Dystopian Delight

If you have not yet read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, I insist that you immediately get off your computer, buy them both, and read them before continuing any further with this blog post. Don't even think about checking them out from the library because you will be on the waiting list forever.

That being said, my first review of my new blog will be the third installment of Suzanne Collins' dystopian trilogy, Mockingjay. Now, I must preface my review by saying that I am a sucker for all books related to a dystopian society. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but they are simply fascinating. This series is no exception. In fact, it may have filled my Harry Potter void, at least until the end of Mockingjay. I mean, here we have this B.A (if not slightly annoying) chick, Katniss Everdeen, who spends the first two books kicking some major Tribute ass with a bow and arrow, playing the government with a "fake" love story, and being completely oblivious to the fact that her "fake" lover, Peeta, is not really fake at all. We follow her through two books being awesome and watching her build her relationship with Peeta and then in book three they are ripped apart by government control, rebels, and brainwashing tactics. Katniss deals with some serious mental issues which is understandable since she's basically a murderer against her will. Still, she gets a little whinier than necessary and it's hard to feel bad for her when she has to choose between two cool dudes, Peeta and her BFF, Gale.

After the first two books, I was seriously salivating to get my hands on book three. In the first two books, there was adventure, romance, and a difficult-to-find female protagonist who was strong in her own right. However, by the time Mockingjay came around, the book fell into that chauvinist stereotype where every girl needs a big strong man to save her. I mean, I'm all for big, strong dudes who are good to their gals, but I would also like to just once see a girl main character who can figure out her own business without a guy having to figure it out for her.

Feminist theories aside, Mockingjay does a decent job with the adventure aspect. It's difficult to keep the characters straight, but since the supporting characters basically all end up being pawns in a government game, it's not so important to keep names in order. Katniss eventually regains some of her bad-assness as she's leading her troop into battle, but she also maintains a certain vulnerability which makes her semi-relateable.

All is well and good....until the end. The post-war part of the book should have seriously been the start of a fourth book that discusses what happens when the government gets defeated and all the living characters spread about. I mean we get a three book build-up of Katniss and Peeta love and then a mere "you love me: True or Untrue?" at the end to define their epic romance. Come on! I need a little more than that to satisfy the grand finale. Also, while Katniss and Peeta are obviously the main characters, there were some other pretty important characters who survived. I'd like a little more knowledge of what happened to them, please. They worked hard for three books and deserve more than a sentence describing their lives after they got exactly what they were fighting for in the midst of a lot of death and sadness.

All in all, I am still a big fan of the series. The first two books are definitely in a level above the third, but you can't deny the brilliance it takes to construct the concept that The Hunger Games trilogy is.

Overall rating of Mockingjay:  3 out of 5 stars
Overall rating of the trilogy: 4.5 out of 5 stars