Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) in Desperate BookJunkies

Oct 26, 2010 Mike (the Paladin) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, rereading

Below is my original review. I'm leaving it as it's still essentially how I feel still. I have however decided that the overall story of the book rates a higher rating than I originally gave (you'll see below). The biggest problem for me was that Katniss seemed to grow some throughout the first and the second book, yet slid back and forth/up and down throughout this. I just didn't think it was still Katniss in some ways.

To each of course and I'd say try it yourself and see how you feel/what you Below is my original review. I'm leaving it as it's still essentially how I feel still. I have however decided that the overall story of the book rates a higher rating than I originally gave (you'll see below). The biggest problem for me was that Katniss seemed to grow some throughout the first and the second book, yet slid back and forth/up and down throughout this. I just didn't think it was still Katniss in some ways.

To each of course and I'd say try it yourself and see how you feel/what you think.

Some spoilers in review as I do discuss some things about the conclusion of the book.

*** Spoilers in Review below ***

(view spoiler)[ Okay, just us now...a lot of people loved this book. I'm not one of them. I liked the first book immensely, I also liked the second volume. I appreciate the inspiration behind the books. I considered 3 stars here, as there are times when some very good writing comes through. But in the end for me to say I really didn't like the book wouldn't fit with a 3 star rating. There were too many times I skimmed through this one, too many times I came very close to abandoning the read all together simply due to the story and it's telling.

If you read my review of the second volume in this trilogy you know that one of the things that bothered me most was the immature and selfish character of Katniss. I observed at the close of that volume that this had probably been intentional on Ms.Collins' part and that Katniss seemed to be growing out of it after the hard and troubling events at the end of said volume.

Well, Katniss had a relapse...big-time. Apparently in all the wars and all the revolutions and all the tragedies of all time NO ONE has suffered as she has. Am I the only one who got so tired of her constant bemoaning of her own fate...as the world is flying apart around her? She forces the rebels to take her back to her blasted and burned former home where she apparently wanders around saying things like "I brought this on you"... GOOD GRIEF. No Katniss, the people who dropped the bombs brought it on them...the people who ordered it brought it on...the people who have been forcing children to kill each other in arenas to hold the entire populace under their heel FOR GENERATIONS brought it on. The world didn't start when you were born Katniss.

The book becomes, it seems to me very much of a one trick pony with Katniss constantly discovering more pain and more woe. It turns into a story where the rebels seem often to be as bad as the oppressive government they seek to overthrow. A book that comes very close to one of those pompous tomes (and for that matter movies, short stories etc.) that defined itself as "anti-war" as if people sometimes get together and say, "hey, let's have a war." War is nothing more than an assault or an armed robbery writ large. Very few actually "want war" it doesn't make one extra righteous to say "I'm taking a stand against war!", just self-righteous. The choice in the story Ms. Collins wrote is the same as it has been often...war or enslavement. You can accept what your handed and live with it, let them take all you have ... take your children, or you can resist. The longer you wait to resist the worse it may be. Thus the 1 star rating. It seems to me Katniss is an annoying character who (I think) became badly one dimensional. There are a few bright spots and some good prose, but over all, I'm not taken with the book.

For me one of the most telling moments in the book was in a conversation between Gale and Peeta (the boy named after pocket bread) when they are having a conversation about which of them Katniss will eventually "choose" and Gale hits it on the head. He says she'll pick the one She can't survive without. Of course from Katniss we get the obligatory self recrimination, "am I that bad", well I don't need either of them, internal monologue...but (when proverbial push comes to proverbial shove) that is exactly what she eventually does. (Of course gale's actions brought it on).

In the end so far as I can tell after all that's happened, after all the death and loss the world still revolves around Katniss at least so far as Katniss is concerned. (hide spoiler)]

I found this an unsatisfying book and conclusion to what had been up to now a pretty good trilogy and if my children were still young I'd definitely discuss this one with them to see what they took away from it. Not my cup of tea, and puts my retention of the other two in my collection in question...I regret the money spent on this book and the time invested in it, a bad sign. The first book is a very good read, the second is pretty good, but this, the end volume is very, very weak. My opinion of course.

Update: Sadly this volume ruined the entire set for me. I sold all 3. ...more

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Aug 30, 2010 Sianna rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. As much as I liked the first two books in the Hunger Games trilogy, I found Mockingjay to be almost an afterthought of a novel. I was excited to see where Suzanne Collins would go after the cliff-hanger of Catching Fire and about half-way through the novel I wondered if the thing would even come to a conclusion.

It seemed to lose its focus as I suppose Katniss did after two rounds of the hunger games and being thrown into the rebel war. As a young girl, I wasn't expecting her to have a large role ...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Selena Kitt rated it liked it

Not as good as the first two - but I see what she was going for here in the end. It's an unsatisfying ending... but it's supposed to be. Hard to deal with that sometimes, but that IS the way the world works, isn't it? ...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, ya

I gave it 5 stars for the overall book but I'm still not sure about the ending. I agree with some of the reviews I've heard, the 1st and 3rd book of the trilogy are the best. ...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Tedi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopia, favorites

So I've been putting off writing this review for quite a while now. I felt like this book has just haunted me. The first two books in the series are very intense, I found myself holding my breath a lot through out and this book was no different. The difference in this book was that what caused a lot of the intensity and gripping scenes were so heartbreaking. There were so many parts of the this book that just made me ache.

I agree with many of the reviews that it was not as good as The Hunger Ga So I've been putting off writing this review for quite a while now. I felt like this book has just haunted me. The first two books in the series are very intense, I found myself holding my breath a lot through out and this book was no different. The difference in this book was that what caused a lot of the intensity and gripping scenes were so heartbreaking. There were so many parts of the this book that just made me ache.

I agree with many of the reviews that it was not as good as The Hunger Games. I was disappointed in many aspects of the book, but it was still a great book. It's not really fair to compare it to HG, since HG was such a phenomenal book, but at the same time its hard not to do. I don't know if I would recommend the series as much as I did before, more because I'm reluctant to make other people feel as horrible at the end as I did.

Everything and eveyone seemed to be against poor Katniss. She couldn't catch a break. Everywhere she turned she was being attacked, physically, emotionally, mentally. It was exhausting to read. I felt the author did almost too good a job of making you feel Katniss's pain. I think the author is an incredible writer. She captured very well the desperation that someone would feel in that situation. I've read many complaints about Katniss "shutting down". I think that's what made it real. How else could she have reacted? I know people thought she should rise above and blah blah, but come on! How? She spent her entire life living and fighting and being strong for everyone else. When was someone going to be strong for her? She was drowning emotionally and where was everyone else?

SPOILER IN THIS PARAGRAPH
I was very Team Gale in HG and CF, but the more I think about him in this book, the less I feel for him. Where was he when she needed someone to help her? When she needed someone to be strong for her, to support her, to pick her up, where was he? He only wanted her because there was competition. He totally disappeared. He saw her struggling but he was so busy with himself. I have to admit when I first read that she ended up with Peeta I was angry! I wanted her to be with Gale. But the more I thought about it I realized it was the Gale from HG and CF that I wanted, not the absent selfish Gale from Mockingjay. Peeta was perfect for her. In the end neither of them really "chose" the other, in that she didnt "give up" Gale for him. They ended up together because they were both so damaged and scarred that they were the only ones that could understand the horror the other had lived through.

I really did like the series. And I really would love to re-read it, I just think I'll need a couple months/years before I can. Hopefully then I won't have that ache in my chest when I think about it :) ...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Emily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, books-i-own, series, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 17, 2010 Suz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-sep-dec

Great book! I liked all 3 of the Hunger Games books and would recommend all of them. Was sad to see the trilogy end but thought her ending fit the story perfectly.

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