Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
Reviewed by Coral
War has finally come to the Districts, as they fight to throw off the Capitol’s chains once and for all. In District 13, they have found an unexpected ally in their fight.
But as they struggle to take control of the Districts, to break the hold the Capitol has on District 2 and to move in and capture the Capitol itself, can they really trust that their new allies really have the same goals in mind?
I think the book did a good job of portraying war and not some romanticized version of it. Both sides were trying and win and destroy the other side, which led to terrible things being done by both sides.
When it comes down to the deaths, well I always knew people were going to die in the war. A lot of them made me sad. I think some of them made the story stronger, but I wouldn’t say that about everyone who died. There were some characters who died that I would have liked to see live.
There were some twists at the end that I wasn’t expecting.
And I guess I think the ‘love triangle’ had the only real ending that it could have, given what happened throughout the series. Though I don’t think I am completely happy with how turned out. Though that could also be because I liked Katniss less and less as the series continued.
Grade: B
Ruby's Review
I really did not like this book. The first half when the people of District 13 are trying to turn Katniss into the Mockingjay and the face of the rebellion is so over the top it’s stupid.font>
I understand that the theme for all three books is that everything is based on public opinion and how much they are entertained, basically a play on reality television. The first one was all about entertaining the people in the Capitol while slapping the Districts’ in the face. The second was all about putting on a show for the Districts so that they wouldn’t rebel. But this one, which was about building Katniss up as the Mockingjay, was done in such an exaggerated manner that it was borderline ridiculousness. I know that there is propaganda in war that tries to dehumanize your opposition and tries to boost up your moral, but it was just a little too much.
When we actually got into the war it became more interesting and since Katniss was in the thick of things we weren’t hearing about it after the fact and I enjoyed that. And I do agree with my sister that it was dealt with in a realistic manner and one side wasn’t made out to be the good guys in shinning white armour and the other side were the bad guys with their evil lairs and whatnot. The war was done in shades of gray which was a good thing, but it was a little too little too late to save the book for me.
Grade: D
