Sinsajo (The Hunger Games, #3)

by Suzanne Collins

Pilar Ramirez Tello (Translator)

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

• ISBN10: 0606264493
• ISBN13: 9780606264495
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 July 2022
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 422
• Language: English

Reviews

""Fire is catching!" I am shouting now, determined that he will not miss a word. "And if we burn, you burn with us!""

What an utterly depressing read.

Katniss Everdeen has participated in two Hunger Games and has experienced enough terror and trauma for a lifetime. In Mockingjay, Katniss reaches a breaking point. She's suffering from her injuries, grief and PTSD. All she wanted to do was to protect her sister and survive the games. She never thought that she would become something bigger, that she would be seen as the leader and face of a rebellion. She never wanted to be a hero, but that's ultimately what she's forced to become.

In Mockingjay, the secondary characters don't get much of a chance to shine or develop, probably because so many new characters are introduced. I didn't feel as connected to the characters in Mockingjay because I couldn't get a sense of who they were. However, what got to me was the harrowing and traumatic experiences that the victims of the Hunger Games experienced. Most of the characters in The Hunger Games series are so damaged and have endured so much.

Peeta is a unique character and I'm quite sad that he didn't feature as much in Mockingjay. I've been on Team Peeta even since I first read The Hunger Games because he brings out the best in Katniss and supports her and understands her. However, I feel like Katniss chose Peeta just because he was there, but that's also exactly what I would expect Katniss to do. I also feel like Katniss is confused about her feelings towards Peeta and Gale and instead of leading both of them on, she should have taken a step back and figured out what she wanted to do, but I also feel that Katniss has more important things to focus on.

The pacing in Mockingjay is fast, but it show that war is rushed, messy and brutal. However, because of this, important character deaths are briefly mentioned and as a reader, I couldn't feel the extent of their deaths. I do understand, though, that Katniss didn't have the time or space to deal with and process those deaths at that moment. Why did Finnick and Prim have to die?!?! Also, that scene where Katniss yells at Buttercup and breaks down is one of the saddest moments in Mockingjay.

The last few pages is what makes Mockingjay a great book and The Hunger Games series iconic. The last few scenes, especially Katniss's interactions with President Coin and Snow is EPIC and memorable.

Mockingjay shows an extremely realistic portrayal of war. It's gloomy, bloody, brutal, gory and full of suffering, grief and pain. However, this series doesn't just show hurt. It also shows that hope can exist in the darkest of the times and in little acts of kindness. The bittersweet ending is extremely fitting for a series of this nature. The last line of Mockingjay will stick with me for a long time.

"Better not to give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself together as it does to fall apart" (Finnick Odair)

[Katy]

why would you spoil an otherwise excellent set of books with such a terrible cheesy epilogue?!

[stefu1]

not as good as the hunger games, ended with me wanting more, but generally ok, didm' meet standards

Seams like Katniss just kinda went cRaZy

[clairelm]

I really enjoyed this final book in the trilogy and thought it wrapped up everything neatly. Except for one bit towards the end. Much like the ending of Torchwood: Children of Earth, I hated the fate of one of the characters, which has spoilt it quite majorly for me. Despite that, it was a great book (apart from that), so it still gets 5 stars.

[boghunden]

I was disappointed with the ending, it felt rushed in some ways. Apart from that, this was a stunning book!

[Angie]

Katniss is out of the arena and done with the Hunger Games, but now she must still outsmart and bring down her toughest opponent: the Capitol. Unfortunately, she's so utterly broken, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She is a completely different person in this book. I was so nervous throughout the whole book, waiting for Katniss to just lose it completely. Everyone has their own Agenda for Katniss in this battle, but what about what she wants? Can she still keep her promise to keep Peeta alive? There's a lot of responsibility that has been dropped on her shoulders, and at first it looked like she was going to break under the pressure. And as the book moved forward I just kept anticipating the worse possible scenarios for her, and some came true.

For the most part, the first half of this didn't fully hold my attention. Everything seemed to just go in circles, and whenever some action would pick up, it would be interrupted by Katniss being sedated or otherwise being knocked unconscious. It made it difficult to stay in the story. I did loved the Peeta plot. I felt awful for him, and can't even imagine what he's been going through thanks to the Capitol. It made me root for team Mockingjay even more!

This ended up being my least favorite of the trilogy. I was really disappointed in how it all wrapped up. I couldn't believe that the fall of the Capitol happened while...Katniss was unconscious! All of this buildup, and then the main even happens off the page. I also would have liked to see more of Katniss and Peeta reestablishing their relationship, rather than them just ending up together after all of them. Overall this book was pretty good, but the ending was unsatisfying.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Jyc]

★★★★★ // thanks for the ride, Suzanne Collins.

[starbell]

This was a great series. At first I didn't think I'd like it, because it seemed a little depressing, but I'm very happy with how the story ended, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I was so hyped up to read Mockingjay and unfortunately it did not live up to my incredibly high expectations. It was good, just not great. After District 12 is blow up like Princess Leia's home planet, Alderaan any survivors move to District 13 who has only reemerged after years of hiding. I did not feel that District 13 lived up to its potential. In fact, it felt more like a contraction camp. Members of the community dress in all grey and have a mark branded on their arm with their schedule for the day, it is all very restrictive. Although in District 13, Mockinjay AKA Katniss is given great authority which I felt she took advantage of, greatly shown when she leads her team into a foreseeable failure resulting in misery and demise.

Then there's the whole tug of war thing between Katniss and her two leading men Gale and Peeta. This threesome reminded me of Twilight with the Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle (I'm a Jacob fan if anyone is interested) the difference is that despite any faults she may have, Katniss is a likable, good person; where as Bella just stands around sighing a lot and ogling Edward's abs.

Anyway, back to Mockingjay, even though I enjoyed the book and there was tons of action, I found the ending lack-luster almost as if the author didn't know how to end it and left me saying what? I felt this way about the epilogue too, it seemed to end abruptly, and sadly didn't find it satisfying. To be honest, I just thought the ending was too muted for such a high action trilogy. Anyway, I would definitely read these books again, I just wished the ending had more pizazz.

[Amanda]

3.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2012/05/09/review-catching-fire-mockingjay-by-suzanne-collins/

So, we have finally arrived at the end, haven’t we? I had not originally planned to do this as a double review [with Catching Fire], but I don’t know that there is really much to say about this book. While I did not hate Mockingjay as some do, I do think it is the weakest of the three books. It just doesn’t have the gripping story line that both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire did. Mockingjay does have an eerie distrustfulness to it, though, that makes it bleak and hopeless. One would think that being rescued by District 13 would actually be a good thing. It is not. It is just as bad. Or worse.

Life under the Capitol with yearly Hunger Games is brutal enough, but there is something about the war and the rebels in Mockingjay that reveal the true brutality of human nature. No side is exempt from this brutality, and I think almost every character goes through their own period of utter ruthlessness. Sometimes it was really hard to like the characters we had come to love (or, like reasonably well) and sometimes — okay, most of the time — they were put through some really shitty situations. These characters change. Drastically. No one comes out unscathed.

No one.

And I kind of liked how much hell Suzanne Collins put her characters through.