Did anyone feel that the ending was very weak compared to the rest of the book?

[Shadows]

Weak is the best word I have to describe the ending. To me, it wasn't the satisfying ending I was expecting from a brutally amazing trilogy like The Hunger Games. Katniss was never sure about whether she loved Peeta. I ruled out the possibility of Katniss and Peeta as soon as I found out he was hijacked. Being thrown into all this chaos, I don't think Katniss was able to think about how and in what way she loved Peeta and Gale. Unconditional love means forgiveness. She became indifferent to Peeta because he was hijacked - something that wasn't even his fault. She and Gale had to part because neither could face the fact that Gale's invention killed Prim - that was barely Gale's fault either. I never thought she loved either of them that way. To put her together with Peeta in a desperate attempt for a happy ending... that was the weakest part of this entire trilogy. Did anyone feel the same way? Or how did you feel about the ending?

[[deleted user]]

I personally actually loved the ending. I know where everyone is coming from about why the ending is considered weak but I think the fact that the ending is not that great completes the whole story. It wouldn't seem realistic if Katniss' life turned out perfect in the end because life just isn't perfect and you cant have everyone in your life. Although I think I am biased with this opinion because I never really liked Gale that much anyway as I was always a fan of Peeta. I also don't think she became indifferent to Peeta when he was hijacked I think she just tried to bury her feelings so she wouldn't get hurt. I was really happy that she ended up with Peeta although since the whole series was great I agree with you that the ending was kind of weak.

[Nuran]

I liked the ending, it wasn't super happy but it also wasn't as brutal as it could be. The only bad thing I felt was that it felt rushed, especially the last 10%. Prim dies, there's barely any mourning. There was more mourning for Peeta when he was still alive but hijacked. Gale suddenly leaves, I never saw him ending up with Katniss but I expected a better exit.

As for Peeta, you could see Katniss was suffering from some sort of depression or post traumatic disorder, so she was in her own shell, unable to really be there for others, she thought the world was against her and that she lost Peeta forever when he was hijacked, which plunged her into depression even more and making it even harder for her to have hope and to cope and see the bigger picture. She retreated into herself. She wasn't indifferent, she was depressed and lost hope. Depressed people can't help themselves, let alone others.

I always felt Peeta had a special place in Katniss's heart, from book one, he was always the boy with the bread, the one that gave her hope, so for them not to end up together would have been the surprise.

[Kristen]

I don't know that I'd say it was weak. It did feel rushed though. You spend all that time as Katniss is fighting for her life or grieving someone she lost, you wanna see her happy and relatively normal for a little bit.

[Shadows]

Nuran wrote: "Gale suddenly leaves, I never saw him ending with Katniss but I expected a better exit."

I always knew that Katniss would not be the one to decide who to end up with - I predicted that one of them would be taken from her amid all the chaos. The way Gale left... I agree. I expected a better exit.

[Shadows]

Trina wrote: "I also don't think she became indifferent to Peeta when he was hijacked I think she just tried to bury her feelings so she wouldn't get hurt."

Nuran wrote: "She wasn't indifferent, she was depressed and lost hope. Depressed people can't help themselves, let alone others."

I didn't really think she stopped caring about Peeta. It's just that amid all the chaos, it's very common that people allow their heart be defined by practise and necessity. She couldn't let herself love Peeta, because the chances of losing him are far too high, and 'It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.' She distanced herself from him to protect herself from a heartbreak, and I thought it was very unnatural for her to close the distance and love him so soon after the chain of violent deaths and unthinkable events. Does that make sense?

[Nuran]

Shadows wrote: "'It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to ."

She might have said that to herself, to protect herself, but in the end she just couldn't keep the shield up. Maybe she was tired of fighting; fighting enemies, fighting with allies, fighting love - that her shield cracked and let Peeta in.

Plus, Peeta always had a special place in her heart since their childhood and the bread incident. And at the cave, in the first book, that childhood feeling started to grow stronger. Finally getting to know him, being close to him, it just turn that spark she felt into fire - she became the girl on fire in more ways than one.

She's a practical girl and tried to ignore her feelings but in the second book when she was willing to be the one that died after making sure her and Peeta both made it through to the 2nd game, her feelings had already grown substantially by then.

I don't think you can switch those kind of feelings off easily by the middle of the third book, even though she tried.

[Shadows]

Nuran wrote: "Shadows wrote: "'It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to ."

She might have said that to herself, to protect herself, but in the end she just couldn't keep the shield..."

That's a very well-written interpretation of the events. I agree.

[Izzy]

I liked the epilougue. Not her best product, but the idea of having an epilogue of her getting married to Peeta and having kids is pretty cute. Although, it is like the Epilogue of the last Harry Potter book, so that kind of ruined me.

[May]

Compared to the other books Mockingjay was the weakest one overall. It didn't give me the excitement that I had while reading Hunger Games and Catching Fire but it wasn't really bad. The ending was disappointing I'll admit and learning that Gale kind of "gave up" on katniss was horrible. I've always been team Gale and Katniss (I'm the bad boy type). Anyway, I don't want to spoil anything more about the ending so I'll keep some comments to myself lol. The Hunger Games is the best trilogy ever and the movies are just as amazing. ;)

[Bella]

I thought the ending was perfectly katniss...and the line...i didn't need gales fire but peetas compassion and gentleness , was exactly right.

Having read the series several times now...i am so much clearer how traumatized katniss was, even before the games. If one really comprehends how wounded our heroine was, her choices, reactions and inactions become more understandable.

[Brenda]

I think because Katniss' life had been such chaos until then, a kind of calm, nothing out the ordinary ending, was what the series needed. This is what Katniss has always craved for, a life lived in peace. As for the other things, I don't necessarily think she blamed Peeta for being hijacked, I think she felt guilty and couldn't bare it, because she felt she should have protected him. With Gale, also I don't feel she actually hates him, or blames him for Prim's death, its just grief. Blaming him was easy, because as selfish as it may sound, at the end, he would forgive her for how she treated him.

Also Katniss life with Peeta and their children, while happy, is not perfect, Katniss still struggles with severe PTSD, and will probably never recover.

[Laura]

Bella wrote: "Having read the series several times now...i am so much clearer how traumatized katniss was, even before the games. If one really comprehends how wounded our heroine was, her choices, reactions and inactions become more understandable."

I totally agree with this. Despite not having reread the series, it was only in the Mockingjay that I truly began to understand how Katniss was traumatized and broken by all the chaos. I think it was a very sober way of telling a story about war and loss through a teenager's perspective, so congrats to Suzanne Collins!

Still, I agree that the ending was too rushed. I always thought that either Gale or Peeta would die in order to make Katniss' choice easier, but I never expected that the ending with Gale would be so cold and indifferent. They were supposed to be the best of friends, for crying out loud! Nevertheless I kind of liked the explanation for choosing Peeta, although, you know, it was totally like let's-rush-this-thing-because-I'm-just-sick-and-tired-of-writing-about-these-two. Oh well...

[Hazy]

I liked the ending compared to the most of the book. Most of the things Katniss was doing during the second half of the book was futile and frustrating. Whether or not they went on that crazy suicide mission, things would have pretty much ended the same. Except maybe she wouldn't have had the opportunity to kill Snow... (I may be wrong about this though... that's what it seemed like to me. :P)

At least the ending provided a bit of closure for all the trauma Katniss and Peeta went through, with them falling into an almost peaceful "normal" life.

Full disclosure: I wanted her to end up with Gale during the first book. But partway through the second, Peeta just won me over with his compassion and gentleness. I thought she and Peeta wouldn't end up together anyway because, well, he seemed to good for her and she knew it.

But the nice thing about the books is that the love story isn't really the point. It's about the horrors of war, using propaganda, and trauma (particularly that of child soldiers). I think the ending gave justice to that.

[Bella]

lol, Peeta and Katniss took months to come together... I could see me being like Katniss in that environment.. NO WAY I am going to have children... she was an odd mix.. her logic was slow to apply in political things.. she was all action and not given to nuance.. but the thing I admired most about her... in the end.. her instincts were spot on... like killing Coin... FLAWLESS! What courage and real insight that took... she saved the rebellion and the people by doing it.

[Monise]

The ending just seemed not so explained and detailed and most of all; rushed. But that is like many books that I've read and there is not one that has satisfied me just yet. It would be better to know what happened from then on ― like who took over, what happens to all of the Capitol, how is the mess cleaned up? ― and also more of an explanation of Gale's exit and furthermore.

Katniss ans Peeta together was unpredictable to me but I guessed she wouldn't end up with Gale. This is because she seemed so caught up with Peeta and his safety. When they end up together at the end, I was happy but wasn't sure. I had this feeling of uncertainty about who-knows-what?To me, Katniss didn't love Gale and Peeta the way they loved her. It felt as though it was more of a protective/care kind of love.

Overall, the end was okay and I wasn't too frustrated. After all, many endings aren't really the end therefore leaving us with endless questions and possibilities.

[Najma]

Shadows wrote: "Weak is the best word I have to describe the ending. To me, it wasn't the satisfying ending I was expecting from a brutally amazing trilogy like The Hunger Games. Katniss was never sure about wheth..."

You are right .I always felt that there was something wrong with the ending .Every time I read it, I feel somewhat sad and dissatisfied .I never knew why

[Caroline]

Yes! I loved all three books, but there are some major holes in the ending of Mockingjay that I would really have liked to see filled up. The entire series builds up to the moment when the districts break free from the Capitol, but when it finally happens, Katniss blacks out. She doesn't wake up until the entire thing is over - I felt like I missed out on the thing I'd been waiting for for so long. Then, she gets to shoot Snow, but shoots Coin instead and blacks out again. Apparently, there's a trial, but again, she's not present and neither are we - we only know there was a trial because Haymitch pops in to say she won it (what?). Katniss goes back to her victor's house, she's reduced to a pile of posttraumatic despair for weeks/months, and then when she FINALLY starts to see a flicker of hope, the story cuts off and moves on to the epilogue twenty years later. I would've appreciated seeing more of her recovery at the end. All of the pivotal moments in the last part of the book are missing.

[Megan]

I was pretty let down by the ending. I felt like everything after the bombing was extremely rushed. Katniss becoming suspicious of Coin's ulterior motives and all the political upheaval happening at the time was so glossed over. It really could have been elaborated on. It felt like the pacing of the books were all pretty consistent until the end when they covered so many things in such little time. And I thought Snow's death was too convenient and contrived. The whole series is about bringing him to justice, and he is simply dealt with by being trampled by the chaos following Coin's assassination. That just seemed like a lazy way out to me. And everything after that like Katniss' trial etc was mentioned as a throwaway line from a random character basically. Honestly the events from the last part of Mockingjay could have been fleshed out into a fourth book.

For me, the epilogue just didn't fit. The style and mood felt much too different to the rest of the books and it didn't tell me anything I wanted to know.

I really enjoyed Mockingjay but I definitely wish it had had a stronger ending.

[Addie]

Spoilers
the first book was the best the rest went downhill. Like she wrote the first then said " This is making a lot of money i am going to force my self to write more." The ending was lame. they killed snow and moved on with life.