Book Review: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins

Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic

Publishing Date: September 2010

Length: 400 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy

4,5/5 **** Mockingjay- A brilliant conclusion to a breath-taking trilogy and a must-read!  

~ The Author ~

Since 1991, Suzanne Collins has been busy writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the critically acclaimed Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days.

While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try.
Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find...? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part series, The Underland Chronicles.

Suzanne also has a rhyming picture book illustrated by Mike Lester entitled When Charlie McButton Lost Power.
She currently lives in Connecticut with her family and a pair of feral kittens they adopted from their backyard.

The books she is most successful for in teenage eyes are the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. These books have won several awards, including the GA Peach Award.

Author profile by Goodreads 

For further information check out http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

~ The Novel ~

Mockingjay, released September 2010, is the final instalment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The first novel, The Hunger Games, was published October 2008 and the second, Catching Fire, in September 2009.

~ The Story ~

Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep ...moreYoung Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12.

Summary by Goodreads

~ The Review ~

Mockingjay continues right after the events of Catching Fire and does not reduce the suspense level for a single second.

Katniss and Peeta are separated, she is in District 13 with the rebels, Peeta is with the opponents. Due to their separation and the horrible consequences connected to it, Mockingjay is different to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Where the first two novels take their time to focus on the exceptional love between Peeta and Katniss, Mockingjay is mostly about war. Where the previous battles were concentrated on a small area and left room for love, Mockingjay has almost no time to feature it, which shows the extensions and seriousness of this very last war. The fight against the capitol is determining, absolute and decides about life or death of everyone.

I would have loved to read more about the relationship between Katniss and Peeta and the love triangle with Gale, but I can really understand the legitimate lack of love in times of war.

Collins invented an authentic storyline, with characters you would be glad to call your friends, and characters you would fear to call your enemies with a bet and a goal that couldn’t be more absolute. Characters like Katniss, Peeta and Gale grow to their fullest possibilities, experience their worst nightmares and need to make decisions that can change their lives and the future of the whole country forever.

Collins’ writing style is as qualitative as before, but something in her arrangement of the story and actions changed. She applies a faster pace and doesn’t give as many details or time to adjust to shocking incidents and unexpected turns. Her writing and pace strengthen the feeling of witnessing a terrible war. In war there is no time for love, no time for details, sometimes not even time for life itself. 

Mockingjay has a very abrupt ending, so that I really appreciated the short glimpse into Panem’s future, that gives us a hint of how life goes on after the incidents of Mockingjay.

In the end some would say Katniss’ sacrifice was worthless, but an act of compassion and courage, the one second you stand up against a totalitarian system is always worth the movement!

In conclusion I must say that this novel should be two. Mockingjay captures so many characters, actions and feelings that I was sometimes just overwhelmed by their brutality and vastness. Another reason is of course, that I already miss (almost) every single character of The Hunger Games series.

Real or not real? The story might be fictional, but the effects it has on my literary life are true. I’m in love with The Hunger Games series!

~ We love this book because… ~

1) reality is just an option, but sometimes it means everything

2) melodies remain but songtexts can change

3) of traps and races that make us feel like we’re on a rollercoaster ride
4) sacrifices are never worthless

5) in war, even rivals team up to fight a common enemy

~ The Verdict ~

A former game has become reality. How can you survive when the whole world has become the arena of a deadly war? Mockingjay is the utterly sad and touching final instalment of The Hunger Games. If you loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you shouldn’t hesitate to pick up this novel, it will stagger you!