Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

You know, I make fun of my daughter for things like this.  She won't read the 7th and final Harry Potter because she doesn't want it to be over.  I kid her about it daily.  Don't tell her, but I've been putting off writing and posting the review of this book because like the final Harry Potter, this means the end.  Mockingjay is the third in the Hunger Games series and I've already reviewed the first two.  Remember how much I loved The Hunger Games?  And even better, Catching Fire?  Once this review is posted, it's like the series will vanish.  No one will remember them or worse yet, want to talk to me about them.  The only comfort I have is that I didn't enjoy Mockingjay  near as much as the first two, so writing this review may not sting quite as much.

In this installment, Katniss is back having survived a record two Hunger Games.  And just as you would guess, the Capitol is angry.  They've been made to look the fool yet again and now they want revenge.  President Snow is full of rage and vows to take it out not only on Katniss, but on her family, friends and her entire home district, District 12.  

Doesn't that sound like it would be exciting, thrilling and suspenseful?  It was.  It was all of those things, just on a very different level.  Katniss had endured two whole novels full of excitement, thrills and suspense.  She'd given us page after page of defeating the enemy.  We were her biggest fans.  We couldn't wait to see her stick it to President Snow and the Capitol and live happily ever after.  But as we all know, that's not what happens in war.  I guess I just didn't think Collins would let it end the way she did.  It was emotionally draining for me to read parts of this book.  And when I finished the book I was mad at Collins for not leaving us a whole and perfect Katiniss in the end.  And then I remembered that Katniss was at war.  In fact, her entire country was at war.   No wonder Collins didn't wrap it up nice and neat with a bow on top.  When is war (fictional or not) ever wrapped up pretty with a bow on it?

When did the light bulb go off?  About 2 days later.  One of my Army wife friends told me she didn't like Mockingjay because it hit too close to home.  She said Katniss reminded her of a modern-day soldier, haggard and tired from his last deployment.   Yep.  That was it.   She DID remind me of a soldier.  Dedicated.  Loyal.  Well-trained.  Intense.  Katniss shares many of the same qualities I see in my husband and other soldiers in my life.  And to see someone like that go through so much and not experience a happy ending...well, that just wasn't okay with me.  I think it's safe to say if I ever was to become a published author, all of my books would have happy endings.  Boring?  Yes.   Fine by me?  Yes.

I may not have liked Mockingjay as much as The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but I did like it.   I certainly liked it enough to review it here, even risking an "I told you so," from my daughter.