Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins Review--SPOILERS

Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games Book #3)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: YA, Dystopian

Page Count: 390

Book Type: Owned Hardcover

Publisher: Scholastic

ISBN: 9780439023511

KNOW THAT THE SUMMARY, MY REVIEW AND THE COMMENTS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE SERIES. You have been warned....Proceed at your own risk...

Picture from Amazon

Summary from Goodreads: Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding. 

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss. 

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

My Review: The cover, oh the glorious cover. I love all of the covers for this series. This one, with the mockingjay bursting out of the circle, is just beautiful and a bit symbolic. I literally was petting this book when it arrived on my porch. I probably shouldn’t be telling people that. 

I’ll start off my review by saying that I really loved this book and it’s one of my favorite series’ as a whole. I think Suzanne Collins’ writing is beautiful and she never fails to surprise me. Typically I can figure out what is going to happen in a story, but I find myself always saying things like, “wow!” or “oh my gosh” while reading her books. A huge bravo to her there. Mockingjay was heartbreaking and beautiful. 

Finnick is the character that grew the most for me. He caused me to tear up on more than one occasion and his death was the one that hit me the hardest. There were a few moments with Finnick that I found myself re-reading the passages. They included his monologue for the propos where he outed President Snow for what he was putting the victors through, his reunion with Annie, his final moments and when he gave Katniss the rope. Picture Annie without Finnick and I dare you not to cry. Wah. He became one of my favorite characters out of all three books. I think he even beat Rue out.

I wish we would have found out exactly what happened to Cinna. I cried when they gave Katniss the book from him. I so wished he was coming back. 

Now, I do have one major gripe with the book....Gale. I felt like he was cheated. Having some fancy job in District 2 where he was on the TV was insulting to his character, I think. Gale having a high-profile job seems so out of character for him. He felt out of character for most of the book, in fact. His story is something I am still thinking about and I don’t think I will ever be satisfied with it. My friend, Laura, commented that he would have been better off heading off into the wilderness with only a knife and a bow. I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t need him to end up with Katniss, I just needed him to be himself. Oh well, I could go on and on with this one.  

Another smaller one is that I found it a bit unbelievable for the main four (Katniss, Gale, Peeta and Haymitch) to all survive. Death is a huge part of that world, it is a war after all, so it seems as if all four of them making it out, damaged as they were, was unrealistic.

Also, here is a little grumble for the fan-base. I really, really don’t like when “teams” are brought into the foreground with this trilogy. I get the whole “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” thing because, face it, Twilight is basically a love story with a dash of paranormal. The Hunger Games trilogy is so much more. It’s a dystopian war society where the love story is just a small part of what is happening. I would have loved the books just as much (probably a bit more) if the love triangle wasn’t involved. I mean, do love triangles actually happen in real life? I have a hard enough time getting one guy to have an interest in me, let alone two guys who would absolutely do anything for me. That’s another story, I suppose. Sorry if I offended anyone there, that wasn’t my intention at all. 

Now I will fill you all in on some tweets that I made while reading in case you don’t follow me on the Twitter.... by the way, do you like when I do this or should I leave it alone? Know that I was trying to be non-spoilery with my tweets.

• mmkay... starting #Mockingjay now... doubt I'll be able to sleep anyway
• Omg #Mockingjay *tears*
• @heytherebriana good so far! I'm on page 53 and I teared up once already haha
• May the odds be *ever* in your favor! #Mockingjay
• Oh #Mockingjay, you're getting painful. I better stop now or I'll never sleep and become even sicker. I will finish this tomorrow. *sobs*
• Omg. #mockingjay
• Double oh. Em. Gee. #Mockingjay page 177
• Page 192 out of 390 in #Mockingjay...reading like a maniac to find out what happens!
• Jdhskdhsakd #Mockingjay page 217 out of 390. This book is killing me.
• On to part 3 of #Mockingjay. Holy bajeezus, I never know what Suzanne Collins is planning.
• Holy eff #Mockingjay. Page 290bof 390.  (clearly I was having problems thinking and typing at the same time)
• Omg noooooo #Mockingjay
• #Mockingjay, you're killing me. page 348 of 390...
• Omg #Mockingjay, you killed me. I'm finished and sad.
• *bawls* Oh my goodnes.
• I'm freaking out. My friends need to read #Mockingjay as soon as humanly possible. Please. I need to cry to someone. (clearly I’m a bit dramatic on the Twitter as well)

There you have it. Sorry this was so long, I just had so many thoughts about this book. Let me know in the comments what you thought and don’t worry about posting spoilers there too. Since this whole review is chock full of them, it can’t get much worse!