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About the Book:
“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.”
Book Review: **Spoiler Alert**
This book finally got weird. That is not to say bad — but it finally moved away from what made the first book a major hit , and the second one a borderline repeat — Collins finally stepped away from the Hunger Games arena, and took on the world in which Katniss, Peeta, and Gale are struggling to survive. Don’t get me wrong — Collins didn’t lose ground with this one, and in fact I found her development of the oppressive world and the corrupt government both intriguing, and insightful. But it was not quite powerful enough for hitting the mark. The problem that frustrated me most is that the story became set in an all or nothing scenario, that in the end forces the bed of roses ending that I felt was a little bit of a let down. And in the end I found that if you like the book/series or if you didn’t would come down to a question of which character you prefer more — Gale or Peeta.
The political side of the book — and the issues of President Snow, and the war between his corrupt government and the wayward, supposedly destroyed, outlying area, were built on a solid foundation. As the book started I had a lot of hope that Collins would look at everything that was bringing down the whole system — and why they felt that the government needed to be overthrown. But in the end Collins backed away from the larger picture, and brought it all down to the evil of one man, and a mystery ending that was less plausible than I felt the overall story could have been. I did like the characterization of President Snow, and his personification of ultimate evil. But I would have loved to see where Collins ended if she had continue to explore the corruption of the system as a whole, and more of the background on how this man influenced the people to develop a society that lived and thrived on watching the pain and suffering of others — and how the different areas had degenerated into the society that was so quickly eroding under so much unchecked decay.
The characterization I also found troubling in this book. While I loved the characterization of Gale, and his development throughout the book, I can’t say the same for Katniss and Peeta. I felt like Gale was played down, with a quiet but effective strength. Katniss and Peeta on the other hand were overplayed and became almost over developed throughout. The constant, but pronounced battle carried on between Peeta and Gale for Katniss’ affections got to be tiring. Added to that Katniss’ leaning toward the melodramatic and even obnoxious in this book almost seemed out of character for the girl that managed to overcome so many obstacles in the first two books, with such a cool head. One thing that can be truly said about Collins as an author is that in all of her characterizations — weather you love them or hate them — she is not afraid to allow the story to dictate where the characters will be led to — and not constantly take the easy and idealized way out.
Overall I enjoyed the series, and this book — but I just didn’t feel that the second two books lived up to the standard that Collins set for herself with the first one. For more information about this book, and its author, be sure to visit the following websites:
The Hunger Games on Scholastic
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Originally posted 2011-08-02 06:00:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
August 12th, 2011 at 3:53 PM
ahh, that’s too bad Sorry you didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. This is probably the most debated book of the series. I loved the ending, and it wasn’t really bed of roses…
***SPOILER***
Her family was kind of torn apart. Prim was exploded, her mom working all day, everyday, to keep from thinking about prim’s death. Her entire distric was destroyed save about 10% of the inhabitants. Gale’s friendship with her is over when she knows that his cruel bomb may have been responsible for prim’s death. Her friends, her family, her home, mostly torn apart. The ending was inspiring though, just kind of saying that she could rebuild her life…she realizes that she loves peeta, and they have children, and the world is better. but she and peeta still have horrible nightmares and loss. Not really a bed of roses, but shoes that it does get better.
Obviously it gets harder for katniss to act rationally as the rebellion goes along, it seemed real to me. I loved how she killed coin at the end instead of snow. That showed that her rebellion was one against cruelty and injustice in general, not just against one evil person.
sorry the book let you down somewhat…I loved it, even though it was sometimes hard to read because of its dark elements.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:02 PM
Thank you for you take on the book. That is what makes books sooooooo great! That we can expand our understanding of any book through trying to see it through some one else’s point of view. And while It did let me down some, I still consider the series a fun read. Thank you for stopping by and sharing! I really value the input of my readers, and others who enjoy reading as much as I do.
April 16th, 2012 at 4:27 AM
Thanks for a great review. Having read a few blogger’s perspectives I have to say yours is probably the closest to my own that I’ve read so far. The area that we probably differ in most is how we view the series as a whole; for me Mockingjay really let the trilogy down and, whilst I was undecided before, probably pushed me towards the negative overall.
My review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins