Book Review: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

Title: Mockingjay

Series: The Hunger Games

Book Number: 3

Author: Suzanne Collins 

Genre: Fiction - Dystopia 

Finished: February 11, 2013

Can it suffice to say only that this final book was everything that I had hoped for and more?  I wasted no time loading this one on my Kindle after I had finished the second book of the trilogy. Of course I could guess the rough chronology of the book: lots of rebel fighting, lots of drama, and of course a victory, no matter how sweet or bittersweet. I knew there would be war, and I knew that independence would be gained. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the journey. And that also doesn’t mean I wasn’t caught off guard a number of times by a few well placed and indeed shocking plot twists. Instead, it meant that I was sincerely and deeply hoping for the sort-of-happy-ending that the characters deserved and that I needed in order to feel fulfilled. In short, I wanted Katniss alive and with Peeta. So the war is on. District 13 is working to inspire rebel forces across Panem, and are quite successful. The leaders of the rebellion use Katniss as a sort of mascot, but she is not the sort of girl to give clean televised appearances, so there is a lot of battle and explosion going on.

Thank goodness, right?

I mean it wouldn’t be a Hunger Game novel without a lot of blood, guts, and blown up things. The part that I liked the best (in my predictable nature) was the inevitable tension that arose after Peeta was rescued and he had been brainwashed... reprogrammed... designed to hate and indeed kill Katniss. Naturally, I gave in to a rare sense of optimism that love would prevail, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

It was this plot arch in particular that I enjoyed reading the most. I wish there was more to it, that it was longer, more involved. The course of the rebellion was interesting and great, yes, but I like things that are a little less action and adventure, and a little more drama. I also did not expect a few of the deaths that took place. I mean, this isn't George R.R. Martin, after all, right, who kills everyone you love. I thought that there would at least be a bright light at the end of the tunnel for the suffering. But not so. I guess that is just part of the realism, of creating a world that is real, intense, and that you can live inside of. Even go so far as to grieve with. The emotional connection would be nothing without something to grieve over, right? At least, that is how I comfort myself.