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

May 03, 2012 Mark rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hunger Games? Yeah, it was a pretty good read. My boy, Peeta, was awesome and inspiring, but I wasn't that crazy about our dear narrator, Katniss Everdeen. She felt about as manipulative as The Capital she claimed to loathe. There also wasn't that much suspense involved considering there were still two more books to go and there seemed to be every chance both our narrator, and even Peeta, could make it out of the Hunger Games in more or less one piece.

Then Catching Fire. Everything in Hunger Ga Hunger Games? Yeah, it was a pretty good read. My boy, Peeta, was awesome and inspiring, but I wasn't that crazy about our dear narrator, Katniss Everdeen. She felt about as manipulative as The Capital she claimed to loathe. There also wasn't that much suspense involved considering there were still two more books to go and there seemed to be every chance both our narrator, and even Peeta, could make it out of the Hunger Games in more or less one piece.

Then Catching Fire. Everything in Hunger Games was ramped up. In a way, Catching Fire is the Evil Dead II of the literary world. A kind of if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it approach to storytelling. This one was literally Hunger Games Part II, with the added bonus of more suspense. And the introduction of Finnick Odair as a playable character. Peeta? Still boss, in the non-controlling variety of the word. Katniss? Still leaning toward the manipulative side. And then, the ending. And after that, all bets were off. The proverbial shite had plastered itself to the wobbly, hanging-by-a-thread-to-the-ceiling proverbial fan.

Enter Mockingjay. In Mockingjay, the eggshells are constantly acrackel from the treading on they take. Peeta's a psycho, District 12's a shambles, and Katniss just wants Pres. Snow's head on a silver platter and Peeta safe beside her, in new, unused condition. NOW she decides she wants him. Gahhhhh, Katniss. Once they finally retrieve Peeta and find he's pretty much programmed to kill her, this to me is where the fire of the entire series finally convulses to life. Everything up to this point has been entertaining, more or less depending on the scene. But it's when Peeta and Katniss begin their battle of mental wills that the characters finally become living breathing entities in the true literary sense. The "false" memories with which Peeta's head has been filled by the Capital, memories designed to trigger a kill-response in Peeta, these memories finally provide Peeta with the ammunition he has not had within his eternal goodness to question Katniss's questionable motives in the previous books. And this was when I finally began to fall in love with Katniss, too. Peeta's eternal optimism endeared him to me, but Katniss's constant questionable use of his goodness became his Achilles's heel. The struggle for each to come to terms with the other's weaknesses provided the perfect one on one conflict that framed the all-out war that was being waged as the backdrop to Mockingjay.

In the previous two books the dystopian influences seemed to wave red flags, yelling, "Here I am! Remember this trope?" In the first book, I found the weight of the influences to be almost distracting. But by Mockingjay, the influences take a backseat to the overall message which Collins seems to be conveying: War is hell, and though in the end one side "wins"; in reality, no one wins. Everyone is a cracked former shell of themselves. Standing up for what you believe in does not mean you that once you attain it everything will be alright. By the end, Katniss, Peeta, Gale, are all different people from the ones we met in the first hundred pages of The Hunger Games. And in pulling no punches, for showing life as it really is, Collins has earned her rightful place among the pantheon. ...more

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May 28, 2013 Michael Hebler rated it liked it

So, coming off reading The Hunger Games #2 (Catching Fire), I decided to jump into #3 after not being able to get past the first 40 pages of another book (which shall remain nameless). I was very excited to begin "Mockingjay," and although The Hunger Games series did not end as I had hoped, I was not thoroughly disappointed.

To begin with the negatives, the story did not evolve with the same excitement that only this dysotopia could create. This may be partly because the writing was not as precis ...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Albert rated it really liked it

The Final Book in the Hunger Games Trilogy takes Katniss full circle, returning her to the Capital to face President Snow as the rebellion of the Districts comes to a head. At this time Katniss is the symbol of the the rebellion, the Mockingjay.
Along the way the loss she suffers will be greater than all that have passed before and she is faced too often with the reality that the rebels she is aligned with are not that different from the dictator she faces.
The Mockingjay is an excellant novel tha ...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Amy Helms rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

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

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Jun 22, 2011 Danielle rated it really liked it

Not as good as the previous two but still enjoyed reading Mockingjay. The characters were a bit detached this round but still enjoyed reading it. Wish Collins would have kept up the momentum she created with the first two. Overall GREAT series!

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Apr 28, 2012 Veronica rated it really liked it

While this series did kind of meander on, the ending was beautiful and haunting, and I enjoyed Collins' cadence. I will miss these books. P.S. Team Peeta! ...more

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