Mockingjay

Summary (from the publisher): 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. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plains--except Katniss.

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 personal cost.

Review: I've wondered from the beginning how Collins could possibly conclude this trilogy (and the love triangle!) satisfactorily. I really did enjoy this novel, but I don't think the series finishes as strongly as it begins. I think a large part of my dissatisfaction is how dramatically the storyline shifts gears in this book. Collins has to create a whole new world in District 13 after she's spent two whole books establishing a different world of District 12, the Capitol, and the arena. District 13 and its underground dwellings and wrist schedule just doesn't jive for me. I also didn't like the full on warfare in this book. I think we've seen the rebellion coming from book one, but I don't buy that District 13 would send a pack of young teenagers into the Capitol to invade and bomb and kill. Yes, the first two books were probably just as brutal, but that was still a "game," if a horrific one. This is straight war and just seemed so implausible to me that they would use Katniss, Peeta, etc. as anything more than symbolic figureheads. 

My other main issues with this third book in The Hunger Games series was characterization. I get that these are traumatic times, but everyone changes dramatically in this novel. I was particularly disappointed with the direction Collins chooses to go with Gale. Instead of the sweet, family oriented guy from the first two novels, we end up with a ruthless, power hungry soldier. I thought it was such a cop-out for Collins to bring Gale down in the eyes of her readers and then have him just randomly leave Katniss in the end instead of forcing Katniss to choose between Peeta and Gale once and for all. I was also disappointed that Katniss seems to have no true grief for Cinna and how little her mother and Prim are developed in this book, where you're actually seeing more of them as a reader. 

That's not to say I didn't enjoy this book. I liked the way Katniss and Snow have it out until the end, and that Katniss is at the forefront of a massive rebellion (although I was also disappointed that the flash forward epilogue doesn't give us more details on the government/ruling system post rebellion.) I also liked Katniss' narrative voice until the end, and how she confronts other people's view of her, which is not always positive. Even while most of the other characters shift their loyalties and values, Katniss seems to hold firm, even in the midst of chaos. 

Stars: 3