once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers
seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on
Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District
12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger
Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.- via Goodreads
The Review
Tears, lots of 'em.
Tears, lots of 'em.
Well, Suzanne Collins has just written one of the best series of books I've ever read. Not to mention my favorite. I hope I can write my review tomorrow because I need to voice my thoughts on this, everything's jumbled and, well, I'm trying to sort myself out right now. Dripping nose, puffy red eyes... I must be a wreck. I want to start now but anything I write might be a bunch of incoherent rambling due to my exhaustion. REVIEW TOMMOROW *crosses fingers tightly*
That was my initial reaction to Mockingjay, written sometime between three and four in the morning. After that, I laid my head on my pillow, and just thought about all of the characters that I love so much. Katniss, her strength and compassion. Peeta, his way with words and kindness. Gale, his passion and straightforwardness. Finnick, his humor and AWESOMENESS. I could go on and on.... and on. Before I knew it, I was sobbing, again. I've never shed so many tears for a book, hell, for a book series! And there were seven Harry Potter books. I just felt it. I kept on laughing to myself that I was crazy for caring SO much about fictional characters, but then again, why would anyone read if you didn't love who the people were woven in the story. I came to the conclusion I am NOT crazy for caring, I would be crazy if I didn't care. So, there. This book is like riding the Knight Bus (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban reference, go here to see the Knight Bus scene). You're going full speed, until a little old lady crosses the street and SCREEEEEECH. You stop dead, your face slams into the glass painfully, the seconds tick by, and then your off again, dodging traffic. One more thing before the spoilers begin, I've never been Team Peeta or Team Gale. I like both, equally. I didn't care who Katniss ended up with because she had good reason to choose either. I didn't even care if she chose to stay alone. I just wanted her to be happy, she deserved it more than anyone. I loved Mockingjay.
5/5 stars
***THE SPOILER FREE PART OF MY REVIEW ENDS***
"Katniss, there is no District 12." Catching Fire ended with this, from Gale. And, since I'm late on The Hunger Games train, I already had Mockingjay sitting right next to me. If I didn't and had to wait a year to find out what happened to my favorite district, I might have lost it. But I didn't. The shiny cover stared at me, looking innocent. A mockingjay in flight, how much more uplifting could it get? It tricked me into thinking I was safe. I knew it from the first sentence I read, this was not going to be a happy read.
Katniss, walking through the ashes of District 12 brought me to tears. Most of the people in town died, including Peeta's entire family. Sure, the mom was a complete witch, but the dad was kind. We never got introductions to either of his brothers, I still felt heartbroken for Peeta.
When Katniss finally agrees to become the Mockingjay, the symbol for the entire revolution, I'm relieved. This meant that she was, at least, attempting to get herslef back together, but you have to give the girl a break! She's just been through two Hunger Games, her town was completely destroyed, and Peeta is getting tortured by the Capitol. Me? I think I'd just become a morphling addict and peace out to the world. Katniss's first mission as the Mockingjay is to visit a District 8 hospital. It gave me goosebumps to read about all of the hope that she gave those people sitting there, wounded. When the hospital's destroyed, I balk. I wasn't expecting it, and it just added fuel to the fire with the hatred for the Capitol. When Katniss and Gale go all bad ass with their bows and shoot down some planes, I cheer them on! Revenge!
All of Katniss's time spent with Gale really made him grow on me. And Finnick, he was just a great character. When he got Annie back, I loved it. I knew the real him would come back, better then ever. And then... that brings me to his death. Honestly, I think it was done for shock value. There was no reason for him to die. Blow off one of his legs! Make his face disfigured! They way he died just made me cringe. Then Katniss has his life flash before her eyes, and it was just beautiful writing.
As one yanks back his head to take a death bite, something bizarre happens. It's as if I'm Finnick, watching images of my life flash by. The mast of a boat, a silver parachute, Mags laughing, a pink sky, Beetee's trident, Annie in her wedding dress, waves breaking over rocks. Then it's over.
I had to stop, and have a cry session before I could go on. I just kept waiting for someone to die. Peeta, Gale, Pollux, Cressida, and Katniss. All are in danger.
Then, the final battle, where Prim dies. Her death didn't affect me. I felt like she was just there. We didn't really see much of her in all three books. We always had Katniss talking about how much she loved her sister and how she needed to protect her. I really figured that it would happen, actually. It would figure, you replace her in The Hunger Games so she doesn't die, then kill her in the final installment. It broke Katniss, though. And guess what?! Gale and Peeta made it through!
When it's time for Katniss to kill Snow, I know she won't. Not because she feels a last pang of mercy, but because she's going to kill Coin. I'm glad she did. She was as snakey as Snow. The ending with Katnisss and Peeta living happily ever after didn't really make any sense to me... But you can't say Katniss didn't deserve it. I'm just saying the people haven't changed one bit and they, in reality, probably would've made her some kind of puppet, set an example out of her. Put her in some kind of solitary confinement. Who knows what kind of stuff these people would come up with?
One last thing, I was kind of dissapointed that Katniss didn't mention either of her kids' names, I hope her and Gale stayed in touch, and her mom... ugh.
Katniss, walking through the ashes of District 12 brought me to tears. Most of the people in town died, including Peeta's entire family. Sure, the mom was a complete witch, but the dad was kind. We never got introductions to either of his brothers, I still felt heartbroken for Peeta.
When Katniss finally agrees to become the Mockingjay, the symbol for the entire revolution, I'm relieved. This meant that she was, at least, attempting to get herslef back together, but you have to give the girl a break! She's just been through two Hunger Games, her town was completely destroyed, and Peeta is getting tortured by the Capitol. Me? I think I'd just become a morphling addict and peace out to the world. Katniss's first mission as the Mockingjay is to visit a District 8 hospital. It gave me goosebumps to read about all of the hope that she gave those people sitting there, wounded. When the hospital's destroyed, I balk. I wasn't expecting it, and it just added fuel to the fire with the hatred for the Capitol. When Katniss and Gale go all bad ass with their bows and shoot down some planes, I cheer them on! Revenge!
All of Katniss's time spent with Gale really made him grow on me. And Finnick, he was just a great character. When he got Annie back, I loved it. I knew the real him would come back, better then ever. And then... that brings me to his death. Honestly, I think it was done for shock value. There was no reason for him to die. Blow off one of his legs! Make his face disfigured! They way he died just made me cringe. Then Katniss has his life flash before her eyes, and it was just beautiful writing.
As one yanks back his head to take a death bite, something bizarre happens. It's as if I'm Finnick, watching images of my life flash by. The mast of a boat, a silver parachute, Mags laughing, a pink sky, Beetee's trident, Annie in her wedding dress, waves breaking over rocks. Then it's over.
I had to stop, and have a cry session before I could go on. I just kept waiting for someone to die. Peeta, Gale, Pollux, Cressida, and Katniss. All are in danger.
Then, the final battle, where Prim dies. Her death didn't affect me. I felt like she was just there. We didn't really see much of her in all three books. We always had Katniss talking about how much she loved her sister and how she needed to protect her. I really figured that it would happen, actually. It would figure, you replace her in The Hunger Games so she doesn't die, then kill her in the final installment. It broke Katniss, though. And guess what?! Gale and Peeta made it through!
When it's time for Katniss to kill Snow, I know she won't. Not because she feels a last pang of mercy, but because she's going to kill Coin. I'm glad she did. She was as snakey as Snow. The ending with Katnisss and Peeta living happily ever after didn't really make any sense to me... But you can't say Katniss didn't deserve it. I'm just saying the people haven't changed one bit and they, in reality, probably would've made her some kind of puppet, set an example out of her. Put her in some kind of solitary confinement. Who knows what kind of stuff these people would come up with?
One last thing, I was kind of dissapointed that Katniss didn't mention either of her kids' names, I hope her and Gale stayed in touch, and her mom... ugh.
This series was quite the roller coaster ride! It touched me on so many different levels and it'll always have a place in my heart.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of people didn't like the way the series ended but like you, I absolutely loved it. It was exactly how I wanted it. There was a war going on and it felt like a war to me. There was blood and death. Since it's a war, the amount of deaths made perfectly good sense to me. And I was glad that the romance was just a back drop to the plot because the main focus was the war.
Great review! It reminded me of all the emotions I had when reading Mockingjay. I need to re-read this series, asap!
What really moved me in this book wasn't the romance but the people themselves! So, yes, I was also very glad it was just a backdrop to the plot because war is war, not a love story. If the main focus was the 'love triangle' it wouldn't have been half the book it was, haha.
ReplyDelete