I say finally because I purchased this book back in August when it was first released, and even though I pledged to have it done within a few weeks, it took me more than a month. I'm not sure why; it could be because I was reluctant to finish it, or my requirement to read THE SCARLET LETTER for school prevented me from finishing on time. Whatever the case, I've finally finished THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy, and am now going to post my thoughts. Don't worry for those of you who haven't read it. I'm not going to post any spoilers.
First off, in order to read MOCKINGJAY, you must read the other two books in the series, THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE. For those who don't want to, here's a brief summary over what the series is about: Set in the future, America is divided up into 12 districts and each year a boy and a girl from each district are selected to fight to the death in a televised event called the Hunger Games. The main character is Katniss Everdeen, who goes in the place of her sister to compete in the Games. Oh, and there's also a love triangle of sorts between her, her friend Gale, and her fellow gamemate Peeta. The series is a gory, passionate mess. And I mean that in a good way.
After finishing MOCKINGJAY, I wasn't sure what to think. I'd read on other message boards about how some people despised the book, and while I felt there was one unecessary death in this installment, I didn't feel that way. To me, the way the series ended felt right. It stayed with the tone of the entire series, so it felt justifiable that the story ended up in the place it did in the final pages. So I guess you can say I liked the ending.
My only complaint about this book was that it didn't feel as action-packed as the other two. But nonetheless, it still kept my attention. Suzanne Collins has a way of writing that she can make a seemingly unimportant detail shine with her descriptions. That's why she's one of my favorite writers, and that's why I was able to forgive her for the lack of action in the first half of the book, because she made scenes that would seem trivial in the hands of other writers much more defined.
What I love about this series (besides the gory fight scenes), and especially in this book is the way war and human nature is depicted. As a pursuing writer I've become a little obsessed with symbolism and seeing the bigger meaning in writing (reading THE SCARLET LETTER can do this to you), so I loved being able to detect the allegory in Collins' writing. She's done this before in THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES, a series I credit as fueling my passion to read and write. Not only did I get entertainment out of this series, but I was also able to learn as a writer and apply different techniques to infuse a bigger picture into my own writing.
While I'm pretty bummed that finishing MOCKINGJAY means the end of this series, I take comfort in knowing that not only can I read these books over and over again, they are also making a movie out of it. I can only hope it'll live up to the books. And while MOCKINGJAY wasn't my favorite book in the trilogy (that spot goes to THE HUNGER GAMES), it was still a great read that lead to a satsifying and fitting conclusion.
