For my third read in March (Yes, you read that right! I've read more books this month than I did last YEAR!), I read Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. After reading Catching Fire, I simply had to read Mockingjay right away and finish off the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Mockingjay picked up about a month after Catching Fire left off, with Katniss rescued by District 13 and Peeta captured by the capitol. This book is all about the full on war being raged between the Capitol and the rebels and we finally get the resolution as to what happens to Panem, Katniss, Peeta and Gale.
I have to say I didn't love this book as much as the first two. It had a ton of action, the characters we love and was very well written but since it was all about war it had the feeling of despair looming on every page. In the first two books the characters are placed in horrible situations but there is always the hope of a positive outcome. In this book, I didn't feel like there would be a happy ending so to speak. The ending *kind of* gives you what you wanted throughout the series but to me it still felt sad and unsatisfying.
However, I think that perhaps Collins intended the reader to feel unsatisfied at the end of the series. The series does say a lot about what our society is capable of, how desensitization to violence and death could lead us on a path to a society like the one in Panem. How only standing up to the powers that be could save us from such a society. If that was her intention, then she succeeded.
I really enjoyed this series and would recommend it to most but I must admit the final book left me wishing it had ended with less bloodshed and more hope. I will miss the characters I grew so fond of in the nearly 1200 pages we spent together. Thank you to Collins for writing a series that was hard to put down. While Catching Fire was my favorite book in the series, all three had me looking forward to the pages to come. I might look out for more of her books in the future!
I agree with you, that this book didn't seem as good as the first two, but my biggest problem with it wasn't that it didn't end happily, but that to me it seemed as if Collins got lazy with her characters. When important people in Mockingjay died, it was like it hardly mattered to Katniss (such as Finnick) whereas in the first two books Collins took the time to address her feelings over such significant events (like Rue for example). I'm not sure if she did this on purpose to show how desensitized Katniss was becoming to her friends dying, but I loved Finnick, and I though she should have done a better job killing him (as funny as that sounds!)
ReplyDeleteI loved Finnick too! I get that the war had desensitized everyone and they were losing so many people that it wasn't as shocking anymore, but I also felt like Finnick's death wasn't done well. He was a really important character and you are right, Collins had Katniss acting like it wasn't that big of a deal. I really enjoyed the series but Mockingjay wasn't my favorite of the three.
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