Mockingjay Review

I actually wrote this review about a week ago, but I just realized it didn't post.

**Spoiler Alert!**

 

 

I love this book! I want to read through them all again! I’m so bummed that the movie isn’t at the dollar theater yet, but Aaron has already pre-bought it for me on Blu-Ray. =) I’m also super bummed that the movie for Catching Fire won’t be out for a year and a half! I probably won’t care about it at that point. Oh well. It’s a fun series. I thought the first movie was cast well. That’s how I’d imagine all of the characters.

 

Mockingjay was my favorite book in the Hunger Games trilogy! Actually, it’s very close to The Hunger Games. I think I liked it because I was so curious about Peeta, because of all the action, because of the parallels to World War II, because of all the answers I had been searching for in the previous two books, because of the ending. I liked it so much in fact, that I started it around 10am Saturday and finished it right around midnight that night. 288 pages. That is the most I’ve ever read in one day.

 

Mockingjay  picks up right where Catching Fire ended. Katniss has been taken to District 13—which no one knew existed—and Peeta has been taken captive by the Capitol. Also among the Capitol’s captives are victor tributes from other districts. Katniss had been worried about her mother's and sister’s safety, but finds out they’re safe in District 13, where they have assimilated well to their new lives. However, there are some eerie parallels between District 13 and the Capitol that are explained toward the end of the book. We also find out that certain high-up individuals in the Capitol are actually helping the rebel forces. There is some foreshadowing to suggest this.

 

Jumping into the story, this book is pretty much about a war between the rebels and the Capitol. The president of District 13—President Coin (female)—wants Katniss to stay out of the action, but to instead to be the symbol and the voice of the rebellion. Katniss is forced to make sort of promotional videos that are played throughout all of Panem by a hacker. Katniss begins to feel like she is once again being used for a government agenda.

 

When she finds out Peeta is being tortured at the Capitol, she wants to rescue him. While she is filming one of her promos, she learns that Gale and a few others have flown to the Capitol to free Peeta and the rest. When they get back, she is of course, obviously excited to see Peeta. She goes into his hospital room to see him and he unexpectedly lunges at her and tries to kill her. She is injured pretty badly. We learn that Peeta has been tortured and experimented on, and that President Snow has actually done something to Peeta’s brain to change all of his good memories of Katniss into lies and nightmares that leave him wanting her dead. A good chunk of the book is left to that, leaving us to believe that Peeta is irreparably ruined. We see how much Katniss deeply cares for Peeta, even though she has always had this inner struggle to decide between him and Gale.

 

Eventually, Katniss and several others from District 13 become soldiers and train for the war. When they get to the Capitol, they realize it’s basically like being back into the Hunger Games again. All the neighborhoods that have been evacuated have been booby trapped with landmines, muttations, and other dangers. Peeta again attacks Katniss. While they're trekking through Capitol City, they come across unforseen boobytraps and their commanding officer is killed. His last words are, “Don’t trust them. Kill Peeta.” So she spends the rest of her time in the Capitol paranoid and unable to trust anyone. The unit spends some time under the city and in hiding while recovering. Peeta finally calms down  long enough to talk to Katniss. He explains that he’s trying to sort through his memories and figure out which ones were fake. He does a few things that suggest he’s returning to his former, lovable self. (Yay!)

 

There is a lot of fighting and action. Fast forward toward the end of the War. Gale is shot and captured. Several others are killed. When Katniss reaches President Snow’s mansion, she sees only children everywhere. Several small parachutes are released from a hovercraft (the kind of parachutes tributes receive during the Games that usually contain food or medicine). All of a sudden, half of them explode. A group of medics rush in. Katniss recognizes one of them as her beloved sister. Then the other half explode in fire. Katniss’s sister is burned alive. Katniss suffers 3^rd degree burns that require skin graphing. She learns that Peeta had also made it to the mansion to help or protect Katniss and that he has also been injured.

 

When they’re well enough to leave the hospital, the last remaining tributes are called into a closed door meeting with the rebel president (Pres. Coin). Katniss is told she can be the one to publically execute President Snow. Then President Coin says she wants to hold another Hunger Games—for children of the Capitol (who were never forced to participate before).  Peeta stands up and tells everyone how wrong it is. Katniss agrees to it, to avenge her sister’s death. Katniss goes along with it, but she realizes that President Coin is actually just like President Snow. She knows that President Coin will rule the same way. That’s what her CO meant when he said, “Don’t trust them.” At President Snow’s execution, she assassinates President Coin instead.

 

She immediately tries to kill herself, but is stopped by Peeta and some guards. She spends a few weeks in solitary confinement, thinking she's going to be there forever, and tries to starve herself to death or OD on her medicine. Nothing works. She’s very depressed. Finally, she’s flown back to District 12 with Haymich. They’re among the only people there. Still lonely and depressed, she finally allows herself to grieve for her sister and all the others. We find out Gale has taken a job in a wealthier district and cuts off all communication with Katniss. Her mom never comes to see her, because she’s so distraught over losing her other daughter. Katniss is always alone.

 

One day, months later, she finds Peeta outside her house planting flowers. They become friends again. They become close. She finally admits to him (and to herself) that she loves him. 

 

The epilogue is 20 years later, they’re married and have two kids. Katniss and Peeta both still have nightmares and Peeta still has to calm himself down when he has those altered memories of Katniss. But they’ve moved on and are trying to live their lives as Panem rebuilds itself.

 

I love the love story between Peeta and Katniss. I love the colorful descriptions throughout the series. I am annoyed that apparently the author doesn’t know how to word conversations other than “He says, “ and “I say”. Oh well. You’ll get sucked into the story =)