Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)

Book 1 especially is a real page turner as we get inside the mind of a young woman forced by her circumstances to undertake a remarkable challenge so that she can continue to do what she has been doing for much of her life - protecting her family. Seeing events through her interpretations and hearing her thoughts (or memories as I suppose they really are) mean we have a very clear view of her character. The story takes us from her 'selection' through to the end of the 74th Hunger Games.
I remember hearing the author on a radio program saying something like "what Katniss does has consequences, which is why it is a trilogy and didn't stop at one book".
Certainly at the end of the first book you cannot stop, there are too many questions about what happens next. The second book though is not such a brilliant read, but here we begin to get a feel for what is happening outside in the world, rather than just inside in the character. Is this just Katniss maturing, or is there more too it?
In the third book we are into revolution and war - a very different set up from the first two and a very different approach by Katniss. For me this third story was the hardest to read, it felt as though some of the characters needed to be removed before the end, and there were increasingly strange ways of killing them, like some sort of bizarre video game. But then that is the world she lives in! That aside there are atrocities for Katniss to come to terms with and her memories become a little fragmented it seemed (as they probably would in the real world, but I was in danger of losing track once or twice).
I read all three books in the lead up to my holiday, while I was away and in the few days after, rarely have I been so captivated by a trilogy, so having read them so close together may have skewed my view.
Highly recommended if you enjoy this genre.

I feel somewhat raw having finished this book now. I don't think I was really prepared for how depressing this book is. Whereas the first two books were relatively action- or plot-packed, Mockingjay spent ages to really get going. Ultimately, it shows that war is ugly, in every facet.

I was very moved at the end, and felt the last hundred pages returned the series to the glory of the previous two books, but I think too much time was spent pre-Capitol, time where the story moved too slowly, was overly depressing, and not entirely captivating. Whereas I couldn't put down the other two books, I was easily able to put the book aside for the first 200 pages.

Overall, I still give it a solid 4 as conclusion to the best series of books I have read in years. Throughout the book, I still cared about all the characters that have grown dear to me, and I am looking forward to what tales Suzanne Collins will be telling next.