I have an affiliate relationship with Bookshop.org and Malaprop's Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. Read more on my affiliate page.
If you haven’t read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you shouldn’t read this review. I have avoided Mockingjay spoilers.
Katniss is living in District 13. The Capitol has sought revenge for the rebels’ assault on the Hunger Games in a brutal, unbelievable way. The rebellion is gaining momentum, and the leaders are begging Katniss to become their figurehead–the living Mockingjay.
This was still good, it just wasn’t exactly what I expected, and I think the biggest reason I say that is because of Katniss.
I felt like I’d lost her. She’s so heartsick. She feels responsibility for so many deaths. She spends a large part of the book wandering around lost. There are flares of the Katniss that I love, but they aren’t consistently there. Do I buy her reaction? Absolutely. Am I happy about it? Obviously not. Katniss’s fire is what has drawn me to these books, and she’s down to embers.
Otherwise, the book twisted and turned and I had no idea what to expect or who to trust. I was thrilled to get to see more of Gale. I’ve always felt like he hasn’t had a fair chance with Katniss, and he does get his chance here. There are so many losses, my heart just broke over and over again. There were losses in Catching Fire that I still hadn’t reconciled myself to, so these new ones just felt terrible. That should say something about how lost I get in this world, shouldn’t it? I’m still mourning.
I still love the series, I still recommend it, I just want fiery Katniss back.
Buy Mockingjay on
I have an affiliate relationship with IndieBound, Book Depository, and Better World Books and will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.
7 Comments
Good review. There was a lot of loss. I was disappointed in this book after the first two. I expected more from Katniss but your review helps me keep in perspective her youth.
I enjoyed this book too, but you're right, Katniss is so out of her realm in this book – she's just lost!
I just finished reading this a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it. I'd read some reviews of people being disappointed by the ending so I was a little bit concerned about that but I actually loved it. Thanks for sharing a great review, I must get mine written now lol.
Great review! I haven't read any of the series yet, but I've requested the first book from the library and plan to read it when it becomes available. I've read a lot of negative reviews about the third book–a lot more than the first and second, so I hope it's not too big of a letdown!
I thought this was a very insightful review. I thought Mockingjay was a great addition to the series, but do agree that a lot of what made the books great was Katniss and parts of her were missing.
I was really disappointed in Mockingjay. As much as I wanted to like it, I just couldn't. I tried to forgive so many aspects of it, but the characters that I thought I knew (like you) were just so different, that I felt like maybe it was the first writing of it, with no revisions, etc. I really, really wanted to like this one. 🙁
I'm glad you liked Mockingjay more than i did. Unfortunitley i was greatly let down by the last book in what was an amazing series. It started off great but as the story moved along I realized I'd become detached from Katniss and Peeta because they'd changed SO much. And then two of my favorite characters in the series were killed off. And i get what Collins was trying to accomplish with the ending, but the truth is I think she could have done it a lot better. Thank you for the great review!
blackfingernailedreviews.blogspot.com/