Mockingjay (the Hunger Games #3)

  Synopsis

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 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.

Loved

• Finnick. I think Finnick is my favorite character in the whole series, and we really get to know the deep person behind the perfect face in this book. Finnick initially comes off as provocative and sexy, but in this book we learn some of his horrors and traumas of his past, and also that he is very deep, compassionate, just, and selfless. He isn't perfect- he is in and out of the medical wing for "instability" and "madness" and has to compulsively tie and untie ropes to deal with his trauma. I love that he is complicated, but consistently so good and unselfish up until the very end.

• The intensity. Like the other books, this story reaches from the pages, grabs you, and doesn't let you go. As I said in other reviews, it's not worth setting your hand down in between turning pages because you'll just pick it right back up to turn the page as fast as possible. I love getting completely sucked in by the fast-moving plot and constant action.

• The twists. I had read this book, but not since the day it came out about 10 years ago. I had forgotten some of the huge twists that happen, and I was shocked! I'm still working on picking my jaw up off the floor after one of the twists at the end.

• The sacrifices. There are so many deaths and horrible things that happen in this story, but I was moved by how many characters sacrifice themselves for others. There are so many characters we don't know that much about who end up being heroes and completely unselfish. These acts of sacrifice and selflessness make the grisly violence a little easier to swallow, although the deaths are painful and heartbreaking.

Didn't Love

• To be honest, this book is pretty painful. Painful because it's so traumatic, so many characters die, and Katniss is so unstable. I do appreciate that Katniss is emotionally/mentally unstable because it's more realistic than many YA novels where the protagonist goes through crazy amounts of trauma and is totally fine afterward. However, because Katniss is buried under so much anxiety and grief, I didn't trust her much of the time because she is so impulsive, and at times manipulative and self-serving. However, she recognizes that she is all of these things, which is some consolation :)

• Peeta's situation!! ***If you haven't read Catching Fire, then do not read this paragraph- it will be a spoiler! ****  I just thought Peeta's situation was so frustrating and devastating. The first time I read this series I was completely head over heels for Gale, so I didn't mind Peeta being out of the picture for a while. But this time reading them I loved Peeta, so his being turned into a monster by the Capitol was so. painful. ughhhhh. But, I am glad for how it ends- which I will not disclose here ;)

• The ending. I won't spoil anything, but I just felt like the ending was one disaster (aka horrible death) after another, with no closure. One grisly death after another and then all of the sudden the war is over and everyone's trying to recover. Wait what? We don't get any closure over who died and how the revolution ended and this bothered me. But again, I appreciate that the ending was realistic in that everyone is traumatized and has to learn to live with the grief and pain of everything they've experienced.

Content

• Language: 
• A few uses of "damn" and "hell."

• Sexual content: 
• Main character shares a few kisses with two different characters. The kisses are not described- more about showing an emotion than the physical attraction.
• A character talks about how he was forced to sell his body to prominent members of the Capitol or else his loved ones would be killed.

• Violence:
• There is no shortage of violence in this story, and many characters we know suffer gruesome and grisly deaths.
• One character is tortured and his blood is shown on TV.
• A character describes two other characters being tortured and killed. He remembers hearing their screams as they were dying.
• Characters visit a hospital of citizens where many are wounded severely and dying. Gruesome injuries are described. As the characters leave the hospital, it is bombed and everyone inside is killed.
• Many people are killed by rebels shooting a mountain, purposely causing an avalanche and trapping many people in a building on the mountain.
• One character becomes manipulated and brainwashed and tries to kill those he loves.
• A character's legs are blown off and he dies a few minutes later. His injuries are described.
• A character is caught in a net and killed from black tar filling the air.
• A character is caught in a beam of light where his flesh is melted off.
• A few characters are decapitated by Capitol-built monsters, and others are heard screaming as they are killed by the monsters.
• Many children are killed and wounded in two different explosions.
• Many civilians are killed as the street opens up and splits in two.
• Many people are killed by gunfire throughout the book. One main character is shot and receives injury, but is not killed.
• The main character shoots multiple people and kills them throughout the book.
• Many references to past Hunger Games and the gruesome deaths past tributes suffered.


• Other themes:
• One character deals with all the trauma through drinking. In this book he is forced off the alcohol and goes through withdrawals.
• Another character becomes dependent on "morphling," which is a painkiller. This character steals the narcotic from others and goes through withdrawals when she doesn't get it.

Overall Thoughts

I hadn't read this book since the day it came out, and I had forgotten virtually everything that happens- and wow! It's quite a ride. I enjoyed the fast pace and the twists, and the writing was as engaging and captivating as ever. However, this book is not very fun to read because so many people die and all the main characters suffer so much. There are so many deaths that we start becoming numb to them, and don't really get much closure about them, which is unsettling. Katniss is also hard to like sometimes because she is so unstable that she is impulsive, manipulative, and at times careless. However, I do appreciate that this book is more realistic in that Katniss and some of the other characters are unstable from the trauma they've experienced, and that the ending isn't necessarily happy- because how could it be after all they've gone through? While this is my least favorite book in the series, it does provide an explosive and captivating ending to this iconic series, and it's not to be missed.