Cinna is really dead. I held out hope until the very last page. He was a character I could not let go of. He was beaten right before Katniss entered the arena in Catching Fire, and I suppose the Capitol wasted no time killing him. The only positive thing is that Cinna was still throughout the entire book. He created outfits for Katniss before he died, he had planned for her future as the Mockingjay. And Katniss never forgot him.
Finnick is killed by muttations. (For some reason, I kept thinking of the chimeras from Fullmetal Alchemist.) Katniss and the rest of the soldiers she's with are running from a group of mutts, and she's trying to account for all of them...I hadn't even realized Finnick didn't climb the ladder. The entire thing played out so fast that you don't even really have time to mourn him.
People may argue this, but Katniss chose Peeta. She chose the boy she couldn't survive without. "I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that." There were not nearly enough moments in this book to satisfy me as far as their relationship goes, especially when you take into consideration all the touching moments they shared in The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. But I'm still happy she chose Peeta. They had two children together, something Katniss had never wanted before. Peeta made her feel safe enough to change her mind.
It's true, Gale never returned to District 12, but even if he had, Katniss would never have wanted to be with him. Their relationship was so strained once she realized the depth of his hatred and his need for vengeance. And Katniss would never have been able to forgive him for the double-bomb he helped create that ultimately killed her thirteen-year-old sister, Prim.
Prim...That's what really got me. Prim has matured so much since The Hunger Games. District 13 told her that she could be a doctor when she got older, a future she never could have had in District 12. I thought Prim was untouchable...She wasn't. While running to help a group of children after the bomb first exploded in front of President Snow's mansion, she got hit by the second explosion and was killed as Katniss watched. At first, I thought Katniss was hallucinating from the pain she was in. She wasn't. The only time I had to hold back tears was after Katniss returned to District 12. Prim's cat, Buttercup, made it all the way back to their home from District 13, and Katniss broke down and screamed at him that Prim wasn't there and would never come back. Katniss and Buttercup cried together over their loss.
The bombs that killed Prim were dropped from a hovercraft that had the Capitol's seal on it. Katniss realized, after a conversation with President Snow, that he was not the one behind her sister's death. It was President Coin of District 13 who orchestrated that attack, to turn residents of the Capitol against Snow. Before Katniss is supposed to assassinate Snow, she attends a meeting with Coin, the new leader of Panem, and the remaining victors of the Hunger Games. Coin would like to continue with the Games one last time, using children of the Capitol as a punishment for all the districts have suffered through. Katniss realizes that nothing has changed, and instead of aiming at Snow, she kills Coin. Snow dies in the chaos that ensues afterward.
In The Hunger Games, Katniss volunteered herself when Prim's name was called. She wanted to protect her sister. In the end, she still wasn't able to save her. But with her bravery, she saved an entire nation. She was their Mockingjay.
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