Thursday, March 1, 2012

Book Review: Mockingjay

This book review of Mockingjay, the third and final installment in the Hunger Game trilogy, is a week in the making.  To be honest, I have started it 5 times, and deleted it 5 times.  Why?  Because my feelings on this book have been evolving.

My initial reaction, after reading the final sentence of Mockingjay, was anger- pure fire and brimstone kind of anger.  I felt robbed of the happy ending I so badly wanted.  Gloom and doom are not my kind of books.  What kept me reading was the hope that Katniss would finally be able to find happiness in her broken world.

I fumed.  I stewed.  I grumbled to anyone who would listen.  (sorry for that!)  I was disgusted.

But a couple days later, an insightful friend said something that changed my entire opinion of the trilogy.  “It really couldn’t have ended any other way.”
I thought about this, far longer than I probably should have, and in the end I realized she was right.  Katniss couldn’t change her personality, the war for Panem had to be ugly, and death was a certainty.
 
From this view point, I began to appreciate Suzanne Collins on a new level.  She stayed true to the story, even to the point of killing off characters that I had grown to love.  She destroyed a relationship that I rooted for.  She tortured my favorite character.  She was right to do so.

I have discovered that the beauty of the Hunger Games trilogy did not come while I was reading it, but in the week since I finished.  My thoughts linger on Panem, on whether or not their efforts actually made a difference.  Could this world be fixed?  That is a question that is left for the readers to ponder.  A true stroke of genius on Mrs. Collin’s part.

My anger has subsided, while my appreciation grows by the day.  To a hopeless romantic, I will never be able to say that I loved the Hunger Games.  But as a writer...this trilogy was spot on. Life has a way of NOT ending up like fairy tales and Suzanne Collins reminded us of that.

Star rating for Mocking Jay: 4 stars for making me invest in this book.

Star rating for The Hunger Games Trilogy: 5 stars for sheer brilliance and for making me continue to wonder about the fate of Panem.

4 comments:

  1. I have to say I agree Amy! I really enjoyed the 1st 2 books but the 3rd did not give me as much enjoyment. I was just ready to be done. I appreciate your insight!!

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  2. I don't usually read this type of book, but everyone was talking about it so much... then when my really tough friend and editor, who has given up on editing/reading all self-published books because she can't stand the poor quality of so many of them, told me that reading The Hunger Games series restored her faith in books again, I knew I had to read it. I'm very glad I did. It has been a long time since a book kept me up all night turning pages, and this one did (although it was on my Kindle Fire, so I was 'flipping' virtually!). I immediately had to go and buy the next book in the series, even though I couldn't keep my eyes open and was falling asleep while reading it!

    Great, thorough review.

    Love and stuff,
    Michy

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  3. Hi Michelle,
    Thanks so much for your comment. I too enjoyed the Hunger Games Trilogy. It was certainly unlike anything I have read before.
    I'm glad that your friend's faith has been restored in books. We need more editors like her to help keep us self-published authors on our toes! Unfortunately, it is hard, as a newly published author, to afford to pay such high editing costs, so many try to go it on their own until they can afford to "fix" the mistakes. I wish that weren't true, but for so many people it is.
    But I do have faith that the serious authors out there will strive to produce the best books that that possibly can. But no one is error proof :)
    Glad you enjoyed the Hunger Games books. Will you be viewing the movies as they release at the theaters?
    PS: my blog has actually moved to www.AmyMilesBooks.com if you are interested in reading some of my other book reviews. Thanks!

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