Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: August 24, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 398

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”

-Finnick Odair

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Synopsis:

My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.

Thoughts:

An epic battle between the Capitol and the rebels with Katniss at the center. That is what readers expect when they pick this book up. What they didn’t expect is the grief, the heartbreak, the pain, and the trauma.

Out of the trilogy, this is by far my favorite still after rereading it for the 4th or 5th time. When I first pick the book up I expect an epic battle, like others, but I didn’t expect to finish this book taking away more because I didn’t get an epic battle. I would forever thank the author for taking a risk in ending her trilogy like this. Reading it as a teen woke me up to the effects of war and what it does to people – the heartbreak, the grief, the coping, the self-loathing, the self-blame, and how it will never go away. Back then, a lot of YA books are about how to be a kickass person, to be a hero/heroine, to be the savior or the chosen one, but none thought me that crying is not a form of weakness, and grieving takes time until I read this book.

Katniss, to this day, is one of my all-time favorite characters because of this book. As a 17-year-old, she has been through a lot, seen lots of death, lost a lot of loved ones, and even though she cried herself to sleep at night and woke up with her nightmares she would still try to make her life worthwhile even if there are days where she just wants to give up. I was the same age as her when I first read this book, and it really helped me a lot. The book talks about Katniss’s depression, trauma, and PTSD, and even though it might not be an own voice story I felt the rawness and the realness of it all.

The overall plot of the book is satisfying, save for the deaths that shouldn’t have happened. I like how Gale shone through in this book, but I am sad by how his relationship with Katniss ended. It was, and will forever be, my greatest disappointment with how the book ends. (Also, Finnick.)

But overall, the book is a great ending to one of the best YA-Dystopian series I have ever read. Highly recommend!

Also, this “review” felt more like an essay as to why I love the Mockingjay rather than actually reviewing the book.

That is all for this review.

Until next time!