Review: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Posted by bkristin on Mar 2nd, 2012 in reviews | 0 comments

Review: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Katniss finds she is volunteering to be her tribute for the hunger games- a live TV death match between kids. Being from one of the poorest districts, female, and not trained to do anything, Katniss doesn’t feel she stands a chance, but she won’t give up without trying. Unknown to her, she transforms into a symbol beyond what the game’s creators could have imagine and her life changes completely.

Katniss finds that her actions at the end of the first book (which were done to preserve her and Peeta’s lives) are now seen as an act of rebellion. The president tells her she must stop the rebellion, but she quickly finds that it is already happening. Katniss and Peeta are forced to enter into another hunger games. As this hunger games ends with a bang, Katniss finds herself playing a new role, symbol of the rebellion- the mockingjay. The third book in the series continues the story right into a war and rebellion.

The plot is very fast-paced and an easy read. Once you pick it up everything continues to flow nicely together and easily time passes by before you know it is even done. How can it not flow so quick when the protagonist spends more than half the book in a life or death situations? As with several other trilogies I have read, book two leaves on a cliffhanger before picking it up in book three. I would not appreciate this much if all three had not already been published when I read them. I prefer each book to end with enough ending to keep the reader happy, while still wanting more.

Katniss must grow tremendously through the book and every time she seems to be finally figuring out her relationship with Peeta, something intervenes. I found it hard for her to ignore over and over again her feelings for Peeta. She starts out the book explaining how she had nothing but brotherly feelings for Gale, yet uses it constantly as an excuse. By the end of the book, she kind of deserved how things end with Peeta.

I missed the old Peeta from the first book that was gone by the start of the third book. But that is what is great about books in general and this one also, you can actually miss a fictional character. There were a lot of characters that do not suvive. At one point it felt like no one was going to survive. While Katniss’ growth was very well depicted, I wished for a happier ending for her. By the time you see Peeta again in the third book, you can tell a happy ending will be hard to come by.

I enjoyed these books and recommend them.

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