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Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) |  | Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $6.00
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Seller: Tabs Books and Music
Rating:  481 reviews
Sales Rank: 4
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 0439023513
EAN: 9780439023511
ASIN: 0439023513
Publication Date: August 24, 2010 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 481
 Third round of excellence - but no happy ending September 8, 2010
Rebecca M. School (Upper Arlington, OH United States)
Fans of The Hunger Games will love the third and final installment, I know I did. Continuation of earlier themes made it flow and read easily. Like the first two books, Katniss is tortured by memories as well as current circumstances and torn between two loves. The end provides resolution to this, but doesn't turn it into a "happily ever after", which was appropriate. While I normally enjoy a fairytale ending, it wouldn't have felt right. Let's say it ends with Katniss happier than she has been most of her life, which in itself feels like a miracle.
 Where Did Katniss Go? September 8, 2010
Ryan
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished Mockingjay five minutes ago, and I'm so disappointed. I don't even feel like I've read a book from The Hunger Games series. When I was reading it I kept thinking, where is Katniss? It didn't even feel like I was reading from her point of view. I didn't feel any of the emotions that Katniss was going through. It was all so blah. I feel completely drained after reading this book. Not the usual pumped up feeling I got from The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I just don't feel a sense of closure with this book.
-Spoilers-
There were a few key points that totally ruined the book for me.
#1 Finnick's death is written so insignificantly that I didn't figure out right away that he had died. The writing tried to be very poetic and sophisticated when it usually came off as too wordy and confusing. And why spend so much time writing him as this major character, one that Katniss actually trusts, and then throw him away with three other non-important characters.
#2 Prim's death just seemed like such an after thought. If anyone in Katniss's family should have died, it should have been their mother, for wasn't the whole series based on the fact that Katniss entered the Hunger Games in order to save her sister's life? Just to have her burned in a street as a medic? WHAT? Basically, everything Katniss accomplished was for nothing because Prim died anyway. I could not believe that. That is honestly just so poorly thought out. And I kept waiting for Katniss to have the thought, "All of this was for nothing." But it never came.
#3 How can you wrap up the Gale/Peeta love triangle in just a few sentences. We've waited two books to know who she chose's only to find out in a paragraph? I was waiting for the Peeta/Katniss make up scene the whole book and got nothing. It blew my mind.
#4 We were totally left hanging on ALOT of things. What exactly happened to Cinna? How did Gale turn out? Does she see her mother? I mean it's just like, come on wrap up the story please!
I honestly will view this as completely separate series from the first two. There was no life in this book. I didn't feel that itch to just keep going. But luckily there's enough life in the first two to keep me satisfied with the series.
Didn't Want It To End September 8, 2010
Tamela Mccann (Nashville, TN USA)
It took me nearly a week to read Mockingjay. Not that it's an overly long book, or so dull I couldn't stay with it, but because I wanted to luxuriate inside its pages for as long as possible. And once I did finish, I felt an overwhelming sadness to leave Katniss and her world behind, though much satisfaction at how it all played out. Maybe it wasn't precisely as I'd pictured, but it certainly felt right after fighting alongside Katniss through two Hunger Games and the start of a revolution.
Just to sum up Mockingjay's major points: We pick up the story as Katniss has awoken in District 13, lifted out of the arena by Haymitch and Co., leaving Peeta behind to face the devastation wrought when the arena exploded. Katniss, frail in both body and spirit, must come to terms with her unwilling abandonment of Peeta and the new life she must face as the symbol of the fight against the Capitol. Known as the Mockingjay, she now has the power to rouse the other Districts, yet she continually finds herself at odds with those around here and always aware of how Peeta must be suffering because of her deeds. Along the way, Katniss must also come to terms with her feelings for Gale and the loss of lives that can be laid at her feet. It's almost more than she can handle.
I loved every page of Mockingjay, though this Katniss is somewhat removed from her earlier incarnations. However, I found that in itself realistic: just how much can a teenager be expected to endure before she shuts down or cracks? Katniss is still, at heart, the Katniss we've known and loved, yet she walks a thin line between doing what's right and knowingly placing herself and others in danger. And when it comes down to it, she's still no good at following rules or even listening to authority.
It's exceedingly hard for an author to end a beloved series in the way everyone hoped because we all have our visions for how we'd like to see it end. However, Ms. Collins takes us into unexpected territory with Katniss; we see a softer, fragile girl who once again rises to the occasion against all odds. I confess to shedding a few tears when the major loss came to Katniss, though other losses were almost as devastating. My most minor quibble is the amount of time Katniss spends unconscious and recovering, but I can forgive the author that because I came away with a feeling of resolution that felt...well, just felt right. Along the way, I came across moving scenes that made my heart wrench and fevered chases that made it race, and I ultimately feel as though Katniss and her world were done justice. Highly, highly recommended for those with an open mind to all possibilities.
 This Bird Sings a Somber Song September 8, 2010
G. Marlow (Arkansas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
At the end of Catching Fire, I guess I expected the series to focus on the love triangle in the remaining book. Certainly, the love triangle gets resolved in this last installment, but it's not the main theme. Instead, this book is about the war, and it gets pretty bleak at times. There's a lot of violence, and it's not just battle-type violence - there's a lot of psychological violence and torture. It's ugly, but I guess war is.
All three of the main characters change in ways that aren't necessarily the way I wanted things to go. However, I know that no one can go through war without changing, and the changes the characters go through seem consistent with what would really happen to a person in war. I thought Katniss changed less than the others; she starts out raging, and she ends with the same anger-fueled impulsiveness she's shown throughout the series.
Did I like the book? I'm not sure. I finished last night after racing through it (on my new Kindle - so cool!). And I suppose I have some sympathy for Katniss, but I just don't like her as much as I would like to.
 I want to.... I just can't September 8, 2010
K. J. Troyer (Ohio)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Sorry. I just WANT to like Mockingjay so bad. I can't keep putting off my decision on whether to like it or not.
Ok. The author MADE us hate Gale... because she wanted Katniss and Peeta to end up together. I didn't choose to hate him, and truly, I don't. It makes me dislike the author as much as I dislike Katniss without Gale.
I understand Katniss and Peeta together; they went through the games so they can understand each other, he redeems her, all that sort of stuff. I LIKE Peeta. But being forced to hate Gale doesn't let me love him, or be glad that he ended up with the girl.
At first, I didn't know what to think about Katniss. I am not a "dwell on it" kind of person, which we know from her situation with her mom after her dad's death, she is exactly that. I should have known, but to let her "soulmate" become hated because of something out of his control... that just seems a bit much.
I read a review (amazon, maybe?) about her behavior, hiding in closets, escaping through blackouts, ect... and the reviewer, a trained psychologist, says that the author really did her homework when it came to post-traumatic stress syndrome. That Katniss basically was a poster child for what people go through. That explained a lot about her behavior and her constant blacking out, but didn't necessarily endear me to her character. I want a strong, always on their game heroine. Not one who can't get a grip. I want someone who comes out stronger, a better person, not simply a survivor. A sucky survivor at that.
And, since post-traumatic stuff is mostly associated with war, it made me think that someone (the author? publisher? editor?) had an agenda and there is nothing more that I hate than a book that goes all agenda on me when all want is to be entertained. If I want to read about how war is terrible and we should stop all of the conflict, I'll pick up a newspaper.
The being passed out for most of the action was a very plausible idea, but it just seemed like lazy writing to me.
The book is obviously science fiction. The author should have left it at that and not tried to go so deep with Mockingjay. Develop the character, yes. Give us something to think about, yes please. Indoctrinate, force us to hate a character and rush the end.... unforgivable. Sorry.
I tried. Just can't like it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 481
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