Mockingjay (Hunger Games book 3) - Suzanne Collins

This is a review I did over on Shelfari immediately after reading the trilogy. I'll edit this post to hide/remove some spoilers, but the Shelfari post contains some spoilers.

http://www.shelfari....reviews/2744860

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Mockingjay (Hunger Games Book 3)
- Suzanne Collins

3 Stars (out of 5)

First off, I read this entire trilogy in a week and while Catching Fire was slower to get going, I loved the first two books. But this one...

By the end of chapter two, I had lost all sympathy for Katniss. She's just whiny and complains and wants to die and kill everyone who has saved her. I get that you can turn that into a good character. But the Katniss we saw in the first two books decided on a goal (win the games and save Peeta, respectively) and went to achieve it. Sure she had her doubts and moments of confusion, but she got through them and grew up as a character. But in Mockingjay, she never gets out of the gloom for more than half a second before she overreacts to any number of things and is back hating them and herself again. Because this is told in the first person, that means we see more of that stupid broom closet than we do of the capital.

One of the other reviews (over on Shelfari) talks about why she is a great character and mentions the portion of the book where people are listing times when she inspired them. All of those I agree with. Those moments are what made the first two books great. Sadly, those moments are mostly absent from book 3. Sure, we have the brilliant scene at the make shift hospital, but beyond that? What does she do except waffle between wanting to help (but not doing anything) and hating random people? There is a major line in the plot about how they have to let Katniss be Katniss, but it seems like Collins forgot that. Katniss is rarely the girl we loved in the first two books. Hell, the entire war could have been completed without her doing anything past a couple of promotional reels. Even once she finally decides to not be worthless (3/4th through the book), the fate of the war isn't decided by her. She could have stayed home and hated on Gale some more for all it mattered.

Which leads me to the ending.

Your lead in a first person story should not spend half of her time in the hospital or insane.

I felt the ending was crammed in. The whole thing with Prim and Snow and Coin could have easily been another book. Who all was involved in what happens with Prim and taking them out would have been a brilliant book 4. But alas, we get the standard "Katniss is crazy and drugged up"... again... still... whatever.

Unlike others, I didn't mind how Collins resolved Peeta and Gale, though the handling of Finnick was awful. Mention Annie, at least! The end part with Prim was brilliant, though, as mentioned above, should have led into another book, or at least another hundred pages on this one. To have that and then just end a few pages later was a waste.

... spoiler about Haymich. I honestly forget from which book, so I'm hiding it.


So yeah... if you've read the first two, you should just read this one as well in order to finish the plot. But it isn't at all satisfying.

... spoilers from the end of three...

...and Katniss has proven that when she is inspiring, we love her... but when she is too concerned with her own loathing, we no longer care if she lives or dies. We keep hoping that she will break out of her funk and realize that while she hides, children are out dying. But she doesn't. She never breaks out for more than a few pages, which is why this book is by far the most disappointing of the trilogy.

Note that on Shelfari, I gave the first two books of this trilogy 5 stars, so put this review in perspective.

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