Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: August 2010 by Scholastic Press

My Rating: 5 stars
Tags: YA | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Series (Book 3)
Includes: Violence/Murder, Sensuality

First Lines: I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood. Over there was the kitchen table.

**This review contains spoilers for those that haven't read the first and second books of The Hunger Games series!**

Katniss Everdeen, my personal favorite fictional character, has survived yet another Hunger Games and made a fool out of the Capital once again. Before long, an entire war between the districts and Capital has begun and Katniss, the Mockingjay, is the symbol of it. No one is safe and no one knows who to trust. To make matters worse, Peeta is in the hands of an angry President Snow. Now, all of our favorite characters from the series must take up their weapons and fight the war that they started, never looking back.

I am completely blown away once again by Suzanne Collins' wonderfully written series. I've been sitting here staring at this screen for five minutes because I'm just speechless of where to even begin. Katniss. In this last book, a new side of Katniss emerges; she's still the tough and determined chick that I fell in love with, but at the same time is just plain human. All of her horrible experiences start to mess with her mind, leaving her depressed and numb. She was weak in parts of the book and just wanted to hide away for the rest of her life, which was so realistic! I think sometimes I forgot that she's still a maturing teenager coping with things way beyond her control, so it was nice seeing a more emotional side of her. I'm also so glad that her role as the Mockingjay, face of the rebellion, didn't get to her. She didn't take advantage of her authority or think she was better than anyone. Her only goal was to protect her loved ones and kill Snow. Katniss freaking kicks butt and does an amazing job at it.

From page 323
It's as if in an instant, a painted window shatters, revealing the ugly world behind it. Laughter changes to screams, blood stains pastel stones, real smoke darkens the special effect stuff made for television. A second explosion seems to split the air and leaves my ears ringing. But I can't make out where it came from.

Suzanne Collins has always written those violent and bloody scenes so raw that you can't stop reading but at the same time want to turn your eyes away from the pages. Out of all the books, I think this one was the hardest to read. It was torture for my heart to read about characters that I've grown so fond of, die for a noble cause. But the one thing that I think separates this series from any other is how real it is. Even though I didn't want certain characters to die, they did anyway. And later, after finishing the book, I'm glad they did. This wasn't a fairytale story or a feel-good kind of book. It was the raw truth of how life is and how humans treat each other. There was no sugarcoated ending or promise that everything was going to go back to normal. I'm just bewildered at how truly astounding this particular book and overall series is.

I never knew what to expect next. There were twists and turns in each chapter that I didn't see coming and I read the entire second half of the novel in one sitting. I do think that it started out a bit slow but once they actually start going to war with the Capital head-on, it's a very intense read. I am still shocked that this favorite series of mine is actually over. I can only cross my fingers that the movie will be equally as powerful, enjoyable, emotional, and creative as this book was.

Cover Thoughts: Love at first sight. The whole series' covers have a theme and this one's probably my favorite. I just love that beautiful mockingjay and the blue color!

Book Supplied by: Bought at the book depository.