I’m a mess of thoughts after reading these books, most of which will make absolutely make no sense as I try to convey them. But the one thing I can’t deny is that these books definitely inspire great book discussion, which is the main reason why I regret taking so long to read them. I’ve missed out on all of it.
I haven’t read much about people’s reactions to Katniss’s final choice, as I was trying to avoid spoilers, and I can honestly say I didn’t know what the outcome would be. In both books, Katniss drove me mad with her “love” triangle. I will concede and say she is allowed to have mixed feeling, but this was extreme. When she was with Peeta, she was consumed with thoughts of Gale; when she was with Gale, it was Peeta who she worried for. This went on to the point where it was sickening, and I quickly grew weary of it.
Still, I think Collins is one of the most gifted writers of our time. The way she crafted each story with simple but powerful words, evoked poignant emotions which once again had me ugly face crying in both books. Also, I loved what she did with the fire theme throughout the series. It was the one thing I never grew tired of. Every line, “girl on fire,” “fire is catching,” “if we burn, you will burn with us” was very well placed. It just drove home the idea that even the smallest flame can quickly run wild, and no one was safe from the fire, not even Katniss.
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games book 2) by Suzanne Collins, 4 stars
I don’t know why I wanted so long to read this book. I finished the Hunger Games back in March, and I loved it! I guess somewhere in the back of my mind, I was afraid. I mean there is only so much heartache you can take, right? Well, CF did a number on me. I lost track of how many times I opening cried.
Realizing I’m far removed from the world that Katniss and Peeta live in, I thought it was sad to see them so changed after becoming victors of the games. I almost didn’t think it possible but Katniss grew colder. Even Peeta, who maintained a good natured sense of humor despite everything that he faced in the Hunger Games, lost a bit of his spark. I just didn’t feel convinced that it was actually him, even with Katniss reminding me that he was the one who had a way with words. I couldn’t see the Peeta I grew to love in book one. Looking back, I think I can identify some subtle foreshadowing by the author of what would happen to Peeta.
Still, he did surprise me during his interview with the baby comment and the humor he used after being shocked by the force field. That is when I saw my Peeta and just wanted to cuddle him into my arms and keep him safe. With the way this book concluded, I’m so glad I had Mockingjay to read right after or I might have jumped off a building, worried as I was for Peeta.
Okay, why am I rambling on about Peeta when this is Katniss’s story? I though CF was a very exciting read which delivered the same level of consistency in writing and plot as the Hunger Games. I found myself really liking some of the new characters introduced, Finnick and Johanna, and was able develop an appreciation for their role in the story.
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games book 3) by Suzanne Collins, 3.5 stars
Why? That is my main question after finishing this book. Mockingjay felt like such a power play on the author’s part. And if it wasn’t for how much book one blew me away, I wouldn’t be able to forgive her for this final installment.
I honestly feel that in Mockingjay, Collins took on the persona of President Snow, manipulating readers to continue in this future world of horrors, only to make us care for people, “tributes” as it were, that she sends back into an arena (the Capitol) only to watch us feel a torrent of grief as they are all killed off.
I kept asking myself, why am I reading this book? The fact that President Snow would die was obvious from the start. This man monster, who was the equivalent of every despicable villain in literature, is going to be killed. No doubt. So am I reading because…?
Do I really want to know who Katniss will end up with after she has said repeatedly that she has no interest in getting married or having kids. No. It doesn’t matter at this point. Not after Peeta has lost his mind and Gale is being involuntarily blamed for Prim’s death.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have read something different than three books about outsmarting the Hunger Games. Wouldn’t it have been braver on the author’s part to kill off Snow early then spend the rest of the time building a new world? One in which Katniss doesn’t end up with either Gale or Peeta, but she still gets something because she really does deserve it. She gets to be what she really wants to be, a lone hunter.
It’s strange to me that after three books I’m still not sure if I even like Katniss. Did I start off liking her, admiring her, yes. But book 3 is all about her whining, and it is just too out of character for me. Katniss’s repeated self pity and “Oh no, everyone is dead because of me” moments had my eyeballs rolling. I was tempted to reach into the book and scream at her, There’s no crying in baseball war!
Overall, I just felt that this last book was such a waste, boring even in comparison with the first two book. The time of waiting through bunker lock downs, watching a cat play with light, even the repeated times that we had to wake up with Katniss in a hospital bed was just filler. All it did was make it increasingly harder for me to believe that the districts are actually in peril because of the large access they have to hovercrafts, medical supplies, weaponry, advances in technology (these things cost a large amount of money). Yet we are to believe that they are on the verge of starving? And that they can’t break away from the Capital with out charging it? Really? Why?
I can’t helping feeling that too many good people were literally sacrificed for mediocrity, and it was more unjust than anything the Capital could have done. The whole make their deaths stand for something was lost on me because most were uncalled for (RIP Finnick and Prim). And try as I might, I just couldn’t feel sorry for Katniss in the aftermath of Prim’s death because when did Katniss ever stop being consumed by her selfishness long enough to spend time with Prim? Katniss had more than enough time to reach out to Prim! And obviously Prim wanted her attention, wanted to comfort her, but Katniss spent all her earlier days dragging us in to closets to shut out everyone. It just didn’t seem likely that when you live in world of complete devastation and starvation, where threats against your life or against the lives of those you love are constantly weighing on you, you’d waste time being locked up when you could be with them. Finnick is my perfect example of this.
By the way, I hated the epilogue. Hated it! Again, why? Why couldn’t the book end at the last thing Katniss says to Peeta. “Real.” This series started off so strong, bringing something truly unique to the table, only to end it with a spelled out, Twilight style happily ever after. I regret reading it. Harsh, I know, but I would have rather seen Katniss die, or worse, Peeta, just to stop the sensation that I was being spoon feed.
Come to think of it, epilogues have never worked for me. Every book I have read that contains an epilogue has killed the story for me. Which begs the question, can someone please recommend a book in which an epilogue actually works in favor of the story? Please. I’d like to read that book next so then I can try to understand why epilogues exist at all.
Posted at 6:00 am • Labels: 2010, 4 stars, Book Review, Dystopian Fiction, Suzanne Collins, YA, YALSA's Teens' Top Ten 2010
I was a bigger fan of the final installment in the series than you were, I think! However, I completely understand where you're coming from. I thought Collins made a reasonable choice, after putting her characters through the wringer, to show that there is a breaking point; no matter how strong characters are, their will can collapse under the strain of trauma piled upon trauma.
I'm with you 100% re. the epilogue, though. Your suggested ending spot would have been far superior.
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Wow, powerful post. I see where you're coming from as well, but I am a huge fan of prologues, I love them! In my case I wanted more of the prologue then what we had… However, I think I would have loved it, if the story had ended with Katniss sayinf “Real”
i had not thought of it before, but that would have been a great ending!
I did enjoy Mockingjay much more than you did, I believe it was a powrful series overall and the last book was hard to get through because it so unconfortable… but it felt real to me and i actually loved it over all!
Great post hon!
Larissa
Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life
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Wow hun, this is a great post!
Although I might agree with you on some points about Mockingjay I liked it more than you did. I think it was the perfect ending of the series although I also felt that there were maybe too many sacrifices. But in the end I think this made the whole story also real – a super happily ever after wouldn't have been the right thing for this series.
But yes, Team Peeta!!
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Well I'm glad you finally read all the books. Sorry about Mockingjay. I enjoyed it and thought that Katniss choice was ideal to her. Nice review
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Sorry to hear you didn't like Mockingjay (which I loved) or Katniss as a character (who is one of my favourites in recent YA lit.). And I actually loved the epiloque, too! haha. Still, I enjoyed reading this review, seeing it from a viewpoint that was totally different to mine!
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Thanks everyone for your comments.
@Galla, Yes, I definitely see what you mean. Everyone has their breaking points, and Katniss's started in book two with Gale's whipping. From there the hits kept coming. Of course I can sympathize with her catatonic state after Prim's death, but at that point, it seemed too predictable.
@Larissa, I completely agree! Overall, very powerful series.
@Danny, you are right. People we grew to love had to die for the story to work in a real way, that is why I was expecting it to be Gale or Peeta. I never imagined it would be Prim.
@Savy, I don't think I ever thought it was about Katniss making a choice. Maybe I'm biased, but in my mind it was always Peeta, she just had to realize it. Glad you enjoyed it.
@Aylee, Even with how at odds I feel with the end, this is still one of my favorite series!
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I love your honest review, Missie. I have to say that while I enjoyed Mockingjay for what it was (closure), I can definitely see where you are coming from.
The book was painful for me to read from start to finish, and I guess what I got from it was just a wee glimmer of hope, and that was fine by me. It wasn't a happy end, or a “let's tie everything up and satisfy the readers end”, but I appreciated it for what it was.
Anyhoo, novel over haha I'm Team Buttercup on this one
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I bow down to your incredible post about Mockingjay. It's everything I felt and thought but couldn't covey into words. Once I finished it, hell actually while I was reading it I kind of wish I didn't. I even tried to warn my little sister that it wasn't what she was expecting. She read it anyway and when she was disheartened by the events in it she told me she wished she listened. I agree, I'd rather not have Katniss or even Peeta die instead of suffering so much. It was painful to read. I also have to agree that ending at “real” would have been better place. That gave me more of a glimmer of hope than the epilogue ever could.
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@Melissa, Ah yes, Team Buttercup! I might have not suffered so much if I had picked that team.
@Edna, Thank you. I'm thinking about starting a support group for epilogue haters. Wanna join? LOL
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I get what you are saying about the epilogue. I felt like it was too much of a HEA. This was a series of war and I was kind of hoping for one of those sad yet content endings. Though a book that I think made an epilouge work was the Final Harry Potter book. For that series you just needed some closure. And another book with a good epilouge? City of Glass by Cassie Clare. I felt like it wrapped up the series very nicely but now that she has three more books in the series coming out don't really know if it counts as an epilouge anymore XD
Great post!
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I read the beginning of this post but skimmed the specific reviews. I haven't read this series yet. Yes, I have it on my tbr, but I'll probably be the last person in the world to have read it.
Looks like I'll like the first for sure but not love the last. Still, want to read it.
Thanks for the post. I'll be looking longingly at my books now. 
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@Caitlin, thanks for those suggestions. I will have to check them out soon.
@Melissa, schedule in these books soon, but only when you feel you can take all the heart break. I promise it will be worth it.
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I agree with a lot of what you said about Mockingjay. I wasn't as in love with that one as I was with the first two. Yes, in war there is death, but so many of the characters I loved died quickly and without much notice. I felt they didn't get the credit they deserved for their sacrifice. And I wanted Katniss to have more of an opinion over the Peeta and Gale situation, I think at one point she said to Peeta “they tell me I love you”. What? Either you do or you don't! I just wanted her to own her actions as much as she did in the first one with the decision to eat the berries. I still love this series, but, like you, I had some frustrations with the last book:)
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“Do I really want to know who Katniss will end up with after she has said repeatedly that she has no interest in getting married or having kids. No. It doesn't matter at this point. Not after Peeta has lost his mind and Gale is being involuntarily blamed for Prim's death.”
Exactly how I felt!
I was insanely disappointed in the final book. You're idea of having her kill off Snow early and then rebuild the world could have been really fantastic.
I LOVED the first books and really enjoyed the second… but I'm not sure I can forgive the third…
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@Jenny, I think that was what Peeta said to Katniss when she came to visit him in the hospital while he was trying to recover from the mind poisoning. It just broke my heart to see him be so cold to her. But yeah, I understand your frustrations because mine where much the same.
@Tara, I've given it a lot of thought, and I think I've reached a point where I can forgive, but I also think it could have been so much better.
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I definitely agree with you that Katniss just needed to figure out what she wanted when it came to the love triangle. I mean how hard is it to know if you love someone right??? You either do or you don't! You can't keep waffling girl! Sort your feelings out!
However I did really like the epilogue at the end of Mockingjay. Well actually I won't say I liked the epilogue because it wasn't the epilogue I liked but the final sentence to the epilogue. “There are much worse games to play.” Talk about true genius on Suzanne Collins part right there!
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LOVING THIS REVIEW! Exactly how I felt! Hated the epilogue. Hated that Katniss never even said “I Love you” straight out to Peeta. Feel like she settled. The whole time, she wanted to get out of District 12, and then she ends up back there saddled w/a dough boy husband and kids SHE NEVER WANTED. Oh, man, you've got me started again. I feel a huge rant coming on. Wish I would have just stopped reading the series at book 2 and made up my own ending in my head.
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