Written by: Suzanne Collins
Released: August 24, 2010 by Scholastic Press
Summary: 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 plans -- 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.
So, it took me a while to finally read this book, but I did it. I think that I wasn’t wanting the series to end, but there can only be so many Hunger Games before the idea gets tired. Sadly, think that that was slightly the feeling behind this book.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I liked the book. Sure, the other two I enjoyed reading more, but this one was a nice ending to the entire universe. I was more than ecstatic that Katniss ended up with Peeta, (Gale was too much like her for it to ever work)and the whole epilogue didn’t bother me like it did other readers, but the entire book was a bit... dull in comparison.
I mean, come on, compared to the action-packed two previous books and the scariness of the Hunger Games and the arena, having more than half the book in 13 with the rest in the Capital where there were a few chapters of action it just didn’t live up to the others. It just wasn’t as gripping as I thought it would be.
I think that this book was more emotion based than the others since it deals more with the after-effects of years of Hunger Games and the rebellion that was inadvertently started by two teenage “lovers”. It also is focused on how Katniss feels and how she’s slightly insane at the beginning of the book. Ok, insane is too harsh a word, but she is incredibly emotionally and mentally unstable, just like her hospital issued wristband says. Plus there’s the complete heartache of losing Peeta – all the more reason why Gale could have never been the choice that Katniss made in the end. And, of course, at the end of the book there’s having to deal with Prim’s death, which almost had me in tears even though I already knew she wasn’t going to make it.
There were some parts that I really liked which threw me for a loop. The first was the twist with Coin and Snow and the children being bombed, which is where Prim gets killed as well. The second was Peeta and how they brainwashed him into hating Katniss and trying to kill her. So many uses those wasp-hybrids’ have.
Overall, the trilogy itself is a 10/10 but this book falls short with only being an 8/10. Still, I would completely read all three again and I will always have it as one set of books that I will recommend to people.
Oh, and if you live in Canada and have a Costco card (do they have Costco in the states?) the box set of the books is half the price of what it is at Chapters. So, if you want it for Christmas, either to give or get, it’s the ideal place to buy it if you can.
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