Mockingjay
Ratings2,133
Average rating3.8
PAIN. 4.5. The last few chapters are somehow just as depressing as they were in 2014, but there's a lot of stuff that felt rushed & I wish were explored more
When I started reading the book, I was worried it might turn out to be more of the same. And in hindsight, I should've known better, because I was worried about the same with Catching Fire and the author did not disappoint.
This was such a vast book for the amount of pages. It moves at a very quick pace, but it still finds time for quiet moments. There is a lot of devastation, plot twists, betrayal, horror, loss and realism.
I can't stop being amazed by the depth this author has managed to create. By the multilayered characters - both main and supporting. By the bold and gritty choices she has made for the plot of this book.
I loved it! It was one of the best bitter-sweet endings I have ever read!
There is a reason why this series is such a staple and why it sprung so many copycats.
In this volume, everything is focused on the implementation of Katniss's plan to kill President Snow. For this purpose, she slowly walks to the Capitol with her friends (who volunteered) to do this. Along the way, they encounter a number of unpleasant surprises, such as a mined Capitol city streets. Several people die, so at the end Katniss decides to go alone with her friend Gale. In the end she kills President Alma Coin, who turns out to be worse than Snow. Overall, there are a lot of new details, Gale's betrayal, a new president, and an adventure with adrenaline. Finnick dies, which I'm not happy about. Peeta hates Katniss. Katniss's sister dies, whom I wanted to protect - Unfortunately...
Katniss gets some cool arrows and a bow, which is great. You can see the unity of the book characters in the fight for freedom. I like the book and everyone should read it. I also recommend the movie, which is awesome. I will always be a fan of the movie, or rather all parts.
I think this one was the best out of the other books, I really liked the pacing and the plot kept me hooked all the way up to the end!
Huh. I don't really know where to start.
The truth is that while reading this, I wasn't even sure where Catching Fire ended and Mockingjay began. Since I picked this up right after finishing Catching Fire, they blended together into one long, kind of surreal experience. Of course, Catching Fire ended with Gale saying “There is no District 12.” But my consciousness of everything that went on in the second arena just melded right into our time in District 13. Needless to say, this has been one exhausting, traumatizing, whiplash-inducing ride for everyone involved.
After finishing, I'd say I felt...disheartened? I had, and still have, an empty kind of feeling. Katniss was torn apart again and again, forced to endure yet another trauma, never able to escape the fear and nightmares whether awake or asleep. I haven't read that much YA, but what I have read of YA adventure-type novels (particularly fantasy), there isn't much exploration of the everyday, lived experience of trauma, PTSD, or even physical injury. The characters may go through extreme situations as Katniss has, but Mockingjay is the first YA I've read that really makes this pain a significant part of the book which fundamentally impacts the main character's sense of self. Bearing witness to this makes me ache for Katniss and everyone else; it makes the book heavy in my hands; it makes it unforgettable. Katniss feels so real to me and so intimate to my soul right now, that I almost feel cheated out of seeing the rest of her life. But I can rest knowing that she and Peeta made it, and they are creating a sort of happiness (except where is Gale, I wonder?).
At some points, especially in the first half, I wasn't convinced that the plot made total sense...or that this is even how rebellions work. But I was eventually convinced, or at least cared enough about the characters to believe in the plot. Ah, this painful plot. Every time I thought I had this book figured out, every time I thought I knew where we were going and had finally escaped the worst of it, Mockingjay gave me a jolt and suddenly we were on a different, still more tragic path. I don't mean that I didn't guess what some of the plot twists and reveals would be — but the aftermath of those twists yanked me through a plot which, on the whole, affected me more than I anticipated. I saw “hijacked” Peeta coming early on, but that didn't make it any less painful. To have the finale of the trilogy be nearly devoid of genuine, romantic, and certain-minded Peeta is pretty jarring. Similarly, I could sniff hypocrisy in 13's motives from a distance — but that didn't make my jaw drop any less when Katniss shot her assassination arrow at Coin instead of Snow.
Even though I saw these moments coming, what made them so riveting was that I had no idea how we would get out of the mess and terror that the twists created. How will our beloved Katniss/Peeta duo ever be possible again, and how will he ever be the same? What on earth will happen after Katniss kills Coin?
The void of unknown that loomed after these reveals was terrifying. The answer to the first question took basically the whole book to answer, and kept my heart aching until the end. The answer to the second question came quicker, but not after a harrowing chapter of Katniss in solitary confinement. I've been with her in hospital stay after hospital stay, trauma after trauma, hallucination and confusion and morphling and violence and despair... But this late chapter emptied me and terrified me more than any other. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was late at night...but it was also extremely well written. From the moment the second bomb went off and Katniss watched Prim be set ablaze and killed, Suzanne imbued her words with a sort of desperate poetry that leapt off the page and sunk into my brain. By the time we're in solitary confinement with Katniss, I'm in a near hallucinatory state from her words and the whiplash of Prim's death and Coin's assassination. Here, Katniss has absolutely zero hope for life or future existence — and I am stuck there with her, with no peek of the outside world. I want to weep for her, but I feel frozen and empty at the same time.
And then suddenly we're out. And now we're going “home.” And the book is wrapping up. And things are changing. And there's a future. And this is not what I expected when I picked up The Hunger Games #1. And I think about little past me a few weeks ago, reading about Katniss and Peeta and everyone else for the first time, and how little I knew... How very little I knew then.
I guess the book had to end at some point, and this was probably a good place for it to happen. I don't know why, but each time one of the books in this trilogy ends, something feels off. This one felt like it ended a little too fast. Maybe it's just because my mind is still reeling from everything that just happened, and then suddenly we're done. It's a happy ending, by the time we get to the epilogue, but it's certainly not as shiny as a lot of YA books I've read. Which I appreciate. But it's also hard.
You are strong, Katniss. May you live free and happy.
The ending was a little chaotic (and sad), but overall I'm really impressed with this series. Not only was it a wild ride, it also poses ethical questions that are impossible to answer in black and white.
Fascinating.
This is my least favorite of the 3 books, but this series is one of my all-time favorites.
Slightly better than the previous book, but seems to be written in a rush, with not enough focus on story and some characters. Readable 7/10
This book illustrates the toll war can have on people, especially when governments lose site of caring for people. Not just their own, but others. It's so easy to take an us vs them perspective and see the citizens as a reflection of the government that rules them.
This is a dark book. I didn't find the story all that enjoyable because of how horrible the events are. It does show in the end that fighting for what you believe is super hard. Especially when you've been lied to for a long time or are only given certain truths in certain light.
I'm not sure I'll come back to this one, but it did get me thinking.
Het was langdradig, i know. Ik heb verschillende keren geroepen dat dit het slechte boek is wat ik ooit heb gelezen. Ik heb soms gelachen om hoe ver ik in het boek was en hoeveel ik wist. Maar nu ik het boek uit heb ben ik blij dat ik het heb gelezen. Er is nu een einde (niet dat ik er overal mee eens ben).
I JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK OMG THE FEELS I CANNOT BELIEVE I FINISHED THE SERIES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH FINNICK! PRIM! WHYYY
It was a great end to a great series. I am going to miss these characters so much.
It's been four to five years since I last read any of The Hunger Games books and they're still just as good.
I truly love this series and it's probably one of the only YA series where I actually ball my eyes out every time I read them.
This book was never my favourite but I still love it and I think it was a fitting finale to this series.
These books are just so good!
Une fin intéressante, rythmée, pleine de retournements, une belle fin pour une saga en somme.
An interesting ending, filled with surprises, a nice ending for a saga.
Author should have finished the series in two books. This one is too slow and draggy.
Though the miseribalism gets a little heavy-handed at times, Mockingjay makes for a satisfying conclusion to the series.
This is such an emotionally draining book to read at 5 AM. Everyone is either dead or irretrievably broken. No one is unscathed well probably except Plutarch Heavensbee, come to think of it. I just feel so hollow and spent after reading it. Mostly because of how messed up the world is, how everyone is just a pawn in the political machinations of those in power throughout the whole book that I'm left wondering about the point of it all. Also, the fact that Peeta will never be the same again was extremely upsetting. I think I'm going to be depressed for awhile.
I definitely liked this more on the re-read than I did the first time around, but it still has issues, primarily with pacing. I think finding out more about District 13 and Katniss dealing with PTSD while being forced into the role of rebellion leader via propaganda is interesting, but she is sidelined for so much of the action that there were just these big blocks of expositional text and it made me zone out. I dunno, it just doesn't work as well as the first two for me, but at least Buttercup survived. 3 lizard-mutt things out of 5.
It's been almost a week since I finished this and I still can't decide how to define this book. I can't even bring myself to call it a good read. Easy? Yes. Decent? Maybe. But good? No. Unlike with the first two books in the series (there were a couple of slow points in Catching Fire), I found myself suffering from shiny object syndrome. I'd slog through a couple of pages and suddenly remember something I wanted to google or need to check to see if I already had another book on my shelves or go make a peanut butter sandwich.
Full of stupidity and contrived events. Not sure if I was more annoyed or disappointed. Katniss, our once strong, plucky, determined heroine spent the vast majority of this book either sitting in a closet whimpering and sniffling or being unconscious. Because of this choice by the author, she is informed later, along with the reader, of everything that happened. Talk about passive story telling. When something did happen - and rarely did it actually happen to Katniss - she followed it up with another round of guilt and self pity (sob.I'm just a pawn.sob.) I so wanted Haymitch to dump a pitcher of water on her head multiple times.
Contrived scenarios abounded throughout those almost 400 pages. District 13 is entirely on their own. No Allies. No nothing. They barely have enough people to be considered a District (why didn't they change their name like every other newly formed country on the planet does). Did a meteor hit the other side of planet earth? Completely wiping out Europe? Africa? Asia? Even the original 13 colonies had France. Whatever. Supposedly Coin in all her wisdom and none of the friends she needs wanted to save Peeta not Katniss? Huh? Peeta was never, ever the one the hoards followed. Then you have an elite group of soldiers (Think Seal Team) sent on a very specific mission and you send in an unknown, self destructive person to join them. Someone who has the severe potential of getting the whole group captured or killed. I don't care how much you hate one particular soldier, no commander risks the whole elite team like that. It was simply Collins' contrived way of bringing Peeta back to the A story. All so we could overhear the Peeta/Gale late night chat. And don't even get me started on that conversation. How are either of those two even slightly ok with being the equivalent of Katniss deciding whether she wants Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops for breakfast.
Normally I can deal with character deaths. I may not like them, but I deal. I mean this is supposed to be dystopian. They're involved in a war. People will die. It's to be expected. But because this is a story, those deaths need to be important. They need to move the plot in some way, shape or form (unless of course they're the never met them before red shirt characters). I still can't figure out what purpose Finnick's death served story wise. Other than to give Katniss yet another opportunity to beat herself up. Would it really have been a bad thing to give one character an actual happy ending? Heck once again we don't even get to “see” something happen - we're just told. Prim's death was ridiculous. What type of leader sends in the medical/humanitarian aide into what is an active firefight, especially without first making sure the area is secure? And then intentionally drop bombs on that very spot. I thought 13 was a little short on population. The only thing her death allowed for was a reason for the author to shove Gale out of the way. It wasn't like Gale took himself out of the running on his own. No, it was based on the idea that maybe, possibly, Gale might have had the idea that eventually led to 13 bombing the hell out of their own soldiers, thus causing the death of a member of Katniss's family (never mind that he didn't put Prim there). That's nothing at all like Katniss and her actions causing the other districts to rise up and try to rest control from the Capitol which in turn led to the bombing of 12 and the deaths of Peeta's entire family. (Insert Eye Roll HERE)
In case you couldn't tell, I was Team Gale, even though I knew he probably didn't have a chance. However, I wish Katniss had stuck with one of her early statements about not picking either of them and being on her own. That I could have respected. Choosing Peeta because in essence he was the only one left wasn't her making a choice at all.
The one part of the book that got to me? In the last few pages when Katniss finds Buttercup. Not really surprising - I nearly burst into tears during those sappy Sarah McLachlin voice over ASPCA commercials. The idea of Buttercup finding his way home to District 12 through the barren landscapes and past the freaky predators out there...well...just...sniff.
If you've read the first two book in the series, then this one is probably worth reading to. Just don't expect to like it.