I’d been meaning to read these books for sometime but finally found the motivation to start after my 
boyfriend bought and read the whole trilogy, as I could just borrow his copies! The Hunger Games is a YA science fiction series from the American author Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay is the third and final instalment of the trilogy published in 2010. I was absolutely enthralled by the two previous instalments, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (for reviews see links at the bottom of this post). I was somewhat dubious about this final instalment as I foresaw it might be the most harrowing of the lot, as is so often the case in trilogies. However I have now finished the trilogy in good time for the up-coming release of the screen adaptation of the first book which is also entitled The Hunger Games.
*spoilers* If you haven’t read any of these books and don’t want me to spoil the story, skip to the links at the bottom of the post!
Katniss Everdeen has miraculously survived another round of the hunger games, but barely. Katniss is hover crafted out of the arena by the rebels after she took out the force field with a well placed arrow. On awakening Katniss realises the rebel resistance forces is bigger than she could ever have imagined, especially now they have the crafts, weapons, and army gear of the secret District 13. However it is not all good news as Katniss learns that she was not the only tribute saved so was Finnick and Beetee but not Peeta the Capitol troops got to him first. On top of that Katniss can never return home…because there is no District 12 anymore. Katniss is thrown into emotional turmoil; despair from the loss of her home, friends, and Peeta, but joy at finding her family, the rebels, and District 13. Now the real game has begun. Can Katniss Everdeen become the ‘Mockingjay’ and lead the rebels to overthrow the Capitol, President Snow, and rescue Peeta at the same time?
Mockingjay had so much to live up to following The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and many ways it did but others it didn’t. I found Mockingjay to be a book of two halves. The first half lost the pace I’m used to in these books, and instead was a closer look at how Katniss deals with the emotional turmoil she finds herself within. For me I found that the struggle left Katniss reverting back to her worst characteristic of selfishness, which was entertaining as a reader I’m not one only interested in ‘nice’ characters, however what niggled at me was how Collins still wrote like I should feel sympathetic and to be honest I really didn’t. There were characters that deserved my sympathy far more, including Finnick and Annie, Johanna, Prim, and most importantly Peeta. The second half pulled me back though as the pace quickened, the action intensified, and Collins dropped the sympathy ploy. Katniss is a ruthless survival machine and in the fight for the Capitol she was allowed to be exactly that. The emotional pull for me was Peeta’s story how he was treated by the Capitol, then not to receive a much better reception from the rebels. It felt like my heart was pulled out, chopped up, stamped on, and burnt several times during this book. I actually liked the ending of the book however I don’t think the prologue was needed.
The Hunger Games is a well written and devised whirl-wind of a series. Mockingjay is probably the weakest book of the trilogy but still a must read because if you’ve read the other two I predict you will just have to know how it ends!
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This was my least favourite of the three, too. There just wasn’t enough suspense and the plot just seemed a little confused as if Collins didn’t quite know where she was going with it all.
Here is my review of the trilogy if you’re interested
http://esotericsips.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-being-snobby-reader-hunger-games.html
Ah another person who agrees that the third book is the weakest, definitely don’t have to feel guilty for not loving it as much as the other two books! I think Amanda above might be right when she says that maybe the lack of games meant Collins lost her structure? I am very interested to see your review, will pop over now and add a link to my post for others. Thank you for stopping by
I think a lot of people liked the third book the least of them all. Personally, I think that Collins struggled as a writer without the structure of the games. Almost like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself with that much freedom.
I must admit I’m pleased to hear I’m not the only one who struggled with the third book, was beginning to feel a bit guilty for not liking it as much, especially as my boyfriend seems to disagree with all my points lol!! I think you may have hit the nail on the head though Amanda without the more obvious structure of the games it does seem like Collins struggled a bit.
One of these days I’ll actually pick this series up. People seem to have mixed feelings about the ending, but you’re right, once you read the first two you HAVE to know how it ends.
Even after not liking the last book as much as the rest of the trilogy, I would still highly recommend you reading them, and once you start they are rather addictive
That is true. I had trouble reading Mockingjay because the pacing was off. Sometimes it was fast and another was extremely slow. But other than that, I loved Mockingjay because of the brilliant ideas that Suzanne Collins projected throughout the story. But I had hoped the ending would be more spectacular. It was a good ending but I hoped it had more impact on readers. To me, the ending just wasn’t enough.
Nice review. Tells the whole feel of Mockingjay to readers. Good Job.
Glad to see it wasn’t just me who struggled with the pacing! And thank you, I’m pleased you enjoyed my review