Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

Great book!

I loved the first two books, but this one came off as a bit of a disappiontment. Some of the early battle scenes seemed like unnecessary filler. Worse was the way it seemed extraordinarily bloody. I don't mind gore, but it seemed like (literally) almost ever single character had to die. And the end with the assassination was a bit convoluted, or at least underexplained.

Who knew The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins could cause so much trouble. According to the ALA, the dystopian trilogy has been labeled by some as anti-ethnic, anti-family, insensitive and satanic all while being peppered with offensive language and the too frequent scene of violence. I don’t see any truth to these claims except for the fact that, yeah, 22 kids are killed in the first book alone. So you got us on violence.

And it’s that violence that I want to focus on specifically for "Mockingjay," the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy. As you all probably know, the third book has no Hunger Games and instead focuses on Katniss and friends waging war against the Capitol to finally overthrow the sadistic turds who started the Games in the first place.

I understand and appreciate the need for this civilian-led rebellion, and this seems like a logical conclusion to the series. This highlights the heartache the Hunger Games have caused and the perverseness of the Capitol citizens who loved to watch them as much as we love to watch the Kardashians (maybe I’m using the term “we” loosely, but I sure love those ladies!). In short, I don’t think we have to worry about each state sending out a couple of tributes anytime soon, and if they do, I'm sure it will end in rebellion as "Mockingjay" does.

MAJOR SPOILERS!

Where to start?

I've sat for so long trying to answer that question. And I suppose there isn't really anyway to truly answer it well. So much happened, so many feelings altered, in fact right now it seems almost wrong to enjoy the book, wrong to have longed to read it so much. Wrong to have been so fixated on the love triangle. All of that is gone now. I don't care about it at all. What truly resonates in my mind is sacrifice. So many people died for Katniss, but not really for her, for what she represented, as the Mockingjay, the freedom and peace they all so longed for.

Finnick really stood out to me in this book, the pain he went through daily when Annie was captured by the Capitol, the joy he found when she was saved and they married. And the sacrifice he made, knowing she wouldn't get on well without him, and still giving his life so Katniss could make it to the President's home to kill Snow.

Prim. Even as I think of her I can feel tears forming in my eyes. My heart yearns for it to have been a mistake in the book, for her to still be alive and laughing. When Buttercup came back I had to stop reading and just cry, this was worse than when Rue died.

Peeta, his transformation was absolute. And terrible. I was so thrilled when I heard he had been brought back from the Capitol safely, then shocked when he tried to kill Katniss, and horrified when I learned what President Snow had done to him. Sweet, loving, wonderful Peeta. It was so hard to keep reading, but it got better as he slowly, recuperated and began trusting Katniss again, and Katniss him.

Gale is hard for me, I can't decide if I hate him, or love him. On one hand he did help Katniss through many hard times. But as she realized, he was motivated with hate and anger, and many times felt that killing innocent people was all right, as long as they were on the Capitol's side. And with his hand in Prim's death, and his abandonment of Katniss, I can't really appreciate him as I once did.

Haymitch is the one character that I never stopped liking. He brought humor, and a fatherly figure to Katniss. I was touched when they were facing up to the fact that they had both failed at their vow to protect Peeta.

Cinna, I still can't believe he is dead. It can't be...I so wanted him to live, but though I hated to admit it to myself, I knew he would die. Yet I still can't accept it. Though I am glad that his memory lived on in the amazing Mockingjay costumes for Katniss, even though it often tricked me into thinking he could be alive.

District 8 Bombing. I was crying and had chills during that whole chapter. The fact that so many innocent people died, combined with Katniss's rallying speech made that chapter unforgettable, probably one of my favorites in the whole book. It was the first time I really wanted her working for the rebels.

Speaking of which. I don't like most of them. I think they went about the revolution in the wrong way. Though I understand why they did it. Though I hate to admit it. I think they needed Peeta, not Katniss. To be their Mockingjay, maybe things would have turned out differently, not so tragic. Even so, I did not like the television promos when they were at the Capitol. It seemed to much like the Hunger Games, the very thing they were supposedly fighting against!

As for the Hunger Games, I did not like that either. In fact it made me quite angry that Katniss voted for them to have one last Hunger Games. After all her thoughts and words on how wrong it was to kill innocent, people. Or even guilty people who had truly reformed or hadn't understood what they were doing. And her anger at the Capitol for the Games and she still voted for them. If they really wanted to show the people of Panem that they were going to be different from the former government, the first thing they should have done was banned the games forever. I still can't believe they allowed one more to be enacted.

Katniss.....not quite sure about her. I felt for her, admired her, hated her, mourned with her, and understood her thinking(most of the time). But I can't decide if the good things she has done outweighed the bad. I suppose she can't decide that herself either, which raises her a bit in my opinion, still I think I'll with that I loved and hated her.

I should have known this book wouldn't be what I expected. The first book wasn't, and neither was the second, so why would this be any different. I still liked it, but as I said earlier, I don't feel that it is right to love it, that being said, I thought it was a perfect end for the series. I didn't think it would be possible and at some points I had completely given up at even a semblance of a happy ending, yet Suzanne Collins succeeded in giving me the perfect ending. Bittersweet, poignant, and a bit happy.

I inhaled Mockingjay in one day. And while I wasn't as satisfied with the conclusion as I wanted to be (I was really hoping Katniss would step up and start being a decision maker far earlier than she did, and I wasn't sold on her ending up with the boy she chooses), it was as action-packed and heartbreaking as I'd come to expect from Ms. Collins. I highly recommend the entire series.

Reader reviewed by Josh

The stunning conclusion to The Hunger Games trilogy was finally released on August 24, 2010. Anyone who had read the first two books was as eager as me to get their hands on the book. After reading this amazing book I was devasted that the fire had finally been put out and the series had finally come to an end. The story follows the character Katniss Everdeen, who in the first two books had been to the Hunger Games twice and won both times, each by pulling a wild stunt that the Capital didnt like. Now Katniss finds herself in District 13, which was thought to have been wiped out during the Dark Days, and in the middle of a war between the Capital and the Districts. Having sparked the war by defying the Capital in the Hunger Games, she is chosen to be the leader of the district rebels. She reluctently agrees. Still heartbroken over the fact that her friend and so-called lover Peeta is in the hands of the capital, a rescue team is sent and they retrieve him. It turns out that his mental state is unsecure, and they find out that he had been subjected to a sort of brainwashing torture done by the Capital, and he now hates Katniss. They make progress though, and in the end when they launch their final attack on the Capital, he arrives there to be on Katnisss team. After a freak accident leaves two members of her team dead, she decides to lead the rest on a false mission to assassinate the President. In the end, she fails but the President is captured and is to be executed by Katniss, who in turn instead kills the President of District 13 for causing the death of her sister. At the end, she is forced to choose between Peeta and Gale, and she chooses Peeta. In my opinion, the book was amazing. Katniss is a character with depth, and her strong, brave personality shines throughout the series even in her darkest times. Though she hates to admit it, she has leadership qualities. Her reactions to events are just like a normal person would react, not overly stressed like in other books. I liked the book because the author didnt hold back to make it less intense for the younger readers, she exposed the raw terror and violence. Though the book felt a little rushed with lots of things happening in a short period of time, it was really good. Suzanne Collins ends this series with a bang, and any reader will be left thinking for hours after they have finished they book. Throughout the book Katniss demonstrates extreme acts of love, courage, and strength.

 

Reader reviewed by Kelsey

When Mockingjay FINALLY got to me at the library, I was so excited!! The last book of the Hunger Games
trilogy! What will happen next?? Who will Katniss end up with?? How
will they defeat the Capitol?? I couldn't wait to delve into the world
of Panem, no matter how depressing it is.

I can't saw I LOVED it. In my opinion, the first two were definitely better. I don't know if it was just me, but Mockingjay
moves a bit slower than the others (except for the last hundred pages,
when there's some strong action). There's still surprises and twists
that I could never expect to happen, but it just didn't reach the
magnitude I thought it was going to be.

I didn't like the ending...*SPOILER* What
happened to Gale? Why doesn't Collins tell us the whole story. I
actually wanted her to end up with Gale, and I don't really know why she
didn't. I guess their strong connection since childhood and all the
time they spent together is no match for what Katniss only thinks might have happened (that Gale blew up her sister). *END OF SPOILER* The way it ended, there could be another book(s) after, but I kind of doubt the author will write more.

And
I couldn't be more excited about the movie that's coming out based on
the books (or is it just based on the first one?). Suzanne Collins is
writing the screenplay, so it shouldn't be totally botched. I think
it'll make a great movie though, because there's so much physical action
and visual stuff that's going on. It would be awesome to see it on the
big screen!

Reader reviewed by alicia t.

Suzanne Collins has done it again, entwining the deepest and darkest
feels of life into our every day, if not more so, modern world. There
are few words that can describe the heavy heart I felt as I flipped that
final black page. A stinging pain of loss, and yet the small hope of a
rejuvenating world safely tucked between a hardbound cover.

Very
quick paced, if not one of the most precise and developed plots I've
ever read. Page 1 picks right up from District 12's ruins, and whisks
Katniss Everdeen away into a foreign civilization. District 13.
Comprised of its own laws and structured leadership, we soon learn that
mental trauma, paranoia, pain, and psychological dramatization are
nothing shy of common colds. For our seemingly fearless Mockingjay
leader, it's just too much. Collins illustrates the most violent deaths,
being consumed by mutants, and describes the Capitol's unhinging
torture vividly. One by one, people of the rebellious cause die. It's
the Hunger Games on a mass-effective scale. The creators are now
players, and perhaps Katniss discovers, that though she is the face of
revolution, she's nothing more than an expendable puppet; as she's
always been.

As a reader, I felt part of me was pulled into the
rebellion, alongside Katniss. We start off knowing nothing of the
Capitol, and one by one the truths and treachery are exposed. Katniss
Everdeen has paid the ultimate price for this rebellion, as the book's
synopsis hints, and I could feel myself "dying" with each character that
parted. In a way, I felt myself experiencing Katniss's distress as
Collin's words spin such a painful void into the reader's heart, as we
struggle through Katniss's suicidal contemplation. Nothing, for her, is
more painful than being physically alive but emotionally empty. We see
new faces of returning characters, one in particular being Finnick Odair
of District 4. The Capitol's favorite victor and drop-dead gorgeous
hearthrob. He always seemed so strong, so capable and clearheaded, and
yet in this book he's completely unhinged and slipping into his own
state of emptiness. Revealing himself as a "sex symbol" was just as
painful to read as the flashback Katniss depicts as she watches him
being torn apart. Finnick does go about, however, striking a few
provocative poses to lighten the atmosphere, and his wedding to Annie
Cresta is nothing but warming in this fictional world where very few
things bring comfort.

However, I felt that this book lacked an
"Ultimate Climax" of sorts. From beginning to end it was jam-packed with
technical and military-related events that left very little time for
all the information to sink in. Although Collins depicts each setting
down to the atmosphere, I felt it was hard to fully keep up with all the
location changes and explosive destruction. Right when you start
getting comfortable with one setting, it blows up. They're constantly on
the move and so many new faces and locations pop up, it's nearly
impossible to keep a clear tab on where they are, exactly.

Katniss
ends up with Peeta. Surprise? I think not. It's been fairly
predictable, and although I have to admit I was leaning more towards
Gale, I could not picture Collins forsaking every girl's favorite bread
boy. There has been very little room for romance in this speed-rap of a
novel, but towards the last few pages Katniss's satisfying choice
concluded the trilogy. I'd have to say Finnick and Annie have been this
story's highlighted relationship. It depicts starcrossed lovers, in its
own way. The mad girl from District 4 and the most gorgoues man who
loves her unconditionally. Warm, fuzzy, but like everything else, filled
with loss and pain.

In the end, I'd give this conclusion a 4/5. A
bit too fast paced for my taste, although some readers might disagree
because it's the amazing speed that keeps them hooked. This conclusion
was not as romantically-oriented, although I did love the bit where Gale
and Peeta had their little "man to man" talk in Tigris's basement as to
who Katniss would choose. I find it even more spectacular however, than
this explosive political rebellion of a story, sprouted from one single
event. The berries. Unforgettable, inspirational, and yet stripped down
to the rawest emotional pain, there could not have been a more
appropriate way to end the story of The Girl on Fire.