Author: Suzanne Collins
Series: The Hunger Games #3
Genre: Fiction/Young Adult/Post-apocalyptic
Katniss Everdeen has survived both the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell physicall, but she has been damaged mentally and emotionally. Now she has been taken to the Thirteenth District, where an underground network of rebels against the Capitol are planning their final attack – and expecting her to be the symbol of the rebellion. But Katniss isn’t sure anymore. Peeta, the boy she loves is still being held at the capitol, being used for propeganda. Her lifelong friend Gale is busy with the other rebels, and her mother and sister are always in the hospital, tending the wounded and dying. Katniss no longer knows if she has the strength to keep herself together – much less an entire country.
After my raving reviews on The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I couldn’t WAIT for Mockingjay to arrive. The result? A book left me feeling rather depressed. I wouldn’t have finished it if it weren’t so popular, and so many people wanted to know how the series ended. The first two held the spark of hope that made the dismal bleakness of their story worth reading, because you knew that somehow, it would turn out all right. In this one? The violence is up, the hope is down, and ‘up’ is nowhere to be seen.
Cautionary Elements: The first two were violent, VERY violent. After all, if a book is called “The Hunger Games,” you know it isn’t going to be sugar n’ spice. But the violence had a purpose there – something Mockingjay seems to be lacking. In the first two, the characters were dropped into arenas to battle it out to the death. Survival was key. Survival is key in this book, too – but the book’s essence seems to have changed from hope to despair, making the violence less forgiveable.
Muttations kill several people and and mutilate dead bodies. People are captured and suffocated in huge waves of ‘glop.’ Another character is brainwashed and several are tortured. Several are shot. One has the skin melted off their body.Children are blown to pieces with bombs disguised as gifts. Need I go on? The violence was really TOO much, and at one or two points, just felt… disturbing. (Plus, I read it right before bed). Violence seemed to be the main feature of the book – ensuring that I will never read it again. I had to know how it turned out, but… I wouldn’t recommend it like I did the first two.
If you want know how it ends without reading the book, you can e-mail me and I’ll tell you and save you the gory details (because I know how gripping the series is).
Ages: 16+
2 out of 5 stars
