Saturday 2 October 2010

Book Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Synopsis
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge...


My Review
I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I had to order it from amazon, and the 3 days it took to arrive were agonizing. However when i did get it, it didn't grip me as much as the other two, proof in itself that the first two books i had read and finished in an evening, whereas i picked this up and put it down over the last 3 days. This book starts straight where book 2 left off. Katniss was rescued from teh arena by Plutarch and the rebels, and Peeta has been taken prisoner. The Capitol is out for revenge and Katniss is the only one who can lead the way, but doesn't seem in the right frame of mind to do this. The excitement of the first 2 novels, still exists in places, but is seperated by long paragraphs of arguments, hospitalizations and meetings. 
Katniss is still the main character but to me has lost most of her fire, she spends most of this book doing what's she is ordered to do, or defying orders and ending up drugged up in hospital. 
However as i go more into the book and further through the story i could see why this has been done. Peeta is absent for a lot of the book but where he does feature, he comes back with a bang. Gale seems to be drifting further from Katniss as the story goes on and growing up into a stranger. soemtimes a killing machine, sometimes there with the old support but never as close as before. I loved this book for the fact we see a lot more of Prim, and not as the frightened little girl of book 1, but a young girl with hopes, dreams and a plan for her future. She comes across more grown up and a real strength and support for Katniss. 
The story gets really exciting towards the last 150 pages, where the rebels really kick up a gear into the war and things begin to happen at an alarming pace. There were some points where i found myself confused as to what was happening and having to re-read the odd paragraph, but that may have been done to my excitement and eagerness to know what would happen next. Everything seems to come together at once leaving scary, shocking and tear-jerking scenes. 
I am trying not to put anything in that could be a spoiler, but there is so much i want to say about this book. You must all realize there will be a lot of deaths in this book, i won't say who, but know that i was in tears for a lot of the last 50 or so pages. Two of my favourite characters are killed, and many more lost. So get the tissues ready. The writing is really good, i could feel the raw emotion of the story and the tense situations had me gripping the pages of my book and biting my lip. 
This is definitely not my favourite part of the trilogy in some ways, but then in others it is. There isn't technically a "Hunger Games"  in this book but that doesn't take anything away from the story, if anything it makes a nice difference to see the fight happening in the 'real' world.
I would have to say this book has been very powerful and will stay with me for a while. It is a great climax to the series and a good ending. Nt everything is tied up as i would have liked, but enough to satisfy.
I would say to everyone out there, you must read these books, they are truly amazing and different from anything i have read before.


My Rating
I would give this book 8.5/10. Truly amazing!!!

1 comment:

Kate Evangelista said...

I love this series. If I'm ever asked which books I wish I wrote, it would be the Hunger Games trilogy.