to read was
"There's perhaps two dozen, more than she has arrows"
and a typo: 'hates the Capital '. so many people write Capital instead of Capitol, it's like mispelled spells in Harry Potter, it's annoying.

So yes, a well written and well thought out piece. Thanks for sharing

Characterisation is what I like about this story the most. Katniss's arrogance (such as "because she's not a fool" or ""You need to purify the water to be safe," Katniss chastises") and somewhat sociopathic look on Foxface (referring to where she sleeps as a den, and constantly comparing her to foxes with her other things like her physical appearance and movement) is very obedient. Foxface, while pretty much being an original character, is also very believable from the little we see of her in the canon book, like her quietness and powerlessness in the open.

I really don't understand why you used third person, though. I mean, it doesn't dampen the emotional response that much (I especially liked the "Katniss thought she hated Cato" paragraph), but it didn't make much sense to use the effort to change it from canon. To heighten tension that Katniss might die? Well, I didn't expect it at all. One effect I do see, though, is making readers realise Katniss's arrogance more, which actually is quite effective, although it isn't that major. But I still think it would be a better move to keep the tone the same, because it's more faithful to the original and readers would be more likely to relate to it and make comparisons with the original.

One thing I didn't like though, was the inaccurate portrayals of canon. I mean, the character stuff is done very well, but the "blah blah two tributes can survive blah blah" included something along the lines of "same district" in the original. Of course, that would completely ruin the premise of your story, but you could have simply cut out the first three paragraphs and this problem would probably not be noticed by any reader. Also, there's some other stuff like District 5's industry being metal when in fact it isn't.

Another thing that I thought was unnecessary (though not disliked) is the reference to realism. I mean, yes, there is the smell of shit when someone dies, but you seemed to put it there just for the purpose of showing that your story is realistic rather than for any plot or character reasoning. Technically the same goes for purifying water but that shows Katniss's arrogance so it's not exactly unnecessary.

All in all, excellent story. Sympathetic and realistic characters facing a dramatic situation. The ending (it's not really ambiguous, since we know the Capitol will conform to Katniss's plan) is also very powerful, and shows how the two characters have bonded in such a short timespan.