This book felt so much more mature than the second. I couldn't get into the first one on my first attempt, but I enjoyed the movie so I gave the second book a chance. I really enjoyed it, but in a different way than I enjoyed Mockingjay. Mockingjay is mature, and it doesn't pander. It doesn't simply go from action sequence to action sequence with obvious lines drawn between good and evil. The heroes don't immediately recover from their ordeals, and deal with very realistic post-traumatic stress. The story is well-crafted and the world-building was very strong. The one part of the book that wasn't great was that there was a tendency towards telegraphing major moments. I could tell by a heavy tone, that the opposite action of that tone was about to occur (for example, if they were describing how beautiful a flower was all of a sudden, I could tell it was about to be trampled). This is my only real complaint and wasn't a strong enough factor to slow my pace, which was very quick.
Review by davadog13 (LibraryThing), November 21, 2013 Collins finishes her trilogy with a book that covers the horror of war. I am pleased that this book is brutal and leaves the victors mentally scarred: I was fearful of a sickly saccharine finale. I was disappointed with the characters- they lacked depth and I struggled to empathize with them.
Review by martensgirl (LibraryThing), November 18, 2013 The final book of the Hunger Games Trilogy, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins puts Katness in the camp of the rebels as their rallying point. Katness can't trust anyone but she has one goal and that is to kill President Snow. I actually liked the third book better than some of the reviews I had read. I did begin to wonder what I would feel about my young person reading this book. There was a lot of content that had opinions and I would encourage a parent to read this before their child and really consider whether it supports values that you want your child to endorse.
Review by Kristelh (LibraryThing), November 16, 2013 Wow - surprise! I gotta say I wasn't expecting this end, especially with all of the options that were offered up in The Hunger Games.
Review by donhazelwood (LibraryThing), November 15, 2013 The characters keep up the tension in this third book, traveling through the Capitol, still umsure of the loyalties. It was again a great read. Even more powerful was the ending. The last stand to do the right thing... the constant sifting of self doubt and feelings. These characters are so real, in this strange futuristic world. Is it so improbable that this could actually happen? I think the characters have a good ending...realistic for all they have been through together. There is a feeling of hope for the future, but not quite the Disney version. The characters all hold a place in my heart. This is a trilogy I plan to read again.
Review by ElisabethZguta (LibraryThing), November 7, 2013 I read this book to finish the series, and I'm glad I did. It answered all my questions and for that I enjoyed it. That being said, it was definitely the weakest of the three books. I thought the ending was nice, but almost too neat. I was not left wanting more from this trilogy, nor was I sad that it was over.
Review by AmeKole (LibraryThing), November 6, 2013 I enjoyed this whole series. it makes you really want to know what happens next and you cant wait to get to the next book.
Review by twokidsnablanket (LibraryThing), November 2, 2013 In the book "Mockingjay" Suzanne Collins explains the ending to the story of the hunger games. In "Mockingjay" Katniss Finds out about district thirteen and it's secret rebellion. Katniss goes to district thirteen and reunites with her family and Gale, but Peeta is left in the capital. Katniss and the rebellion work to get citizens from each district to rebellion against the capital. While that took place the capital made videos of Peeta and made hims say things to turn Katniss to the capital's side. One day Katniss watches one of the videos and Peeta blurts out that the capital is gonna attack. After he says that Peeta get hurt for giving away the capital's plans. Then the rebels go and break Peeta out of the capital.It turns out Peeta's memories have been messed up by the capital and now Peeta is scared and hates Katniss. After a few days of treatment Peeta isn't scared but dangerous because he tried to kill Katniss. The rebellion plans on sneaking into the capital and killing President Snow. Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and others go on the mission and it takes a long time. Peeta regains his memory along the trip. A lot died on the way. The leader of the rebellion took over as president, she wanted to have a finale hunger games. Katniss wanted to be the one to kill President Snow for all he has done, but when it was time for her to shoot him she purposely shot the leader of the rebellion because she killed her little sister Prim. Katniss goes back to district twelve and lives out the rest of her life with Peeta and they have children. That ends the series of the hunger games. I give this book 4 stars 1/2 because I liked how all my question where finally answered in the book. I wasn't left wondering what happened. In my opinion "Mockingjay" wasn't better than the first or second but it was still a really good part of the series. I was sad the story ended and it was very tragic. I really liked how I could understand the story better because the whole plot unraveled and it was easier to read. I found the series really exciting and I could really imagine everything because the descriptive words that were in it. I liked the book but it was really tragic and it didn't end as happily. I am sad the series ended but really enjoyed reading the books.
Review by AlyssaF.B1 (LibraryThing), October 24, 2013 This one let me down. I'm glad I read it so that I could finish the series, but I feel like Collins got bored with her characters. I wonder if she was under pressure from her agent or editor. Not sure. I felt like characterization took an odd turn for Katniss and that a lot of deaths were swept under the rug. This series could have easily been carried for a few more books, but instead it was ended abruptly, in an unsatisfying manner, and with too much exposition towards the end. Don't read any further if you don't want to see SPOILERS: glazing over Finnick and Prim's deaths, as well as suddenly just making Peeta's hijacking fade away (apparently it wasn't such a big issue?), Gale just wandering off to district 2 leaving Peeta and Katniss to themselves, and the wrap-up at the end with again, TOO MUCH EXPOSITION. It's too convenient that in the end of book 2 and 3, Katniss passes out or is in the hospital and someone has to tell her, and the reader, what happened. Boo on you, Collins. Was there a page count issue that warranted this odd wrap-up? I don't know. This was the second time I felt like Collins was rushing (in book 2 and this one). sigh. Still glad I read it, but this one left me feeling unfulfilled and bummed. If I was Collins' editor I would have a few words to say. Anyone else feel this way or am I alone?
Review by Caitdub (LibraryThing), October 24, 2013 What a complete mess this book is -- a first-draft outline for a better book.
Review by flexatone (LibraryThing), October 22, 2013 A satisfying end to the trilogy. The third book turns the first two on their ear; in the first two books, Katniss was a killer in an artificially lethal situation. I the third book, she is an artificial soldier waging a war in propaganda in a truly lethal situation. I thought a lot about negative reviews I had read here as I read through the book and I must say I disagree with them. Katniss remained true to herself-- she is concerned with her own survival and that of her family and friends. She remains apolitical and does not see much difference between the Capital and the rebels. I'm not sure what it was that readers wanted who were incensed that Katniss was "used" by the rebels. Was she to go all Braveheart; gather her own considerable influence, denounce both sides and become the leader of the other districts against district 13 and the rebels? She never had that in her; she never has the conviction or fire-- that belonged to Gale. Katniss doesn't have the skills or the infrastructure to wage her own rebellion, even if she had the conviction. I will say that I was never much invested in the love triangle, but hell, I'm a 47 year old woman and not a YA reader. Katniss' final choice makes logical sense to me. I think Gale sees her clearly when he says that she will make the choice that will help her survive, and by the end of the war, her ability to survive and to experience many basic kinds of pleasure and fulfillment are at stake. She makes the logical choice. I don't see the ending as a Harry Potter happily ever after-- Katniss has a life, and life goes on. Children play, oblivious that their pretty meadow is a mass grave. Katniss thinks about how children can be mindful of the horrors of the past in a way to make them strong, not fearful. A happy end for Katniss of compromise-- the only thing she is capable of. A good end to an excellent trilogy. I highly recommend it.
Review by leduck (LibraryThing), October 19, 2013 I read Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Mockingjay is the last book in the Hunger Games series. I really enjoyed reading Mockingjay and the whole series. It was filled with action and great detail. It was really easy to picture what was going on, and how the characters felt. I liked that all the characters had very different personalities and they were all very unique. My favorite part about the series was that, their world was so different from everything else and that you could escape from your everyday life. I would highly suggest that you read Mockingjay or the series if you haven't already
Review by br14most (LibraryThing), October 17, 2013 As much as it pains me to say this I can't pretend that Mockingjay was anything but a big disappointment. It missed that tension and sharp focus that the Hunger Games brought to the previous books. This last installment just seemed to wander along with a broken Katniss and callous treatment of beloved characters. The rushed ending was the most unforgivable part of this book. Mockingjay wasn't terrible. I just expected so much better.
Review by diovival (LibraryThing), October 14, 2013 Such a good series. I was hesitant to read it, but i am so happy that I did.
Review by Talaskat (LibraryThing), October 8, 2013 As whole, I LOVED the series, but this was my least favorite book of the three. It did wrap up the series well but I just didn't like the changes to Katniss and Peeta in this book.
Review by susan.h.schofield (LibraryThing), October 7, 2013 I liked it, but did not find it as strong as the first two in the series.
Review by ChuckS65 (LibraryThing), October 7, 2013 SPOILERS Hm. I have to admit, I still don't know what to think about it. It definitely hit one of my major pet peeves, that in a series (book or tv) somehow things always have to become more brutal, more horrible, with more deaths and more action... and I almost always think it's a mistake. This book was definitely too gratuitously brutal for me. And this doesn't come from a "won't someone thing of the children?" place, just for me personally - I got bored with the gore. Like in 2, I still wish it was written in 3rd person, but I didn't hate it as much as the first part of Catching Fire. And yeah, I love how Collins tried to remedy a lot of stuff that fiction overlooks a lot - like ptsd after horrible stuff. But there was just too much of it - why did everything have to be so horrible? Why? I also have this weird icky feeling that... in the first book I understood the metaphor and I liked it - but in the third, I got that weird feeling as though, in the end, even the rampant capitalism of the capital is less horrific than the leader of the somewhat socialist district 13... and yeah. Eh. I don't know - again, this is not a very coherent review. I liked it okay but I wasn't blown away and got very bored of the constant action interspersed with moody katniss first pov. Unlike a lot of people I talked to about it, I did feel the genuine connection between Katniss and Peeta throughout the series and I liked the ending. I felt like that makes sense - that they could only be together after Katniss starts her own grieving process and, yes, it makes total sense to me that it was brought on by a cat. I am the kind of person myself, who can't really talk about the big things with people until I have figured them out for myself and I liked that about the ending, liked that these two hurt and broken people are gently trying to heal each other. But yeah, I really wish the book had a different focus and the plot had gone differently because yeah - those pods in the capital? I mean seriously? "Oh hai, people, we have to build a giant trapfall in your street, no no, don't worry it's not dangerous." It just felt so odd to me, all of those defenses AND the way Katniss got through them. Also seriously, I understand killing off Prim, that made sense for the series -- but Finnick?! What did he ever do? *grrr* I loved Finnick and he deserved a time after the war, goddamnit! ;)
Review by Laila_Blake (LibraryThing), October 1, 2013 The Mockingjay to me was a great book but this is a summary of some of the pros and cons, and a quick summary of the book. The book starts out kind of slow, leaving very little suspense after each chapter. Then when the story gets toward the middle of the book the action happens. The book ends in many questions like, what is going to happen after that or what happens to Katniss (the protagonist). The book's main flaws were that in the beginning the author was trying to make up for all the questions for the book before, which made up a third of the book, making the book start out slow. My favorites of the book were the plots and secrets of each character. The Summary: The book first starts out with Katniss visiting her old home in district 12. In the book before, the enemies from the Capitol of Panem, drop fire bombs on the district. Katniss then goes back to her new district of 13. District 13 is the main rebellion head quarters. At this point this is where the boring and slow part of the story takes place. In district 13 Katniss meats up with old friends. Katniss makes a deal with district thirteen's president, Coin. Coin and Katniss make a deal that when the war ends Katniss gets to kill the President Snow of the capitol and give immunity to selected victors of the Hunger Games. Katniss is then the symbol of the rebellion and tries to represent the rebellion fight for morale. Katniss is then sent to district 8 with her childhood friend Gale, Soldier Boggs, and the insects which are her camera crew. Katniss then fights the Capitol planes and makes the first stand against the Capitol. After they come back to district 13 talking about their success. They figure out that Peeta a boy who won the Hunger Games with Katniss in the first boook, Is now being tortured live. Peeta secretly tells district 13 a secret message, saying that the capitol is going to bomb district 13. Distric 13 is saved from the bombs thanks to Peeta. Katniss goes through some dramatic stress about Peeta and says she can't do this anymore. Haymitch tells her to get it together, so she goes on. District thirteen's leaders send out a rescue team for Peeta and the other victors. District 13 rescues Peeta. Peeta has been tortured by the Capitol so much he has lost recollection of his memories. The Capitol used a method called hijack which involves using venom to make him remember only bad memories of people, these memories are focused on Katniss. Katniss is scared for Peeta and wonders what can she do for him. The next mission for Katniss and the rebellion is to go to district 2. District 2 is the last district not to join the rebellion. District 2 supplies the Capitol with soldiers and the rebellion sends troops to attack a highly influenced Capitol base called the Nut. The rebellion attacks the Nut with a plan created from Gale, the plan is to blow up part of the mountain causing a land slide. This flushes the people out into the last exit. That's where Katniss comes in, she is there and sees a district 2 villager injured with a gun. The man asks her why shouldn't he kill her. Katniss says there isn't a reason you shouldn't. The man drops the gun, but someone else shoots her. Katniss is then sent to district 13 and is badly wounded at the spline. Katniss later shares a room with Johanna another victor. Katniss and Johanna do some military training for the war. Once Katniss recovers she is sent on another mission with Gale,Boggs, Leeg 1,Leeg2,Cressida,Finnick,Homes,Mesalla, Mitchell,Castor,Pollux and Jackson are on the team. This team is known as Star Squad. Once they are there at the mission checkpoint they search around for pods which are traps.They look for these pods with a certain device called a Holo. Leeg 2 later steps on a pod and blows up. Peeta is then sent to replace her, the whole Star Squad is shocked about his arrival and Boggs is mad at President Coin for doing this. As they are filming Katniss, Boggs steps on a pod and blows up. Before Boggs dies he transfers the Holo to Katniss. As the squad runs from the trapped area Peeta goes crazy and tries to attack Katniss. Mitchel then tries to help Katniss but Peeta throws Mitchel into a pod and Mitchel dies. They all then try to make camp in an old apartment. The group decides they should try to assassinate President Snow. As they go down into the underground to go to the Capitol, they make camp again. The group hears howling of mutts and Leeg 1 and Jackson stay to hold them off, they die. As the squad runs Mesalla is melted by a pod. The group continues to run and Homes and Castor are torn by the mutts. The remaining squad climbs a ladder up to the Capitol, but Finnick is caught and killed by the mutts. Cressida an former resident of the Capitol leads the squad to an old friends house. The friend of Cressida named Tigris shelters them. Katniss and Gale go out to assassinate Snow but then as they walk through a crowd of refugees, they see them gunned down by the rebels. Gale is captured and Katniss is in front of Snow's mansion. Fire bombs drop on a shelter full of children and Primm, Katniss's sister is blown up by the second bombs. The mutts followed Katniss and they are all set on fire, with Katniss being ripped by the fire mutts. Katniss wakes up in a hospital with major injuries. The rebels won the war with the capture of President Snow. With President Coin as the new leader of the Region of Panem. As Coin says her speech she is then shot by Katniss's bow. Katniss tries to kill her self with poison but the rebels caught her and detained her. The story ends with Katniss talking to Petta, Peeta asks do you love me real or not, Katniss says real. The end.
Review by JaredT.B1 (LibraryThing), September 30, 2013 I thought Collins did a fantastic job wrapping up The Hunger Games series with The Mockingjay. I was so glad that she decided to show the brutality of war and how there are consequences for decisions made. She understood that this rebellion couldn't be tied up into a neat little bow and everyone would live happily ever after. Katniss, Peeta, Johanna, Finnick, Haymitch etc... were damaged and would never be completely whole again. They had to grow up to fast and it wasn't fair. The Mockingjay felt so realistic and plausible and I'm relieved that Collins wasn't afraid to kill off main characters. Finally, I was always sort of pulling for Gale and Katniss ending up together. However, Collins also did a great job showing that Gale and Katniss are to similar and the rage and hate between them would have torn them apart. The Peeta's compassion is what Katniss needed and I'm glad they were able to heal together. This book was thought provoking and left me reeling long after I read the final word. It leaves so much for us to dwell on.
Review by megmo07 (LibraryThing), September 27, 2013 I'm traumatized from these books. Seriously good but very traumatizing.
Review by MerryMeerkat (LibraryThing), September 26, 2013 The storyline wasn't the disappointment as much as it was the writing style. It seemed like a totally different person wrote this. With half sentences. Like this. It started getting really annoying and I found it hard to ignore. I also found that I got more disconnected with Katniss as the book went on, as she just seemed completely devoid of emotion. The plot itself was fine and exciting, but the quality of the book in general was a little bit of a disappointment and doesn't stand up to the other two.
Review by jacquiemak (LibraryThing), September 22, 2013 Ever read a sequel to a book you loved only to find that said sequel was not simply disappointing, but was so naive that it caused you to go back and reevaluate the original book? That was Mockingjay (and, to a lesser extent, Catching Fire), for me. Let me be clear: it's not a bad book; I just found it very disappointing and it caused me to question whether the brilliant insights I saw in the first book were really there at all. I loved the character of Katniss in the first book: resourceful, determined, and ruthless, but not devoid of empathy or compassion. Although I found it difficult to read, I understood her evolution into the cold, calculating murderess of Catching Fire. But where did this fainting, fluttering, wingeing, whining weakling spring from? Katniss, the girl who earned her fame by defying the Capitol, literally spends half of the book in a state of semi-comatose self-pity. Most of the rest is spent in heartsick romantic yearning. And since I never saw a love triangle here at all (I thought it was patently obvious), I found the romantic agonies mindnumbingly dull.hover for spoiler Part of Katniss's strength and power as a character in The Hunger Games came from her simultaneous manipulation and defiance of the audience. The portrayal of the media/audience relationship and the thoughtless, coldhearted enjoyment of another's pain was perfectly portrayed in The Hunger Games. To me, this message is weakened in Catching Fire, but was fully destroyed by Katniss's easy capitulation in Mockingjay and assumption of the shallow role of propaganda figurehead. Yes, the story cynically shows the way we can be manipulated by superficial stories and images, but it muddies and perhaps even destroys the brilliant and piercing insights of the first book. It made me wonder if perhaps I had initially read in more meaning than the author intended. While we see some level of corruption and cruelty in District 13, in this book, residents of the Capitol are portrayed as stupidly cruel hover for spoiler. This absolute display of inhumanity allows us to distance ourselves from Capitol residents and therefore lessens our ability to recognize our own vicarious glee in the violence we follow and encourage in our media. In addition, I feel that the portrayal of politics and power in this one is almost embarrassingly naive. President Snow is a cruel and inhuman idiot, and his puppet villainy distracts from any subtle message that the series might hold. Rather than recognizing our own potential to fall into the same traps that lead to this dystopian world, readers can simply focus on the big bad child-sacrificing, pimping, murdering, psychopathic president. And he is so stupid! He basically does the opposite of whatever Machiavelli would recommend. Imagine if instead of all this violence and murder, he (1)kept up the Catching Fire-style manipulation of Katniss into happy citizenhood, (2)used the excuse of the wedding to bestow food/luxuries upon the districts, and (3)used this or the Quarter Quell as an excuse to save (at least some of) the children. This would make him a hero who bestowed bounty upon his citizens and used his influence to save their children--not only instant goodwill, but extra food on the tables would quell the desperation that leads to revolts. Instead, he behaved with extreme idiocy which Collins insisted on treating as genius. I can suspend a lot of disbelief, but not that much. I felt that there was a lot of pontificating in this book and I'm pretty sure I was repeatedly pounded by The Morality Hammer. But the message was so muddied, and I was in so much shock and denial about the simplicity of this story, that I am pretty sure I missed it. One group of people (the Capitol citizenry) is effectively dehumanized, so it can't be a warning of where we go when we become disconnected from reality. Since Katniss capitulates and apparently is satisfied to perpetuate her role as a superficial figurehead, it can't really be much of a denunciation of our use of media. Not much judgement or even thought is put into casual and brutal murder, the portrayal of war is painfully simplistic, and the over-the-top evil shenanigans of the villain limits any power in confronting the issues within civil war and justice. I just don't know. Maybe it was just meant to be thrilling, heartpounding, and exciting--something I can't handle, since I don't find child murder to be "fun". I'd read it again to find out, but I just don't want to. I think I'm just going to wipe these from my mind and pretend that The Hunger Games was a standalone.
Review by page.fault (LibraryThing), September 21, 2013 If this had been a stand alone, it probably would have been a 3 star read. However, I had such love for the characters and the world Collins created, it still rated 4 stars for me. I did feel the war bits dragged out a bit, and then the ending felt a bit rushed, tacked on even. I wanted to SEE Katniss and Peeta come back together. I wanted to SEE him remember who Katniss really was, and how he felt about her. As much as I loved Gale, it was always Peeta for Katniss, in my eyes. And while we're on the subject of Gale, I thought the way that situation was resolved was a bit of a cop-out. Katniss never came to the realization that it was Peeta she really loved, instead she couldn't get past the idea that it might have been his weapon that killed Prim. I guess I wanted to see her come to the realization on her own that Gale was just a very good friend, or if it had gone the other way, that Gale was who she really DID want to be with.
Review by Bitchie (LibraryThing), September 21, 2013 I'm not sure what I can say without giving away any spoilers. I can say that it is extremely action packed. I read it in one sitting. I stayed up until 2 am reading after work. I'm not sure I will be much good today, but I could not put it down. I am not sure what I think about the ending. I think I read it too fast to really say. I will re-read in a week or so before I can say for sure. This is one of the most action pack series I have ever read. I think I could recommend this series to pretty much anyone.
Review by mlsimmons (LibraryThing), September 20, 2013 Although this book was a lot slower than the first two, I found the ending quite satisfactory, though not what I was expecting.
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