Book Review
Title: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: After the dramatic ending of Catching Fire, I was absolutely pumped to get into Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I am expecting a lot of differences between the book and the movie especially since Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2 are my least favourite movies. The opening to Mockingjay is just straight up depressing as Katniss takes a trip to the bombed out District 12, where she has a panic attack at the state of her home and the bodies littering the streets. Katniss is prone to panic attacks after the end of the Quarter Quell and she and her family are now residing in District 13 but she finds the strict rules and regulations of the underground district almost as oppressive at the games especially since they want her to be the symbol of their revolution and she has absolutely no desire to be that person.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, in District 12 the only thing that remains is the Victors Village so Katniss heads to her home to collect some personal possessions including Prim’s ugly cat; Buttercup who is extremely unwelcome in District 13 but she doesn’t care about that, all she cares about right now is knowing whether or not Peeta is still alive. She gets her answer when she sees him on the television asking for a ceasefire and since she knows it is the Capitol’s idea she is sure he has been tortured into saying those things but even in that state he is still trying to protect her and despite not saying it she is coming to terms with the fact she loves Peeta. She agrees to become the mockingjay but she does have some demands including Prim gets to keep her cat, Peeta is pardoned, Gale remains at her side and she gets to kill President Snow. Initially President Alma Coin won’t agree to these conditions but relents when she sees that Katniss is serious about not becoming the mockingjay if these demands aren’t met. While Coin would have preferred Peeta because he is better with people, she has to make do with Katniss and agrees.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Coin publicly announces that Katniss has agreed to be the mockingjay and states her conditions for the other tributes captured by the Capitol including Peeta and Annie will be pardoned for any actions they take against the rebel cause but she also asserts that she is in the control and Katniss doesn’t understand why. Katniss also begins to notice how things in District 13 aren’t as perfect as some believe when she finds her prep team where kidnapped from the Capitol and have been held in horrendous conditions but there isn’t much she can do. She begins to take on the role of being the public face of the revolution which means Haymitch coming back into the picture, now sober, but they still haven’t seen each other since she was rescued from the Quarter Quell. Any friendship that had built between the pair has vanished but they aren’t trying to kill one another, he quickly explains to the others that posing Katniss on stage isn’t going to work, for her to be of use to them, she needs to be on the front lines so she is sent to District 8 which has been the target of Capitol bombs recently. Katniss visits a makeshift hospital and sees for herself how much just her presence can boost the morale of the rebels but this is quickly wiped out when Capitol bombers return and destroy the hospital. In her rage, Katniss provides one of the most moving speeches, it is one of my favourite scenes from the movies despite Mockingjay being my least favourite.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Katniss is settling into her role nicely but the war raging outside is beating down upon her and the person constantly in her thoughts is Peeta but she knows a ceasefire is impossible because it is not only a death sentence for them all, it also means giving control back to the Capitol and for Katniss that is a fate worse than death. However, when Beetee breaks through the Capitol’s electronic defence and airs their propos in the Capitol she sees the change in Peeta. He has become thinner and seems injured and she turns to Finnick for support as they have Annie as well so he understands what she is going through. When Peeta sees the images and footage of Katniss some of the Capitol’s brainwashing comes undone and he warns her about an attack on District 13. His ten minute warning gives them enough time to sound the alarm and get everyone into the bunkers, while she is down there she realises two things. The first is without Peeta’s warning Gale and Prim would have died as they had only been in the bunker minutes before the first bomb hit and second is that Snow will never kill Peeta while he can use him to hurt Katniss and she begins to break down but Haymitch is there to comfort here. Katniss is so hysterical she needs to be sedated but when she awakes her former mentor tells her they are organising a rescue mission for Peeta and Annie, Katniss realises that Gale would be the first to volunteer for the mission knowing how important Peeta is to her and that she could very well lose them both.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, the mission is successful and Joanna, Annie and Peeta are rescued but Peeta’s mind has been hijack turning him against Katniss, he even tries to kill her but the quick thinking of Boggs saves her life. After a few days she can’t stand to be in District 13 any longer with Peeta in the state he is, so she requests to be transferred to District 2 which is the last district putting up resistance against the rebels and while she is there she mourns the loss of Peeta and even tries to start something with Gale but his willingness to kill people who have barricaded themselves in the mine, brings back memories of her father’s death driving a further wedge between them. Katniss manages to inspire unity in the district but takes a bullet to do but Cinna’s suit protects her leaving her only with some bruised ribs. She gets some updates on Peeta’s condition from Haymitch but nothing seems to be improving but she tries to put that out of her mind when she attends Finnick and Annie’s wedding, a small happiness in the darkness of her world. However, she knows the wedding cake has been frosted by Peeta and Haymitch takes this moment to tell her that Peeta wants to see her. This visit is very different from their first since his rescue but in a lot of ways quite similar, Peeta isn’t completely trusting of Katniss yet but he doesn’t fly into a rage at the mere sight of her which is encouraging. What really hurts Katniss is the Peeta that saw her as wonderful is dead and this new Peeta sees her exactly as she is and she hates it partly because she hates herself but there is nothing that can be done to undo the experiences they have both lived through.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Katniss is assigned to the Star Squad which are heading to the Capitol but not to the front lines as everyone in the team is seen as valuable to the cause but not in combat and Peeta is sent as well. This doesn’t sit well with Katniss but Haymitch makes her realise that she is turning her back on Peeta and immediately tries to rectify this by playing real or not real with him to help him sort out his memories but it hard for everyone having him there. However, the Capitol is laid out like an arena with pods hidden everywhere ready to unleash lethal traps and Boggs falls victim to one and hands over control to Katniss despite the fact that Jackson is second in command and he warns her not to trust the others. In the wake of Bogg’s death, the Capitol announces them all dead and President Coin makes an appearance as everyone in District 13 also believes that they are dead so they have the advantage now. Moving underground they make some headway on Katniss phantom mission to assassinate Snow but mutts have been unleashed and quickly their numbers begin to drop including Finnick. We are only now getting into the events played out in Mockingjay Part 2, which focuses more on the action rather than the characters. The movie almost entirely omits the friendship that blossoms between Katniss and Joanna and how they help each other out and how she becomes attached to the Star Squad and feels every one of their deaths despite not knowing them that well.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, things are starting to get really dangerous for the five remaining members of the Star Squad, which is now reduced to Cressida, Pollux, Gale, Katniss and Peeta. They manage to take refuge in a safe house which is a shop belonging to a former stylist Tigris, and she proves most useful in allowing the group to process the deaths of the others and work out what they are going to do next. Since they are only a few blocks from the President’s mansion they decide to continue with the mission to assassinate Snow, they try blending into the crowds of refugees but the streets are still laced with active pods. Katniss and Gale have a close call and he is captured by Peacekeepers and Katniss can’t bring herself to kill him like she promised. She makes it to the gates of Snow’s mansion and is confronted with a pen of children as the rebels advance on the gates. A hovercraft releases parachutes which are bombs on the children killed many and injuring more and when the rebel medics move in, another waves detonates killing Prim and severely burning Katniss. The war is now over but Katniss spirals into a deep depression but she is hanging on to kill Snow, but when she meets him in the mansion he explains that it wasn’t him that killed the children but Coin, Katniss doesn’t believe him. When it is finally time for his execution she realises he was telling the truth and kills Coin instead resulting in her arrest especially after she already agreed to a symbolic Hunger Games with the Capitol’s children as revenge for her sister. With Snow and Coin dead, Paylor from District 8 is voted President and Katniss is pardoned and allowed to return home to District 12 but she is going only with Haymitch because her mother has left to be a doctor in District 4 and Gale is working in District 2. For a while her depression continues but when Peeta returns she starts to returns to normal, they develop their relationship and eventually Katniss realises that she always needed Peeta because he is the water to temper her fire. The epilogue was my favourite part as we see Katniss and Peeta’s children living happily without the Hunger Games but she knows she will have to explain it to them one day and that her nightmares will never go away but they can have their hard earned happiness now.
Overall, Mockingjay was a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy but I can’t wait to read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which follows Snow as a mentor for District 12 and while hopefully cover his rise to power or what led him to become the man we know in these books. Another 5 stars read and I can’t wait to read the new offering from Suzanne Collins and I hope we don’t have to wait years for another book from her because I love her writing.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
댓글