Review of Mockingjay

In short

Mockingjay is the third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy. It depicts the further rebellion against the Capitol. After the initial shock of being taken from the arena to district 13, Katniss is trying to make sense of everything. With Peeta in the hands of President Snow and knowing that they expect her to become The Mockingjay, and with that the symbol of the rebellion, she is at a complete loss how to lead her life.

As stubbornly as she ever was, she does her own thing, making friends and enemies along the way. As the Mockingjay she sees the battle from a whole other view, and tries to find some sanity in all the madness. Spiraling towards a heartbreaking ending, the Mockingjay won't ever lose her voice, or her aim for that matter.

My two cents

It didn't deliver what I expected. I loved the initial Hunger Games novel, wasn't too keen on Catching Fire and hoped that Mockingjay would be the best of the three. Sad to say that in my own humble opinion I thought this to be the worst. It's too much Katniss being insecure instead of being the fire she is. On few occasions you see her rise to the objective and then I'm mentally cheering her on and being proud of the little heroin, but most of the time I want to kick her butt and tell her that she isn't responsible for every living being on the face of the planet.

The ending, or what I strongly believe should have been the ending, is heartbreaking. The one person she sought to protect all along, as killed in action. Her whole world crumbles to bits and pieces and as she herself heals the wounds inflicted in battle, she tries to accept what happened. She seeks answers and finds them in unexpected places. Her last shot as the Mockingjay is therefore the one to remember.

Of course there has to be an epilogue. And it wasn't necessary in my yet again humble opinion. It reminded me a little of the ending of the Harry Potter & the Deadly Hallows. Too much an "all well, ends well" atmosphere for me. For me the book could have ended with the final arrow shot she took as the face of the rebellion.

First published in 2010.
Thickness: 390 pages

Review of Catching Fire

In short

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol-- a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. (www.goodreads.com)

My two cents

Catching fire, what to tell about it.
I read it a significantly long time after I read The Hunger Games. As the first novel blew me away, the second kind of left me hanging.
Katniss wasn't the strong character she portrayed in The Hunger Games, but clouded with fear, guilt and too much doubting. Instead of being the fearless girl she had been during the games, she turned into a vessel for other people to use.
President Snow for his intention to smother the uprisings in various districts. Peeta for his undying affection. The rebels as symbol for their cause.
Never did you see what her own agenda was, only her somewhat strange want of Peeta's survival in their second run in the Games.

Also, her supposed lovelife was a jumbleberry crumble to say the least. One minute it's Gale she's meant to be with, the other she realises she can't live without Peeta. Safe to say she loves both, but I don't get it why she just doesn't realise it? This is something common in YA books. As if loving two different people at the same time is such a taboo.

Peeta's character was empty. Completely devoid of emotion. He acted like he was in love with Katniss, but it didn't sell. The one I thought was truly in love with her is Gale. He's the one devastated when she needs to play out her romance with Peeta which brought them both back alive in the first Games. He's the one too proud to stand his ground and try to claim her.
Not the calm Peeta, with his declarations and calm behaviour. Love is a fight, an ugly fight at that.

Aside from all that, the plot isn't that interesting. It didn't sell. The only part I loved reading were of the days in the training center, getting to know the tributes of the other districts.

I hope that Mockingjay can rise like a phoenix from this novel and be as good, or better than The Hunger Games.

Personal rating: **
Thickness: 391 pages
First published in 2009