Hmmm....... I haven't talked to a lot of people that have a clear cut answer.
I finished the book on Saturday and I'm still chewing on it.
It's not a clear-cut 5-Star book, but it's not a dud either.
Truth be told, I feel kind of the same way about it as I did about Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer.
Things about it, I loved. Things about it, I hated.
Was it well written? Definitely.
Was it appropriate as Young Adult Fiction? Not so sure.
Were there deaths in it that broke my heart? Absolutely.
Was I happy with the romantic outcome? Yes.
If you are still reading this post and haven't read the book, be warned... you are about to get spoilers!
Here's my take on some of the prevailing themes throughout the books.
Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle: This is one thing where I was completely satisfied with the ending. I was never really on team Gale or team Peeta. I loved them both for different reasons, and at the end of book two I was still on the fence about who I thought she should end up with. Throughout book 3 we finally saw Gale's true personality, and although I liked Gale, I didn't see him as a good fit for Katniss. In the end, the only place for Peeta or Katniss was with each other. They were both broken by the Games/Capitol, which is something that Gale will never be able to relate to. And to be honest, Gale designing those new weapons with Beetee really disturbed me. I felt like he was stooping to the level of the Capitol, which makes him no better than Snow. I fully expected Collins to kill one or the other off in book 3, making it an easy choice for Katniss, but I actually liked the way she handled that too. Completely unexpected and different from the usual love triangle solution.
Katniss: in general her, character was so weak during the 3rd book. I really got tired of reading about her wandering around, drugged out, and hiding from everything. It just doesn't fit with the girl who volunteered for the Games in book 1. I know she's been to H*ll and back, twice, but still... I expected more fire from her.
Peeta: It was sad not to have our Peeta through most of this book. I always felt Peeta deserved a happy ending because of his good nature and gentle spirit. It broke my heart to see what Snow did to him. It made me happy to see him fight back to overcome it. In his dying breath, why did Boggs tell Katniss to kill Peeta? That never made sense to me. The other stuff he told her made sense, but not that.
Prim: How ironic that Prim died in the end, after all Katniss did to save her. The entire series was born from Katniss's desire to protect her baby sister whom she loved more than anyone. If Prim had indeed gone to the games when her name was called, she would have likely died and the revolution wouldn't have been able to come-out-of-the-closet. I guess, there was some long term benefit because the games didn't go on after she died. And she died doing what she loved.
District 13: The whole concept of District 13, it's leaders, how it's run, etc., was alarming to me. I know it was such a different and peaceful place from the rest of the districts under the Capitol's reign, but was it really any better? Did people really have more freedom? It seemed to me like a very controlled utopian society. I never trusted Coin or her motives. Turns out that was a wise move.
Who I wish didn't die: Finnick. His death hurt the worst. Maybe because we finally got to know him on a personal level. Maybe because we finally understood how much he had endured after he left the arena the first time. Maybe because we misjudged him. But mostly because he finally got his 5 minutes of happiness. And it was only like 5 minutes. Just heartbreaking. (It hurt almost as much as losing Fred in book 7 of Harry Potter.) And while we are on the subject, I was heartbroken over Cinna, too. I loved Cinna, and every time his name was mentioned in Mockingjay, it was like a little dagger in the heart.
The Capitol Games: This part of the book was so upsetting to me. How could anyone in their right mind suggest continuing the games and keeping it going with kids from the capitol instead of the districts? I still don't understand why Katniss voted yes. If someone understands the logic behind that, please fill me in... please.
Given the extreme violence in this book, I can't decide if I think it should be classified as YA fiction. I know it's about teenagers, children, really, but does that mean it should automatically be put in the YA fiction category? I don't think so. The concept of children being forced to kill other children is so despicable. At the end of the audio for Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins herself tells how she came up with the idea. Think back to the Roman Empire... think Gladiator. I've never seen that movie, because that kind of stuff doesn't appeal to me, but it's the same concept. Putting people in an arena to fight to the death while spectators watch, all for sport. I guess we can't say that it hasn't been done before.
And one final comment before I turn it over to you to comment and throw in your two cents: why did they make the cover light blue? It just doesn't fit. And it bugs. It really bugs. Whose idea was that? It's a nice color for a book jacket, but it doesn't fit well with the other two. It looks terrible on the shelf next to the first 2 books. Doesn't anyone get paid to catch these things?
5 comments:
I don't really have an opinion about the blue cover. I didn't think the book was any more violent than the others, but it very well could have been. This book I felt was the oddball out of the three and district 13 sucked, which was so much in this book. I also didn't care for Katniss in this book but she got injured so much, it wasn't really her fault. I don't know why she would have voted for the Capitol Games either? I was very happy when she killed Coin though and I was very happy that Katniss chose Peeta not out of default (because Gale was dead) but just because that was the better choice, with Gale still alive. He won her fair and square, not because Gale died and he was what was left.
I agree with a lot of what you said but this series compared to the Twilight series if I had to choose one, I'd choose this one hands down. Breaking Dawn to me was a disaster. Although this was my least favorite book in the series, it's way better than Breaking Dawn, but then again I did not feel like Breaking Dawn was well written. All in all it's not fair to compare books. It's like apples to oranges.
I clearly don't read with as much detail and retention as you do. But, a couple of comments. I am okay with the cover. If it bugs you, take the dust jacket off. Off the three books, I think I liked Mockingjay the least. Maybe because I had a hard time connecting with Katniss like I did in the first two. I could see her killing Coin coming. She never did trust her or like her. I think she voted with Coin for the Capital Games so that Coin wouldn't be overly suspicious of her when she pulled back on that bow.
Regarding District 13, it never made a lot of sense to me that the Capitol allowed it to exist, even if they had the potential of nukes. That was just too big a threat. The only way 13 could have kept going would have been an alliance with another powerful political entity. However, the totalitarian nature (though a bit more genteel than the Capitol) of District 13 is consistent with other author's views of the post apocalyptic future. The thing that kept bugging me about the whole series was what happened to the rest of the world? The Capitol and the districts shouldn't have been the only survivors of whatever happened to decimate society.
I felt like Mockingjay was the worst in the series. It should've been atleast 100 pages longer- she skimmed over Katniss's relationship with her mother and with Gale. It bugged me that Gale or her mother didn't come to see her when she was on trial or after. I needed more closure there.
I liked the ending though.
Wow...all throughout your post I just kept saying, "Yah....yah...yah...." I agree with just about everything you said. Having downloaded the book to a kindle I couldn't have even told you that the cover was blue, but I totally agree with your take on some of the characters and plot lines. I was VERY disappointed in the whole thing. I was DEVASTATEd by Finnick's death and felt it was so brushed over as though it was nothing, which bothered me even more. I think she's a brilliant writer and an amazing storyteller, but I think she had a very serious antiwar agenda with the third book. LIke Lexie I was glad Katniss ended up with Peeta AND with Gale still alive, however, I feel like that was given about two seconds of attention which saddened me. Like Craig (who I am assuming is your dad but the pic is too small to tell for sure) I think she voted yes to the games simply to appease Coin so she could later alter the course of the arrow without suspicion. THANKS for the post. It was cathartic.
Agree totally with all your assessments....I do think it should NOT be YAF. I will NOT let Jakob read these books, too graphic and disturbing for sure. But they were well written and it was truly an interesting story although extremely sad and upsetting at times.
My question...did Collins really end up being the one to kill Snow (poisoning maybe before he was placed in the square)??? If there had to be gore it should have been describing that despicable mans death.
Still sort of mulling it all over in my head....
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