Mockingjay - Review

I made the most of my day off and finished The Hunger Games trilogy!

Overall, I liked Books One and Two best. The action of the Hunger Games was really riveting material. Book Three is the most tragic of the bunch because characters you have followed from Book One or Book Two die. The war between the rebels and the Capitol also takes center stage, which can be tiresome. Also, I really missed the banter and lightness of Katniss and Peeta's relationship since he spent a majority of the book as the Capitol's prisoner.

Because the rebellion was the "star" of Mockingjay, I felt like the relationships were neglected/not given as much attention as I would have liked. Gale played a more prominent role than Peeta, which finally gave me a chance to "get to know him". Gale would be great in a pinch. He is really instinctive, strong, and can turn off his emotions (maybe a little too easily) to do what needs to be done. He and Katniss are too similar. I cannot help but think that as well as they work together, they would not make a happy couple. They would always be looking over their shoulders, hunting something.

I liked that Suzanne Collins did not shy away from what one assumes are the realities of war - death, brutality, hardship, deprivation despite the fact that these are young adult books. I also like that she constantly had you questioning who the good and bad guys were. What you end up taking from it is that some people lean more toward one side or the other but even the good are capable of bad and vice versa.

I recommend this series to anyone with an imagination and a sense of adventure. You will fall in love with the characters (I did) and not want the story to end. It is an emotional roller-coaster ride, if you allow yourself to get as invested as I did.

Love triangle spoiler ahead...
















My horse won the race - this was the first thing I said to my husband when I finished the book, which is in reference to Peeta getting the girl. I was so relieved. Unfortunately, their reunion was pretty anti-climactic and squeezed in at the very end.