Mockingjay
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3) by Suzanne Collins
The movies are better.
The ending tricks readers into thinking the series was actually great, but only if you focus on the last two chapters. Mockingjay does have a genuinely heartwarming conclusion, but looking at the series as a whole, it’s not nearly as strong.
The Hunger Games itself was strong and could have ended there. The next two books drag with excessive emotional downtime, and it takes forever for anything meaningful to happen.
What frustrated me most was Collins’ handling of the two major plot points: the Games and the rebellion. She focuses so much on the spectacle rather than the substance. If she had dropped the whole “camera crew following Katniss for propaganda footage” angle, the story might have felt sharper, more serious, and more impactful. Instead, it often feels like watching an advertisement for a revolution rather than the revolution itself.
I was about to give this book 2 stars, but the ending redeemed it enough to bump it up.
