Review: Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins
publisher: Scholastic
date published: August 24, 2010
format: hardcover
pages: 390
source: borrowed from a friend
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge; 2011 YA Reading Challenge

From Goodreads:

Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

What I Thought

Throughout most of Mockingjay, I was on the edge of my seat, just waiting to see what would happen next. There was so much action, frustration, and heartbreak for Katniss that I was completely engaged in the story. With the addition of new characters in the form of the citizens of District 13, especially Boggs and President Coin, there was enough fresh perspective and enough new problems to keep things from stagnating. It is the ending, however, that truly surprised me, and not for positive reasons, as I will examine a little later.

Even though she has survived the Hunger Games twice, Katniss's life is still fraught with danger. Not only has President Snow officially declared war on Katniss and District 12, she also isn't sure that she can trust the President of District 13, Coin. On top of all of that, she has been approached to become the face of the rebellion and don the persona of the Mockingjay full-time. If she makes a wrong decision, someone will be hurt or die. That is a lot for a teenage girl to handle. Katniss, however, does the best that she can with her usual caution, feeling, and instinct.

Many of the measures President Snow takes against the districts that are opposed to him are so very cruel and evil that it is very easy to stay on the edge of your seat, just waiting for someone to come along and finally put an end to it. The level of atrocities in this book is pretty well on par with those from the previous two books. There were some truly awful things that left me gasping or closing the book at the end of certain chapters to simply process what I had just read. Suzanne Collins has most definitely succeeded in creating a nightmarish world where nothing is quite what it seems.

Unfortunately, not everything was a rave about this book for me. I was completely behind the book until the end. Unfortunately, I can't say exactly why, as that would give away too much to those who haven't read it as of yet, but the ending felt like a cop-out to me. I was disappointed in the manner in which events came to a head, as well as the states Katniss, Peeta, and Gale were left in. The best way I can think of to describe it is that things were resolved, but left hanging, as well. The epilogue reminded me very much of the one for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in its overall gist. True, it is a completely different kind of book, but the culmination was all too similar to me. I was left feeling very ambivalent toward the whole thing. I actually had to struggle with my rating and even changed it after I had a night to sleep on it, if that gives you any clue as to how conflicted I felt about the ending.

In many ways Mockingjay lived up to the previous two books. In others, however, it left me disappointed. Had the ending kept the same about of action and sizzle as the rest of the book, it would probably have been the best of the trilogy. However, the end felt too neatly wrapped up, lacking its usual grit. As a result, I have decided to give Mockingjay 4 hoots.