Mockingjay is the third and final book in the Hunger Games series. It rounds off the story of Katniss Everdeen and her rebellion, fighting for the Districts to have freedom and autonomy once again instead of oppression by the powers of the Capitol. It’s good. Not great, but good.
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Worth noting, if you’ve not read my review of Catching Fire, the previous book in the series, I’d definitely do that before reading this review, or you may be victim to some spoilers.
As I said above, Mockingjay picks up after the events of Catching Fire. Katniss Everdeen has been extracted from her second Hunger Games by the rebellion and is now seen as the figurehead of a genuine fight against the Capitol and all of those who have ruled over the Districts.
Mockingjay plot – 4/5
This is the first book in the series that feels like you’re in a genuine war-zone. Once President Snow finds out about Katniss’ breakout, he begins to launch attacks on everyone and everything that supports her, including her own friends and family. As well as this, the rebellion decides to use Katniss for propaganda, showing her out in the war zones as a leader, fighting for them, to give them something to fight for.
Other than this, though, and a fairly intense final quarter (which you’d expect from the final book in a series anyway), there isn’t a whole lot of plot to talk about here. Peeta goes through some stuff which is a little distressing to Katniss and others around him but other than this, it’s absolutely rammed with big moments worth mentioning.
As I said, the ending does enough to round off everything you’d want from a series and there is a fairly big death early on, which feels both oddly timed and then quickly sorted out.
So yeah, this is a very meh book in terms of plot and I doubt one where you’ll be going “ooh yeah, this has some huge moments in it”.
Mockingjay characters – 3.75/5
There are new characters in Mockingjay but none that you’ll really remember when describing the series as a whole at a later point to friends or family. New people come in to challenge Katniss’ leadership and others come in to offer support but overall, no one stood out to me. Which was a bit of a disappointment but then I suppose isn’t always a huge factor in whether a sequel is good or not.
The on/off relationship between Katniss and Peeta (or Gale) never really hits any sort of tone that feels satisfying or enjoyable and thus, you finish not really caring about the result of this either unfortunately.
Katniss is her usual rebellious self throughout – often at times becoming a little stubborn. She’s not exactly someone you’ll warm to, yet someone you’d trust to lead a rebellion (which I suppose is exactly her purpose is here).
Mockingjay final rating – 4/5
Mockingjay was a fine finale to the series. It does everything it sort of needs to do plot-wise but doesn’t really excel in any area. There aren’t any new interesting characters to talk about and there isn’t a swathe of interesting plot moments to keep you gripped either. It does do a good job of ramping up the action towards the end and rounding off a lot of the smaller stories that built throughout the series though and I can’t deny it does feel like the end which is always good. However, after the greatness of The Hunger Games and then the slightly underwhelming Catching Fire, I’d have to say this continues the downward trend as the series whimpers out.
