Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

(Warning: Review may contain spoilers!)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the third and final installment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The book begins with Katniss Everdeen looking at what remains of what once was District Twelve, her home. By the end of Catching Fire, the second book, it is known that Katniss's fellow tributes, as well as Haymitch and the new Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, has been planning to pull Katniss out of the Quarter Quell arena and striking up an already burning rebellion. Peeta is captured by the Capitol. District Thirteen actually exists and its citizens have been functioning in an underground facility after all these years. A war against the Capitol is emerging, and Katniss agrees to be the face of the rebellion, to be the Mockingjay.

The plot is just overall genius. Suzanne Collins is one erudite author. The structure is well-constructed and just so full of dynamic scenes that will make you feel as though you have to establish a mighty grip on it before that specific moment passes. Collins has amazed me with Catching Fire . . . Mockingjay is not a disappointment.

One of the couple of things that I really like about this book is Haymitch's character. For the first two books, he has been operating and/or deciding important conclusions while under the influence. Liquor, it seems, is the fuel that keeps the gears of his brain functioning. But in Mockingjay, Haymitch has been deprived due to District Thirteen's strict rules. He's been in the magical land of sobriety for almost the entire book, and I feel like I finally know who he is. He is sarcastic, comical, sharp-witted, and determined to keep Katniss and Peeta alive. He lost his loved ones two weeks after winning his Quarter Quell, and he has not had anyone since, so the aforementioned pair had become his family--his children. I like that I finally understand who Haymitch is sans alcohol.

The other thing that I adore about the book is Prim's cat, Buttercup. I like him because after all that is happening with the rebellion, the cat provides a light element to the book. It is genuinely heartwarming to read about Katniss sort of loosening up whenever the cat's around. She's constantly minding about what is wrong, what is negative, but when Buttercup's around, her brain is wrapped around her hatred for the cat. Her mind is off somewhere else, which yields her the break that she certainly need.

Mockingjay is honestly a hard book for me to read. I had a hard time going through the story--not that it's terrible, it's beyond amazing actually--but it's partly because I'm aware that the trilogy is ending. I know that by the time I reach the last page, that's the end of the story of the star-crossed lovers that I have grown emotionally attached to the past several days. It is a hard read because the book is all about a rebellion. It is emotionally and somewhat psychologically heavy. Mockingjay is a restless book, literally. There is action within every page. It is so fast-paced that I feel like my mind doesn't have any time to catch up with every happenings in the book. It is immensely action-packed that it seems as though you have to have the same level of endurance as the novel in order to successfully fly through it in one sitting.

Notwithstanding all the great things that I like about Collins's book, there is one thing that I did not like: Finnick Odair's death. I did not enjoy how it came so suddenly. Like, Collins wanted to reduce the number of people involved in a scene, so she resolves it by killing off characters.

Overall, Mockingjay is a great wrap-up of The Hunger Games trilogy. It is an intensely suspenseful novel that, as cliché as it sounds, has kept me on the edge of my seat.

the premise of this one was different

It was a good conclusion to this exciting series. "Catching Fire" was my favorite, but this one was just as action packed and emotionally draining as series finales should be.