Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Series: The Hunger Games #3

Hardcover, 390 pages
Publication: August 24, 2014 by Scholastic Press

Source: Purchased for my own reading.

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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.

With Mockingjay being the final installment in The Hunger Games series, I was expecting it to be great; if not better than the previous books in the series. There were some parts I enjoyed, but overall the book left me feeling meh and disappointed.

What I enjoyed were the actions scenes but the main plot and outcome of the book, not so much. From the start of the book till the very end all Katniss was doing was complaining and crying about the situation. She never wanted to be the Mockingjay, yet she was forced to be it anyways. She went from being President Snow’s pawn to President Coin’s pawn. Nothing changed. I think my opinion of the book would have been different if she actually wanted to be the face of the rebels. But the biggest disappointment was the end. Again, at the beginning of the book Katniss told everyone she was going to kill President Snow. She’s definitely capable and everyone believes it too. People risked their lives for the cause and for Katniss so she can complete the mission. Complete what she was set out to do from the very beginning…to kill Snow. However, the last scene was Snow was so anticlimactic, I felt cheated. And the big twist everyone was so shocked about was whatever to me.

I really liked the first two books in the series, but with Mockingjay it felt like a filler book to complete the trilogy. All of the events in Mockingjay built up to a poorly executed and abrupt ending. It as if everything leading up to the end from book one was for nothing. In my opinion the author just got plain o’ lazy and totally gave up on this series and its characters. Mockingjay had none of the qualities of the first two books and now I wish I stopped at Catching Fire. This could have been an amazing series, but with the addition of Mockingjay it just ruins it. What a shame.