The characters did not act like themselves, and it was frustrating to see they way they treated each other. I didn't like any of the main characters anymore.
Although Peeta was tortured to get back at Katniss, she refused to let him get close to her. Peeta thought Katniss was the enemy and she considered him another tragedy of the war. Without their love hanging in the balance, the fight against the government didn't seem to matter.
It was obvious from the beginning of the book that the rebels would be betrayed by the new leaders, but it wasn't developed sufficiently. It seemed like Suzanne Collins ran out of time and just tacked an ending onto the story.
I didn't believe Snow or Coin were fit leaders, but the people who could have been effective leaders, were killed. If these are the only two choices, everyone in all three books died in vain.
The last chapter of the book should have been a fitting conclusion to all Katniss and Peeta had sacrificed, but instead it felt like a Hollywood conclusion. I was disappointed in the whole book.
I feel like I'm the only Hunger Games reader that actually liked Mockingjay. During my first read-through of the series it was my favorite of the 3. After reading them again, I'm not sure which one is my favorite, because I'm just too in love with all of them.
ReplyDeleteI liked the third one for the same reason you disliked it. I don't think the characters were acting unlike themselves. I think after all they had been through they were different people. I was glad Suzanne Collins made it more than a love story. There was always the relationship between Katniss and Gale and Peeta, but the story focused on so much more than that. I would have been disappointed if it had been the same kind of back and forth between Katniss and Peeta as the first two books had. I liked getting to see a different side of everyone. I felt like Katniss was so real in this book. There were so many times that she was battling everything going on in her head. I think pushing Peeta away was SUCH a Katniss thing to do. She'd always been very unsure about her feelings towards him and once you add in the changes in her relationship with Gale and the hijacking Peeta went through in The Capitol I think it would have been very uncharacteristic of her to try to fix things with Peeta right away.
I also didn't mind the ending. We got answers to our questions, but the story was over. To go into more detail would be dragging out too much, in my opinion. I was glad Paylor became President. I know we didn't get to find out much about her, but I think it was the author's intention to share just enough information to let us know that she would be a good leader. I don't think anyone died in vain. If Coin had remained President, then yes, because I think she probably would have been nearly as bad as Snow. I was disgusted when she suggested a final Hunger Games.
I liked the epilogue. We get to see that Katniss and Peeta have moved on from the tragedy, but they're still affected by it constantly. I think everything was worth it to them though. They're happy. Katniss had children, which she'd never planned to do. That says a lot to me, just because I saw her determination towards everything throughout the series, and to see that she'd give into having kids means she's comfortable with the way things are now.
Sorry for such an essay on an older post! And I don't mean to disagree with everything. I like your reviews, and I agree with most everything about the first 2 books. I just feel very strongly about Mockingjay, because I think it's misunderstood a lot.
I'm following your blog now and I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews. I don't know anyone that reads books as much as I do, so I love getting to see others' opinions.
I'll leave you with a book recommendation. If you get a chance you should read The Fault in our Stars by John Green. I don't know if you've read anything by him before, but he's an amazing author and that's his newest book. I read it in one sitting last night, because I just couldn't put it down. A word of warning if you do pick it up: make sure you have tissues available. It's definitely emotional.