I'll be honest: I'm not sure that anything in Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) could have lived up to the anticipation I've felt all summer. I began The Hunger Games on a lark in June, and raced through the sequel, Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) only to find out that Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) wasn't coming out until the end of August. I actually broke down and bought this book at Barnes and Noble Thursday because I could not wait any longer to get off the library wait list.
So I really wanted to love this book. First, the good news. What's refreshing about Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) is that Katniss finally grows up. She's always been an interesting heroine, rushing to take her sister's place in the original The Hunger Games and becoming increasingly aware of the politics of Panem in Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) . But it gives nothing away to say that at the beginning of Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) Katniss is reluctant to become the rebel movement's symbol, i.e. the Mockingjay. As always, Collins has a gift for creating suspense and dread. By the time the action takes off in Mockingjay's Part II ("The Assault"), it never lets up.
Collins deserves praise for treating her readers like adults: there are a number of plot twists and significant character development that never feels too simplistic. She eloquently makes the point that how even people on the "right" side, i.e. the rebels, can become corrupted with power. Katniss begins to push back on winning at all costs, questioning the ethical implications of killing civilians and children. While I understand the criticism behind the Gale-Katniss-Peeta storyline (at times you want to shout 'make up your mind already!'), Collins makes it a metaphor for the balance between righteous indignation and heat/passion versus kindness and calm coolness. There's also some interesting back story provided involving Katniss and her parents, which makes it easier to understand why Katniss seems far more interested in preserving her sister Prim over her mother. Finally, can I just say that I love everything involving Buttercup, Prim's cat?
My main criticism of Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) is that so much of the action feels familiar. When the mutts come to attack Katniss and her group, there's no way it can compete with the horror of the mutts capturing Cato in Book II, a scene that still gives me nightmares. When Haymitch is mean to Katniss, it feels like all the other times Haymitch has been awful to her. And while President Snow is despicable, he's no Voldemort (although the bleeding mouth is a nice touch). Finally, a more minor criticism is that it's hard to keep straight the references to many characters, alive and dead, from three different books. It's fair to say that you never want to get too attached to anyone in these stories because they could end up impaled, whipped, electrocuted, bombed, shot or worse. (Yes, there really is a worse, and it involves tracker-jackers.)
In the end, though, Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) provides a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. If you've liked the first two books, you'll probably like this one. I would only caution readers to go in with less mighty expectations than I did.
