MockingJay

"My name is Katniss Everdeen

Why am I not dead?

I should be dead ... "

Wow, what can I say about this final book in a fabulous series. I must admit I was a little hesitant to start this series at all, but my one good friend suggested I read cause it is absolutely excellent. I was blown out of the water when I first read the first book. It was nothing I had expected, and the series continued to amaze me. From my previous reviews for anyone that has read them you can obviously tell I am 100% a Peeta fan. I am a die hard romantic so when he first confessed his love for Katniss I was absolutely hooked, even though it could have been an entire act to win the Hunger Games, it still made me weak at the knees. SO of course in the last instalment we the reader finally get to see who Katniss is going to choose. Although we did have to wait until the last and finale chapter, it was worth it! I will not divulge any details for those who have not read it yet but I was slightly irritated but also very content with the ending of this fabulous series. Usually series never end the way you want them too or you’re disappointed because the characters never end up together the way you want them too, but in my opinion this series definitely did not disappoint!

In the last book, Catching Fire, we left our characters in the middle of a dire situation, being hover crafted off to some mysterious district 13. Lies, deceit and heartbreak all happened in the ending of our last book, and Katniss as anyone could assume is not handling it well in her recovery in district 13. Katniss in my opinion is one of the most developed characters throughout the novel, she has come a long way in her relationship with Gale, her mother, and Peeta, but with the rebellions and President Snow’s attempts to threaten her to back down she has finally shown some weakness, and think that this is something that she needed to experience before she could involve herself with becoming the “Mockingjay”.

Gale has come a long way as well in his character development. In the first book we just knew him as Katniss’ very close friend, we could possibly see a romance evolving throughout the books but you could not really tell at first. After the first book and second book we see Gale has some unrelenting feelings forwards Katniss’ and Peeta’s so called “relationship” that are better worked into the rebellion against the Capitol. Gale reminds me of the male equivalent of Katniss, full of fire, and anger driven towards the Capitol for had happened to both his and Katniss’ father, although Gale has this scary other personality of a soldier as well, which I found attractive but also kind of annoying when him and Katniss could not agree on certain situations.

Overall Gale and Katniss, grew substantially as characters through Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Now Peeta, oh Peeta, my heart went out to him in the last novel. There was not a lot of information about what was going on with him right away within the book but as it progressed, and things started to happen within the rebellion and then we finally found to what happened to him. I will not tell you anything that has spoilers in it, but lets just say as a die hard romantic and Peeta fan my heart was breaking for him AND Katniss (surprisingly). That is all I can say about Peeta without giving too much away abut what actually happens to him, but I feel like Collins definitely did a 180 with his character and I am not fully sure I liked it either.

The book as a finale installment with a trilogy on the other hand was absolutely spectacular! I could not put it down once I started it. I finished it 23 hours, now I did go to sleep but once I started I just had to finish it to see what happened in the end. Who would Katniss end up with? Would the rebellion work? Who could Katniss really trust? What happens to Prim and Katniss’ Mom? So many questions needed to be answered in the Mockingjay and Collin’s did not disappoint! She put us on an emotional rollercoster and would not let go until the final chapter.  was physically exhausted after I had read about ¾ of the book; everything that kept happening to Katniss, Peeta, Prim, her Mother good god! I was in tears have the time and giddy the other half! But I was expecting no less from Collins. She has had two amazing books to lead up to this climax ending. I found the only thing I had a problem with was how the story of the rebellion unfolded, it seem to be that it was a little slow paced at first and then BAM! it just happened and I felt like I missed some parts but no (I went back and checked) I did not it just happened all of a sudden. But if that short fall I did enjoy how the theme of the Hunger Games hung in the air even though there was no hunger game. It seemed that Katniss would never be able to escape her horrible nightmare of the Hunger Games, and neither can Peeta, which even then I find that their relationship starts to connect a lot more then when they were trying to fake the “star-crossed lovers” act. I feel Peeta and Katniss finally are on the same level with their relationship even though a horrible event has happened and Katniss is the one that needs Peeta more than he needs her.

Overall Mockingjay was the explosive firework display this trilogy needed as its ending. It have everything the reader was wanting, expecting and much much more. Suzanne Collins if I could I would give you a standing ovation, and this book 6 stars out of 5. If you have not even read the Hunger Games I implore you to do so! This is not just a great YA novel it is also my first ever dystopian novel and I must admit I am a huge fan ! They really make you think about how different the world could be. Mockingjay you have stole my imagination and run wild with it, amazing.