Mockingjay (Hunger Games)
The third book in Suzanne Collins's phenomenal and worldwide bestselling Hunger Games trilogy.The final book in Suzanne Collins's worldwide bestselling Hunger Games trilogy is now available in paperback."My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead."Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Though she's long been a part of the revolution, Katniss hasn't known it. Now it seems that everyone has had a hand in the carefully laid plans but her.The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the cost.
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Community Reviews
I had my doubts about book 3. I had several friends who really thought that book 3 bombed and fizzled. So, I wasn't sure what I would think about it, but I found that I liked it. In fact, I think it is my favorite book in the series.
Fact is that I am rather curious why some of my fellow readers didn't like what they found in book 3! I enjoyed it, and I think I'll be contemplating it for days to come. It's a book worth talking about, worth discussing, and it brought my sister and I into interesting topics of discussion...
***SPOILER ALERT***
I found myself watching the political side of the story with interest and a tinge of sadness. Sometimes tyranny is followed by just another form of tyranny. District 13 was just another version of the Capitol's rule. It made me wonder what it must be like for people living in those areas of the world where the US roles in, removes a dictator and then begins another form of rule. Things were bad under the old leadership, but how much do they really improve with an overbearing military presence to protect them? It gave me food for thought.
I loved the way the author managed to sneak in more surprises to her readers throughout the book - Peeta's attempt to strangle Katniss, the death of Prim at the end, Katniss voting in favor of another Hunger Games, Katniss shooting President Coin, etc. It shook things up.
I had been rooting for Peeta all along from the first. I liked him. I liked his character and who he truly was. He was incorrigible, uncorruptable if you will, and I found his love for Katniss beautiful. When he seemed to be on the side of the Capitol, it was hard to watch, and yet, I knew he would find his way back. The gentle, kind Peeta couldn't just have evaporated away.
I worried a bit in books 2 and 3 for Peeta. I wanted to see him with Katniss in the end. I felt that together Katniss and Peeta made a remarkable human being. They complimented each other.
After finishing book 1 and 2, I told my sister that I wasn't sure which one of Gale and Peeta would end up being Katniss's Jacob and Edward. I know, it's odd to liken the story to another fiction series especially Twilight, but I saw some similarities between the love triangle scenario. AND again, just to clarify, I think this author made the right choice in this series, too. Peeta, Gale and Katniss all change druing the series. They can't help change. They are surviving despite the horrors of war and destruction.
In the end, Katniss can't deal with Gale's war-like persona that doesn't feel that ending the lives of innocents is any cause for concern. He's locked on a target, the cause, etc. and can't let it go, but Katniss can. Her experiences in both Hunger Games have brought out her caring side, her compassionate nature has broken through, and she can't join him in his thirst for blood or revenge. She can go part of the way, but she can't totally get to that point.
I was curious that the author managed to keep her readers from getting bogged down by Prim's death at the end. It's as if she protected us (or herself in a way) by causing Katniss to be injured and unconscious herself when it all happens. We don't find Katniss burrowing away in grief or holding the dead body of her sister at the scene. No, the pain is muted a bit. We discover that Prim is gone only when Katniss awakes in the hospital and acknowledges that she saw her sister die. It's no less tragic. It's just not as painful as it could have been for the reader so close to the end of the story.
I don't know how else the author could have ended book 3. She has put her main characters through quite a long ride of pain and anguish. The Capitol is overtaken by the rebels, and Katniss is essentially banished back to District 12 as an essential "lunatic." Peeta returns there as well, and eventually the 2 scarred, bruised and troubled souls find themselves back together, where they "ALWAYS" belonged.
I'm glad that the author doesn't end things all rosy. There is no perfect skin makeover. There is not a complete return of life to the way it was before. The effects of the Hunger Games, the tragic deaths of family members and friends, the ravages of the war -- these things are not going to go away. They still haunt them. They have nightmares, moments of doubt and fear. I like that. You can't expect things to be all pretty after such horrors. You can't go back, but you can go forward, and so they plod on.
Fact is that I am rather curious why some of my fellow readers didn't like what they found in book 3! I enjoyed it, and I think I'll be contemplating it for days to come. It's a book worth talking about, worth discussing, and it brought my sister and I into interesting topics of discussion...
***SPOILER ALERT***
I found myself watching the political side of the story with interest and a tinge of sadness. Sometimes tyranny is followed by just another form of tyranny. District 13 was just another version of the Capitol's rule. It made me wonder what it must be like for people living in those areas of the world where the US roles in, removes a dictator and then begins another form of rule. Things were bad under the old leadership, but how much do they really improve with an overbearing military presence to protect them? It gave me food for thought.
I loved the way the author managed to sneak in more surprises to her readers throughout the book - Peeta's attempt to strangle Katniss, the death of Prim at the end, Katniss voting in favor of another Hunger Games, Katniss shooting President Coin, etc. It shook things up.
I had been rooting for Peeta all along from the first. I liked him. I liked his character and who he truly was. He was incorrigible, uncorruptable if you will, and I found his love for Katniss beautiful. When he seemed to be on the side of the Capitol, it was hard to watch, and yet, I knew he would find his way back. The gentle, kind Peeta couldn't just have evaporated away.
I worried a bit in books 2 and 3 for Peeta. I wanted to see him with Katniss in the end. I felt that together Katniss and Peeta made a remarkable human being. They complimented each other.
After finishing book 1 and 2, I told my sister that I wasn't sure which one of Gale and Peeta would end up being Katniss's Jacob and Edward. I know, it's odd to liken the story to another fiction series especially Twilight, but I saw some similarities between the love triangle scenario. AND again, just to clarify, I think this author made the right choice in this series, too. Peeta, Gale and Katniss all change druing the series. They can't help change. They are surviving despite the horrors of war and destruction.
In the end, Katniss can't deal with Gale's war-like persona that doesn't feel that ending the lives of innocents is any cause for concern. He's locked on a target, the cause, etc. and can't let it go, but Katniss can. Her experiences in both Hunger Games have brought out her caring side, her compassionate nature has broken through, and she can't join him in his thirst for blood or revenge. She can go part of the way, but she can't totally get to that point.
I was curious that the author managed to keep her readers from getting bogged down by Prim's death at the end. It's as if she protected us (or herself in a way) by causing Katniss to be injured and unconscious herself when it all happens. We don't find Katniss burrowing away in grief or holding the dead body of her sister at the scene. No, the pain is muted a bit. We discover that Prim is gone only when Katniss awakes in the hospital and acknowledges that she saw her sister die. It's no less tragic. It's just not as painful as it could have been for the reader so close to the end of the story.
I don't know how else the author could have ended book 3. She has put her main characters through quite a long ride of pain and anguish. The Capitol is overtaken by the rebels, and Katniss is essentially banished back to District 12 as an essential "lunatic." Peeta returns there as well, and eventually the 2 scarred, bruised and troubled souls find themselves back together, where they "ALWAYS" belonged.
I'm glad that the author doesn't end things all rosy. There is no perfect skin makeover. There is not a complete return of life to the way it was before. The effects of the Hunger Games, the tragic deaths of family members and friends, the ravages of the war -- these things are not going to go away. They still haunt them. They have nightmares, moments of doubt and fear. I like that. You can't expect things to be all pretty after such horrors. You can't go back, but you can go forward, and so they plod on.
Actual rating: 2.5.
Overall, pretty anticlimactic. I give it half points for the times it kept my attention.
I feel strongly that the author ruined all of the characters she had built up from the previous books. I'm disappointed it didn't end with Katniss killing Snow. I know that would be a typical ending but it would have felt much more satisfying than what actually happened.
Even when the author managed to redeem the "plot twist" she made of Coin bombing the Capitol by having Katniss kill her, the final ending was still a disappointment. At that point I feel it would have been more satisfying for Katniss to have killed herself; no one wins. But instead she ends up with Peeta (and only because no one was left for her to pick otherwise) and somehow they just rekindle their old love to the point of it lasting a lifetime. It just doesn't really fit and Peeta's character was so ruined by the end of the novel that there was no satisfaction in them ending up together.
There were some redeeming moments but overall it was a vast disappointment in comparison to its predecessors.
Overall, pretty anticlimactic. I give it half points for the times it kept my attention.
I feel strongly that the author ruined all of the characters she had built up from the previous books. I'm disappointed it didn't end with Katniss killing Snow. I know that would be a typical ending but it would have felt much more satisfying than what actually happened.
Even when the author managed to redeem the "plot twist" she made of Coin bombing the Capitol by having Katniss kill her, the final ending was still a disappointment. At that point I feel it would have been more satisfying for Katniss to have killed herself; no one wins. But instead she ends up with Peeta (and only because no one was left for her to pick otherwise) and somehow they just rekindle their old love to the point of it lasting a lifetime. It just doesn't really fit and Peeta's character was so ruined by the end of the novel that there was no satisfaction in them ending up together.
There were some redeeming moments but overall it was a vast disappointment in comparison to its predecessors.
Wow! The politics of Collin's story is scary and honest, making the point that leaders of two opposing factions will generally be equally evil! Darker, but very much needed to finish the story with the brilliance it deserves.
-[a:Keith Yagerman|25350068|Keith Yagerman|https:images.gr-assets.com/authors/1675497216p2/25350068.jpg]- author of [bc:Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|102188662|Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|Keith Yagerman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675662770l/102188662._SY75_.jpg|114268809]
[b:Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|102188662|Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|Keith Yagerman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675662770l/102188662._SY75_.jpg|114268809]
-[a:Keith Yagerman|25350068|Keith Yagerman|https:images.gr-assets.com/authors/1675497216p2/25350068.jpg]- author of [bc:Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|102188662|Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|Keith Yagerman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675662770l/102188662._SY75_.jpg|114268809]
[b:Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|102188662|Braxton Rogers and the Brave New Beyond|Keith Yagerman|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675662770l/102188662._SY75_.jpg|114268809]
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