Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games #3)

After watching the Catching Fire film, I was extremely keen to pick up Mockingjay and find out what happens to all of the characters in the final volume of the trilogy.  My expectations were high, as I enjoyed The Hunger Games and simply loved Catching Fire, which I thought was the better book of the two.  Be warned: there are spoilers in this review.

Mockingjay starts almost right where Catching Fire left off, with Katniss settling into District 13 and coming to terms with the destruction of her home district, 12.  Peeta has been captured by the Capitol, although Gale has managed to rescue Katniss' mother and Prim and bring them to 13.  Katniss is supposed to be playing the role of the figurehead of the revolution, but she is uneasy with the implications of this and struggles with what she should do.  Meanwhile, the war rages on and it becomes apparent that Peeta is being tortured under the authority of President Snow, maybe even beyond recognition.


I had mixed feelings about Mockingjay.  I so wanted to like it, and it did have many positive elements, but ultimately I closed the book feeling a bit let down.  To start with the positives;  I enjoyed seeing what District 13 was like and the military fashion in which the people there had prepared themselves for war with Snow.  I like that Collins didn't shy away from the brutality of war, and that there were quite a few darker scenes included, especially later in the book.  War is merciless, and Collins most certainly gets that message across.  Katniss' confusion at what role she should play came across as genuine, and it felt realistic for someone who may have had a big role to play symbolically, but who hadn't been involved in any strategic planning etc.  I'm glad Collins didn't go down the route of having a super-Katniss save the world.  And the twist where Katniss shoots someone different at the end was clever indeed, I did not see that coming!

Unfortunately, there were negatives to go alongside these positives.  Plot-wise, I liked that Peeta had been tortured in such a way to corrupt his memories and turn him against the rebels.  However, after all these detailed passages about how new and permanent this hijacking torture method was, he seemed to recover at crucial points pretty conveniently and quickly.  Also, Katniss had a tendency to get herself injured at key moments, which means that too often Collins told us what happened rather than showed us.  Katniss is acquitted at the end and all that gets is a paragraph from Haymitch - I wanted to actually see it happen and I was frustrated with the action scenes being cut off so abruptly.  The pods in the city were just silly and felt like an unnecessary nod to the earlier Hunger Games plots.  But most of all, although I liked that war was shown as being brutal, Collins did too much without enough impact.  I wanted to feel the deaths and I just didn't, and I never felt the emotion of being in a war properly.

On the whole, Mockingjay is still a good book.  It was certainly a page-turner and I did enjoy it, it was just a bit of a let down after how strong the previous two volumes in the trilogy were.  It's worth picking up to find out what happens in the end, but be prepared that it may not be as amazing as you are hoping.

Source: Personal copy
First Published: 2011
Score: 3.5 out of 5

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games #2)

I am terrible at reading and completing series of books.  I read The Hunger Games back in March 2011 and only now have I got around to reading the next book in the series.  Hopefully I won't wait another two and a half years to pick up Mockingjay!

Warning: this review contains spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.  If you haven't read them yet, proceed with caution!

Catching Fire picks up a few months after the end of The Hunger Games.  Katniss and Peeta are living with their families in Victor's Village and trying to get life somewhat back to normal.  But life in most of the districts is far from normal; Katniss' trick at the end of the Hunger Games has been viewed as an act of rebellion against the Capitol and violent uprisings are spreading.  With their victory tour coming up, President Snow himself pays Katniss a visit and threatens her - she must find a way to calm the districts, or there will be severe consequences.  But things have already gone too far for that; Katniss is a symbol of a growing revolution and she's considered too dangerous to live a normal life.

I kept putting off reading Catching Fire because I thought that Hunger Games had a strong ending and actually worked well as a stand-alone book.  But my husband has read and enjoyed the whole series, and I want to see the new film when it comes out, so I decided to finally take the plunge.  And I'm genuinely glad I did.  It was great to go back to District 12 and find out a bit more about what life is actually like in Panem for ordinary people.  I enjoyed the Victory Tour as we got to visit several other districts with Katniss and Peeta and the hints of rebellion were well done.  When there's a crackdown in District 12, it doesn't come as a surprise.

What I was most worried about in this book was the fact that I already knew that Katniss would have to go into the arena and play the Hunger Games again.  I thought this would come across as overly repetitive from the first novel and that it was a bit of a lazy plot device.  But actually, it worked.  The Capitol need to eliminate Katniss but she is far too popular for them to murder her, as that would incite a genuine revolution.  So it makes sense to hold a special Victor's edition of the Games and hope that it solves the problem for them.  I liked meeting the previous victors and the Games themselves had a very different feel to them, there was far more co-operation are more desire for survival.

The only thing that annoyed me in this novel was Katniss herself.  I think she's a great character but she's not too good on picking up on clues.  I felt like it was obvious that there was some kind of underground conspiracy going on with regard to the Games themselves and District 13, but she was truly oblivious despite numerous clues.  Whilst the ending didn't come as a total surprise to me, as I had figured out something was going on, there was enough of a cliffhanger to make me keen to pick up Mockingjay over the next couple of months.

All in all, a fast-paced and enjoyable read that stands up well next to it's predecessor.

Source: Personal copy
First Published: 2009
My Edition: Scholastic, 2011
Score: 4 out of 5

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Hannah Payne lives in a dystopian version of America where conservative Christians are in control and criminals serve their sentences out in public, melachromed for easy identification.  Hannah has commited the crime of having an abortion (classified as murder) and for that, every inch of her skin has been dyed bright red.  Having spend some time on the Chrome Ward as part of a sinister reality TV programme, Hannah must now try to adapt to life as an outcast, subject to prejudice and abuse.  Her every movement can be tracked and she soon becomes a target for the Fist, a radical group that hunts out and punishes chromes.  With her family turning away from her, can Hannah adjust to her new life?

When She Woke is a modern retelling of the classic The Scarlett Letter.  Unfortunately, I've not read the latter so I can't judge how faithful to the original it was.  Hannah does refuse to name the father of her unborn child but this isn't as integral to the plot as I had imagined it to be.  When She Woke is more about the dystopia of Jordan's imagined American society than anything else.

It's hard to make a judgement of this book as the first and second halves are remarkably different.  The first half is about the society Hannah lives in and the reactions of her friends and family to her having the abortion, whilst the second is more action packed as Hannah struggles to escape the Fist.  I liked the first half but found the second implausible and a bit silly.  I was most interested in the psychological impact on Hannah - what would it be like to be branded forever as a criminal?  The passages where Hannah is free and trying to interact with members of the public were fascinating.

I think some of the impact of this book was dulled by me not being American.  I'm British and whilst some people here may feel strongly about abortion, it's not a large issue and definitely not a political one.  No one finds out whether our politicians are 'pro-choice' or 'pro-life' and it's rare to see a discussion or debate around abortion.  Had I been in America, where I know abortion is more highly charged, abortion equaling murder would have been more powerful.  Consequently I wanted to know more about Chromes that were different to Hannah - the blues, yellows and greens.  Were they treated differently than she was?

As I mentioned above, the second half of the book was a bit of a let down.  Hannah is targeted by a radical group and starts on an action packed journey to escape. I think Jordan is trying to portray Hannah's character growth as she starts to care less what others think of her but this comes across as rushed and unbelievable.  There's even the inclusion of a lesbian scene that seems completely out of character for Hannah,given that only a few months earlier she was regurgitating all her evangelical parents' beliefs as facts.  I truly hope the author wasn't associating feminism with lesbianism i.e because Hannah becomes a feminist, she must find other women sexually attractive.  Hannah would have changed, but not as fast as Jordan made her.

On the whole, the premise of When She Woke was stronger than the execution.  I'm still thinking about Chromes almost a week after finishing the book but the plot didn't measure up.  A thought provoking read.

Source: Library (reserved)
First Published: 2011
My Edition: Harper Collins UK, 2012
Score: 3 out of 5