Review of Mockingjay (Book)

Mockingjay book review

The last book in The Hunger Games trilogy wraps up Katniss' story and the takedown of the Capitol. Katniss wakes up and tries to adjust (resist) to her new life in District 13, which is underground. Katniss deals with her trauma from the hunger games as well as the fact that President Snow has captured Peeta. Also, dealing with his trauma is Finnick, who is more mentally unstable than Katniss, with his love Annie also being tortured by Snow. Meanwhile, Gale aligns himself with the military of District 13. With Peeta out of the picture Katniss and Gale try to rekindled their friendship, but over the course of the book, their militaristic and political views separate them. At first Katniss is reluctant to help the rebels, but realizes that she has the power to help change Panem.

While this is my least favorite of the three books, I actually really love the first half of the book dealing with Katniss' life in District 13. The second half of the book in the Capitol is a bit slow and drawn out in my opinion. Much of the book deals with military stategy and politics, particulary between Katniss and Gale, something that ultimately undos their friendship. In the first two books Peeta was a major character and Gale was sidelined, but this book reverses those roles, but unfortunately doing it in the last book, we get an uneven progression of each characters journey's.

One thing that I do like is that the romance element between Katniss, Gale and Peeta is very subtle (at least from Katniss' perspective). The choice comes organically, her slowly falling away from Gale, and learning why she loves Peeta. This book introduces far too many characters, and most of them have a few lines of dialogue and we never get to know who they are nor what their motivations are for taking down the Capitol.

Like Catching Fire, this book takes places over a few months, but unlike Catching Fire, the narrative structure is a bit more focused. What I love about this book is that it shows Katniss' transformation into the Mockingjay that ignites the spark that burns down the Capitol. It finishes her story, giving her a somewhat happy ending. While the death of her sister is absolutely shocking, the irony is that Katniss' journey starts by volunteering in order to save her sister. The book also wraps up the stories of Gale, Finnick and Johanna, in somewhat tragic ways.

Much like the second book, Mockingjay is very much two books, the first half takes place in District 13 and the last part is in the Capitol. It doesn't have the intriguing world building of Catching Fire nor the simplistic story of The Hunger Games, making this my least favorite book in the trilogy, however, there is a lot of great stuff in this book, mainly Katniss' journey. The book also wraps up the themes and governmental philosophies that are introduced in the first book. Author Suzanne Collins provides a good twist ending not only eliminating Snow, but another threat, resulting in a minor character becoming the leader of Panem. With that decision the book takes a stand not only against the Capitol but also against the totalitarian District 13, in favor of a compassionate and balanced democracy.

The last book in a wonderful trilogy might not be great, but does a good job in how it handles the political philosophies, and steering Katniss' story to a place that is a satisfying ending. While some of the new characters are useless, Collins makes sure to continue the stories of the returning characters. With the end of Katniss' journey, this book makes me feel satisfied and not needing more stories told with these characters. I love the world that Suzanne Collins has created with this trilogy and Katniss is one of my favorite female characters in literary history.