Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) in The Dusty Bookshelf

Apr 11, 2012 Ashe rated it it was amazing

Wow, hands down this is the best book of all three. The emotions, the real effects that take place due to trauma, the mental breakdown, the ever-present conflicting love story, the deaths.
While the optimistic person inside me was devastated by the scary turn this book took, it didn't happen without good probable cause.
This book is the one that undoubtedly had the biggest part in the rebellion and you soon get ensnared into a cruel, twisting plot that you hadn't expected. At all. Who knew the lit ...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Tiffani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2014, young-adult, dystopian

Mockingjay is the third book in Suzanne Collins’s trilogy that started with The Hunger Games and continued in Catching Fire. I liked the first book and loved the second. After turning the last page of this third book I just sat still for a moment and released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. This is one of the best series I've ever read that got better and better with each book.

One of the things Collins does well in this trilogy is examine the use of media and perception. In Distric Mockingjay is the third book in Suzanne Collins’s trilogy that started with The Hunger Games and continued in Catching Fire. I liked the first book and loved the second. After turning the last page of this third book I just sat still for a moment and released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. This is one of the best series I've ever read that got better and better with each book.

One of the things Collins does well in this trilogy is examine the use of media and perception. In District 13 Katniss’s primary job is to perform in a series of televised propaganda pieces. She comforts the wounded, gives fiery speeches, and shoots her bow and arrows, all with a camera crew in tow. With Katniss in the nest of the rebels, Snow forces Peeta to perform in a similar fashion. Another thing I liked about the trilogy is that although it is clear who the “good” guys are, the good guys are not morally perfect. District 13 has strict rules and even an infraction liking taking an extra piece of bread at dinner is punished severely. District 13 develops new weapons and traps aimed at killing more effectively. Katniss is appalled even as she realizes that given the chance President Snow would spare her no mercy. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call the rebels the “better” guys rather than the good guys.

The clearest example of this moral ambiguity is the rebel leader President Coin who comes to see Katniss as a threat. As Haymitch explains, Katniss is the symbol of the rebellion. Once the war is over Katniss will be influential in the new government, if only to endorse its new leader, and Coin isn't so sure she would be the one Katniss would choose. President Snow is a monster but I couldn’t help question if a government led by President Coin would be that different or better. She might only be the lesser of two evils.

I really appreciated the ending of Mockingjay, mostly because is not a Hollywood happy ending where everyone lives happily ever after. It was a fitting end to the series. What I remember most about The Hunger Games was the violence. Catching Fire focused on the mounting pressure on Katniss. Mockingjay was less about the physical and more about the psychological impact of war and violence. Many of the main characters take a psychological beating in Mockingjay. With two trips to the Hunger Games arena and countless other traumas under her belt, Katniss is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as Mockingjay begins. After Katniss is rescued from the Games arena Peeta is left to suffer the wrath of President Snow whose methods are not confined to physical torture. The truth behind Finnick's playboy reputation is revealed. There is one gut punching story after another and Collins manages to weave it all in while still delivering an action packed story. I wonder what she is going to write next.

This is a condensed version of my discussion of The Hunger Games series and Mockingjay in particular. For the full discussion please see my blog at http://passportbooks.blogspot.com/201....
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Aug 08, 2013 Msdot rated it it was ok

I really enjoyed reading the first 2 books, but the last one was a big let down. I didn't like katniss and the more I read the book, the more I disliked her. The ending was also a huge let down. I have expected more for the ending of Snow and Capitol. too many unnecessary deaths and disappointing turn out for Katniss' love saga. ...more

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