"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

Let it be known –

I will miss Katniss Everdeen the way I missed Jo March at the end of “Little Women.”

These “Hunger Games” books are great, and super addicting, but they’re not masterpieces.  This is no way detracts from  their awesomeness.  In fact, it makes them even better – which can also be said of Katniss herself.  She’s an imperfect heroine within her world, but a perfect one for a reader.  She’s impulsive and stubborn and sometimes unpleasant, but she’s also an ass-kicking female character who doesn’t worry about being pretty. No, this girl has lives to save and revolutions to lead, and she won’t apologize for having messy hair, thankyouverymuch.

Yeah, I fell hard for “The Hunger Games,” and it’s sequel, “Catching Fire.”  I devoured both books, and once I got the time to actually sit down and read “Mockingjay,” the third and final installment, I simply had to know how it all ended and what would happen to Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Prim, and the rest of the characters I became so invested in throughout the first two books.

“Mockingjay” is a little messy, which is understandable.  There’s an awful lot of ground to cover and a lot to get done in order to keep the series a nice trilogy.  (Everyone loves a trilogy.)  Having survived being selected for the games twice now, Katniss finds herself in a position she never intended – as a beacon of inspiration for the citizens of the districts of Panem, even though her own home has been destroyed.  To survive, and save the innocent, she is forced to take on the role of the Mockingjay – which of course leads to all sorts of plans and schemes and violence and adventures.  Things explode, people die, there are reunions, and of course the fate of Panem lies in the balance.

Obviously, if I write more I’m going to spoil something.  (Heck, my saying that Katniss is still around in the third book is a spoiler.  Sorry about that.)  Here’s what I’ll say;

“Mockingjay” is as exciting as the first two books, and the ending is satisfying.

Woot.  Well done, Suzanne Collins.

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