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willowsmeanders's review against another edition
3.0
REREAD #3 — 29th April, 2020
I can't believe it took me a third read to realize how cringy this is. It's almost laughable. Character derailment everywhere. Plot thrown willy-nilly. Gale disposed of in the dumbest way possible. And the entire romance arc being concluded in ONE paragraph.
I'm lowering my rating to 3 stars.
________________________
Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Where they strung up a man they say murdered three
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree
Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Where the dead man called out for his love to flee
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree
Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Where I told you to run, so we’d both be free
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree
Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree
Even with the four star rating, Mockingjay doesn’t live up to the brilliant The Hunger Games or the thrilling Catching Fire. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad either.
Plot
The plot is always there, just like in the previous books. That’s one good thing about the trilogy ¬— they always have a concrete plot to keep the book going.
However, what bothered me was Suzanne Collins’s cop-outs. She pulled a Stephenie Meyer everytime something interesting happened and made Katniss faint or get injured. So much for admiring Katniss Everdeen for not being Bella Swan...
-0.5 for cop-outs.
Characters
Katniss Everdeen: Honestly, Mockingjay!Katniss wasn’t as likable as The Hunger Games!Katniss or Catching Fire!Katniss. She became much more whiny and irritating. She kept lashing out and screaming and whatnot. .***
Peeta Mellark: On a much harsher note, I confess: I forgot what made Peeta so attractive. I remember his humor, kindness, etc. But I forgot was so good about him that I thought, “Maybe Katniss and Peeta ending up together was a good idea.”
Gale Hawthorne: On a much happier note, I actually liked Gale in this book. He became much more responsible and caring. His loyalty to the Everdeens was kind. And his concern for Peeta despite their “rivalry” was wonderful. (And I don’t hold him responsible for Prim’s death — he didn’t know she’d die.) +0.5 for a better Gale.
***: I revised my decision about Katniss Everdeen's attitude. After reflecting on it while I stared up at the wall late at night, I find it justified. I mean, she's only 17, and she's being forced to lead a rebellion, and she needs to remember that a jillion people were relying on her and anything wrong would get her killed. Most 17-year-olds were concerned about college, their love life, and other stuff. Definitely justified.
Character Deaths
I have mixed feelings about the deaths. Some I felt were powerful and needed to show to the horrors of war, while others were there just for drama and Collins trying to establish Mockingjay as a serious book and failing.
Powerful: Boggs and Finnick Odair’s deaths fall here — especially Finnick’s. Boggs’s is sad to me because it was so sudden and no-one saw it coming. Finnick’s because it showed us what other deaths — like Lupin and Tonks’s in Deathly Hallows, Hassan’s in The Kite Runner, Mammy and Babi’s in A Thousand Splendid Suns — also showed: war destroys many people’s chance at happiness.
Drama: I think — forgive me, Tributes — that Jackson, Mitchell, Homes, and Primrose Everdeen’s deaths fall here. Collins hardly fleshed them out and instantly killed them like this:
Collins: “This is a serious book. I want everyone to know that. How do I establish that?”
Editor: “Do you have any ideas?”
Collins: “Yes. Let’s kill off some unnecessary background characters. War is sad. Death is also sad. It’s perfect.”
Editor: “Make Katniss brood over them too. We need to tell readers ii’s supposed to be sad.”
Collins: “Excellent.”
Also, I will say something blasphemous — I did not cry a single tear over Primrose’s death. She never got fleshed out. I never knew what she liked, what she hated, what was her fears — she wasn’t there for, like, 90% of the book. And Collins wanted me to cry over HER? I’d cry more if Buttercup was killed.
Some unintentionally sad ones: Castor, Lavinia, Darius, Messalla.
-0.25 for unnecessary deaths.
But despite that:
Love Triangle
Everlark or Everthorne? Should Katniss go with the gentle, kind, funny Peeta or the serious, similar, caring Gale? I really don’t know or care.
Throughout The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I thought Katniss/Peeta was alright. In the beginning chapters of Mockingjay, I thought Katniss/Gale was also fine. But by the end of the book, I couldn’t care less. Even though I felt that at times the love triangle was taking over the plot, I wanted Katniss to be happy.
So, I am on Team Katniss.
REREAD #2 — 18th October, 2019: Thoughts are still pretty similar:
• Katniss had every right to scream and cry and whine in this book. She, quite obviously, has PTSD.
• I have problems with the ending. I don’t mind Katniss and Peeta ending up together, but I hated how Gale was yeeted out of her life. Collins could have made Gale give up pursuing Katniss because he realises she truly loves Peeta. I could see him do that — Gale is a very self-sacrificing guy. But I could never picture the Gale who was ready to look after his best friend’s entire family, who defied so many orders and helped her so much, who worked so seamless with Katniss – as the same Gale who ditched Katniss for a job in District 2.
• Finnick’s death will forever be more impactful than Prim’s. Fight me. Finnick was healing and finding new happiness with Annie Cresta, and his character was much more fleshed-out and developed. Prim was still flatter than flatbread. I never felt sad in the two times I read about her death. It seems as sad as temporarily misplacing your picture of Chris Hemsworth.
• Sometimes I think Collins should have completely dropped the love triangle – made Katniss date another person. It took up a lot of unnecessary space,
OVERALL RATING: 4.75 stars (-0.5 for cop-outs, +0.5 for better Gale, -0.25 for unneeded deaths)
cbeezy1995's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jaswalsh's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
likenirvana's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
brielemongrain's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
shreya25's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
archaeodruid's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This is technically my least favorite of the trilogy, but this reread was so much more enjoyable than before. Katniss and Peeta’s ending was so fitting and bittersweet. I love these books <3
koalabear's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0