Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins book review

I know I‘ve said it time and again but every time I do, I really mean it. This book is amazing!

I just finished reading “Mockingjay” literally a couple of hours ago and of course I already knew that I’m going to write this review. Before I started reading the book, I read reviews which made me feel I wouldn’t like the third installment of the Hunger Games series but I was wrong. People are entitled to their own opinion and although I felt that there are some points in the book which should be included, Ms. Collins had done a great job yet again.

The plot started in District 13 after Katniss woke up after she was rehabilitated from the injuries from the Quarter Quell. She was just recovering from the head injury she received from the arena and the realization that District 12 had perished to dust. Peeta is gone and she felt that it was better if she knew that Peeta is dead rather than being slowly tortured imprisoned in the Capitol –she was right about that. Compared to what she was going through, she was luckier than most people including Peeta whom wished he was dead instead.

In the weeks that passed it were Gale and (partially) Haymitch who looked after Katniss including her new found team at District 13. She was considered mentally unstable due to her head injury when she was electrocuted from the recent Hunger Games.

In District 13, which was real and functioning after all, everybody had a schedule to adhere to and it felt like it was the Capitol all over again. Katniss felt like something wasn’t right and she felt that she should break away from everything except that her family and Gale felt that it was their new home. After weighing her options, she then agreed to be the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion.

Katniss was ready to face her new battle, except that Peeta was still in the hands of the Capitol and his life was at the mercy of President Snow. A fate worse than death. Deep inside her, she loved Peeta but could not admit it out loud. She couldn’t perform well knowing that Peeta was alive and being tortured. Before the rebellion officially starts the war, a team was formed to rescue Peeta and the rest of the tributes whom were still alive.
Gale was amongst the rescue team who were successful in rescuing them but it felt like it was too easy to claim Presidents Snow’s captives. He even rescued Finnick’s love Annie. Katniss after seeing Annie and Finnick reunited and looking at each other as if there was no one else in the world felt like it would be the same for her and Peeta. So when she saw Peeta even though he was thin and tired, she ran into his arms and he strode across the room to her. Only it wasn’t because he wanted to hold her in his arms. It was to strangle Katniss and kill her with his own hands. If it weren’t for the people around them to stop and sedate Peeta, Katniss would have died then and there.

Mockingjay is truly an action packed book. What I wrote above is just a small portion of what the book contained. Of course I’m biased because I only wrote a part where Peeta was involved but I don’t think the book is a love story at all – well that’s just a partiality of it. The book entertained, moved me and kept me at the edge of my seat. No way was I able to tell what was going to happen next.

The manner that Suzanne Collins described every chapter felt that I was there. The future North America (Panem). I felt like I was a rebel myself whom was after the Capitols fall. I felt like I was the one being chased by Peacekeepers, the one detonating and avoiding traps and yes, the one running away from the bloodcurdling mutts. I cried when Katniss’ heart broke when the people close to her died. Hmmm…did that line intrigue you? You’ll have to read the book yourself so you’ll know who died. Clue – it could be Peeta, Gale, Prim, her mom, Finnick, Haymitch, her fellow soldiers (yes, Katniss was a soldier and a commander for a time!), Buttercup or all of the above.

I recommend this book to 15 years and up due to the description of the war and how most of the people died. There was a lot of gore and blood and was described with accuracy. I give it nine out of ten because I felt like it needed something more by means of description when it came to Katniss and Peeta’s relationship although I truly loved the ending. I’d have to read this book over and over.

~ by TM on September 12, 2010.