A review by withlivjones
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A thrilling end to the trilogy, featuring realistic, un-sugarcoated depictions of war where the stakes are high and a lot of favourite characters are lost :( Something I’ve loved in this series is that Katniss isn’t presented as some bulletproof heroine. Sure, she is able to hold her own to some extent but Collins could have made her some overpowered prodigal Mary-Sue (which is kind of how she’s presented in propaganda as the Mockingjay) when really she’s still so young and she never comes away from battle unscathed and instead almost always survives out of sheer luck or through other people’s help (or sacrifice). I think this makes her a super realistic and compelling protagonist. I also really like how the romance wasn’t really the focus of the trilogy, there was a bit more love triangle content in this book but even then it takes a backseat to the rebellion, and as Katniss says, she “can survive just fine without either” of Peeta or Gale. 

I do think that the pace sped up a little too much towards the end - we spend so much time in Katniss’ head leading up to the end of the war and the execution, but I would have loved to have seen more of her thought process as she decided both to hold the symbolic Hunger Games and to kill Coin instead of Snow, since both of these decisions are really significant and they just kind of happen without much explanation. The ending itself and the epilogue is really sweet though, and I like that it took a long time for Katniss to have children and that Peeta was willing to wait for her, since Katniss was so terrified of being forced to bring children into Panem in Catching Fire. Overall, I loved this book and the entire trilogy and I can’t believe it took me so long to read it!
 
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