Reviews

Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins
(Scholastic)

Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games series, was a lot of things. It was tiresome in some places, very depressing in quite a lot of it, a tad dark, and sometimes a bit slow-paced. But I can definitely say it never quite crossed the line over to boring.

It picks up straight where Catching Fire left off, so if you haven’t read the second Hunger Games book yet... spoiler alert!

Mockingjay focuses on the war between the uprising districts and the Capitol that had previously ruled them. Katniss, our hero and the dual-winner of the Hunger Games in the first book of the series, is convinced to become the Mockingjay, a spokesperson for the districts rising against the Capitol.

I think this was an interesting element of the story because previously Katniss had had no choice but to become famous. This time around it was really fascinating to see how she carried out becoming an icon of sorts out of choice.

Another thing I really liked about Mockingjay was that it gave an opportunity to get to know some of the minor characters better. In particular, I’ve always been a fan of Finnick Odair (the womanising fellow tribute of Katniss and Peeta from Catching Fire). Mockingjay focused more on some of his history, and I was really quite surprised about his background and how it related to the story overall.

An annoying thing about the book, though, was that some of the scenes could have been described in more detail. I don’t often have trouble picturing what’s happening in a book, but it proved to be an effort in parts of Mockingjay. A lot of the time it’s nice to leave some of the details up to the reader’s interpretation, but certainly not to the point of confusion! A few more adjectives would have been a lovely contribution.

I think my main gripe with Mockingjay was how it wrapped up the Hunger Games series - or how it didn’t, to be precise. While I’ve had my problems with the series, I never stopped being invested in the characters, especially some of the side characters.

I mean, there were a few people that had been a huge part of Katniss’s life who seemed to have just been conveniently cast aside at the end. I would have liked a goodbye scene or two, or even just to know some more about what happened to those people.

Mockingjay was emotional, interesting and an okay read, but it could have been a lot better.

2 and a half out of 5.

For more book reviews, check out our Reviews Archive.