Mockingjay (Hunger Games 3) by Suzanne Collins ☆☆☆☆I just finished this book the night before last and I've been considering my review ever since. I gave the first two books of the series 5 stars each, and yet on this one I only gave it 4. I had to repeatedly question why I was taking away from the score like I was.
I mean, there are things I love about this book. Out of the three it was the only one to make me cry. Without being spoilery, I cried about halfway through the book when Katniss realized what it meant to break. And I was bawling uncontrollably at the end, especially with the cat. Those that have read the book will understand these well.
Basically it came down to this... I didn't like a lot of the things that happened in the book, but it's a book about a war and needless to say people will be lost. I'm actually coming to the conclusion I need to stop reading books where a war breaks out (especially after Harry Potter). The more I thought about it though, it wasn't why it lost a star. Even if I didn't like certain scenes, I have to admit that they are necessary to the story. No matter how sad that makes me.
My gripe with this book came in the last chapter or two. Time moved WAY too quickly. Days, weeks, and months were skipped over in the course of one sentence. And this seemed to happen every other page. It was driving me crazy because so much could have been done in that space. Besides all the wasted time, it was entirely focused on Katniss and I hated not seeing what happened with the other characters. I invested so much time in all the other characters besides her to never see their actions in the end.
In the end, there was so much that could have happened that was left out and so much I wanted to know that was never answered. It lost a star because I wasn't satisfied. That doesn't change the fact though that it was an amazing series and I'd read it again in a heartbeat. Can't wait for the movies!
Quite a few people I know liked the third book the least of the three. Everyone still loved it, but it somehow didn't do what the first two did. I agree that everything seemed to be happening fast. Maybe Collins had pressure to end it, when maybe it could have worked as two books, with more of the characters' actions flushed out.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that it needed to be three books, not two. I like where it went. However, the last book moved too fast on its own. Take the Harry Potter series for instance, the first book was very slim, but the books continued to get thicker as the plot grew so did the length of the books. That was what should have happened here, rather than all the books being roughly the same size, the third book needed to be much longer to incorporate everything at the end that was skipped over in small sentences.
DeleteI don't think I was clear (trying to comment with kids running around is so fun). I meant that Mockingjay should have been two books, so the series would be four books instead of three. I feel like there is some kind of pressure to have a trilogy instead of letting a series run a natural course.
DeleteOh, I agree! Mockingjay could have easily ended with that last arrow ;) Then the ending that was rushed through would have had full opportunity to grow and be what it deserved. And I agree about trilogies, they seem to be everywhere right now. But people need to remember that trilogies aren't necessary. Twilight was 4 books (5 movies). Harry Potter was 7 books (8 movies). The Fallen series by Lauren Kate is 4 books. Morganville Vampires is 11 books and counting. Going more than 3 books is perfectly acceptable when you have the material to do so.
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