I debated whether or not this should be a real review, as I've only read Mockingjay once. And really, I was too invested in it. With every page turned, I must have been holding my breath, not wanting to know what the next tragedy was going to be. I can assure you, they were endless. Since I'm the type of person that gets very emotionally involved in books (and movies), this one had me on edge for the past seven hours I spent reading it. In case you were wondering, I came very close to crying.
Take this for what you will. I'm not calling it a review. I'm just trying to sort out my thoughts. If you consider it a review, that's fine.
Panem is at war with itself. The rebels in the twelve districts are fighting to regain control from the Capitol, under the careful manipulation of District 13, where Katniss and Gale now live with their respective families. Finnick, Beetee and Haymitch are also hiding out there. Under President Coin's (of District 13) command, Katniss begins filming "propos" to show the chaos in the other districts, which Beetee airs across the nation. Katniss distrusts Coin, but agrees to be the nation's Mockingjay, their leader. As Katniss gets more involved in the effort to gain control of the Capitol, it's unclear who her real enemies are, and which of her allies can be trusted. That is the best I can do without giving away anything significant.
Finnick is by far one of my favorite characters now, not just in Mockingjay, but in the entire series. I really liked him in Catching Fire for forming an alliance with Katniss and Peeta during the Quarter Quell, and even making sacrifices to keep them both safe. But there was a revelation in Mockingjay that I never really expected: President Snow sold him to people in the Capitol. For sex. In Catching Fire, he told Katniss he was paid by these people (she thought he was sleeping with them of his own free will at that point) in secrets. As it turns out, these secrets were "tales of strange sexual appetites, betrayals of the heart, bottomless greed, and bloody power plays." Then, there were secrets about the president himself, of how he poisoned anyone that posed a threat to him. By admitting all of this in a "propo" to be aired on TV all across Panem, not only did his character become infinitely more interesting, but he also became one of my favorites.
Then there's Peeta. Katniss got him back only to have him try to strangle her after he'd been "hijacked" in the Capitol. He was injected with tracker jacker venom, which causes nightmarish hallucinations. These hallucinations were made to distort his memories of Katniss, making him see her as a threat. So even though he was rescued a little more before the halfway point in the book, the Peeta of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire no longer existed. I said I wanted him back before the last 100 pages of the book, but not in that condition. Needless to say, I was not pleased. I wanted the Peeta from the first two novels to show up, and there were only brief glimpses of him before the climax, at which point I wasn't even thinking about Katniss and her lovelife anymore.
Just to touch on her lovelife briefly, though...Because I cannot help myself..."You're a painter. You're a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces." That was directed towards Peeta, 271 pages in. I bookmarked it. I'm not telling you who she ends up with, if anyone, just my reaction to reading that. In my mind, regardless of what anyone else may think, including Suzanne Collins herself, that was proof that Katniss loves Peeta. He always double-knots his shoelaces? That's the kind of thing you only notice when you love someone...Like remembering their favorite ice cream or noticing the way they adjust their glasses when they're nervous. You don't pay that much attention to someone unless you have feelings for them. So, on page 271, I decided that she did indeed love Peeta, and that was enough for me.
Now, to drift from her lovelife, because there's so much more to Katniss than that...She is an incredible leader. For someone that had three weeks of military training, she took control of her group and made very wise decisions for them in the chaos surrounding the Capitol. Split second decisions that she had nothing else to go on besides her intuition. To say it's impressive is an understatement. She was more well-prepared for that war than most of the soldiers from District 13 were, which can probably be attributed to her experience in the Hunger Games. Her observational skills are amazing, and she's capable of using logic in, to put it lightly, stressful situations.
I will not say how Mockingjay ended. What I will say is that it did not have a happy ending. It couldn't have based on everything else that happened in the book. Nothing could have happened that would have erased the tragedy that filled these pages. It did have a suitable ending, however. And it's not lost on me that the very thing that caused this chain of events was lost in the final chapter of The Hunger Games. That probably doesn't mean much...Even if you've read Mockingjay, you may not understand what I'm talking about. But remember, Katniss was never meant to be in that arena in the first book. She had her own motivations for going in there. Had she known that what she was trying so hard to protect, in the end, could not be saved...Well, she probably would have volunteered and set off that rebellion anyway. Let's be honest.
Mockingjay is my favorite book in the series. I loved it, and it was everything I hoped it would be. But as dark as the other books were, they in no way prepare you for what's thrown at you in the newest installment. For as much as I prepared myself for the casualties in the war against the Capitol, I still never even considered that certain characters would ever be killed off. No one was safe. Suzanne Collins is not afraid to go where other authors wouldn't dare step foot, and I admire her more for it. As tragic as Mockingjay is, it was the perfect ending to an amazing series.
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