191. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Canada) - (USA)The Hunger Games, Book 3
Pages: 400 pages
Ages: 13+
Finished: Sept. 11, 2010
First Published: Aug. 24, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: YA, dystopian, science fiction
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Scholastic Canada.
Reason for Reading: Next (and final) book in the trilogy.
There's no point giving a summary as there are already hundreds of reviews which have done that before me. Suffice it to say that there is a war and people die. One walks into this final installment knowing someone (at least) is going to die. War has been brewing during the series and it's culmination was obvious and no good writer can write realistically about war without having deaths. My own personal predictions of who would die were dead wrong and I was quite shocked with who eventually had their life(ves) taken in the name of Freedom.
But it was truly wonderful. Everything that happened in Mockingjay felt *right* to me. It's not what I expected or how I possibly would have had things turn out but Ms. Collins went in a direction I can truly appreciate and understand. In a war who are the good guys? Obviously one would like to think the side one is on, but from an outsider's point of view can there be a good guy? and is there any real distinction between the sides, as bad guys? Each side is capable of the same thing and is it only an atrocity when *they* did it to *you*? Is it right to punish the losers after the war is over? What if you are on the losing side? How do we live with and get on with it all afterwards? Personally, I am not *anti* war, I believe that, unfortunately, there does come a time when one must fight, but regardless of a person's stance on war these are thought provoking questions that are real to any society. The ending was perfect for me. I think it was a completely plausible ending for the main characters and it felt good deep in my bones. I'm truly satisfied with how Mockingjay ended and so glad I read this series now, all together, once all the books had been published.
Even though I wanted a little bit more, I was satisfied with the ending. I didn't really expect how much it would make me ponder the issue of war, but I honestly only started analyzing things after reading all the blog reviews. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.
ReplyDeleteThis book didn't really work for me. I still haven't reviewed it because I can't decide what I want to say about it... I am glad to see other people loved it, but it just wasn't for me...
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone Kailana. It's a mixed bag of reviews out there. There are the ones who loved it (like me) and the ones who didn't. I've read all sorts of reasons why people didn't like it, it'll be interesting to see what you finally come up with to say!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading it now, and I really wish I had waited to read all the books together. I'm loving it so far, though. Great review ( w/ no spoilers!).
ReplyDeleteHi Amy, Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Isn't it awful having to wait a year in between books in series?! I try pretty hard to keep my reviews spoiler free! I hate accidently reading a spoiler myself. Bloggers are so good at warning about spoilers though that I managed to read this whole series now, without having let myself read a thing about it.
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