This review was originally published on my blog on March 28th, 2021.

Book Synopsis:

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.

My Review:

I was torn between giving this 4 or 5 stars, but I ultimately decided on 4 for a few reasons, While this was an amazing book and a great end to the Hunger Games trilogy, there are a few things about the book that made me not enjoy it as much as the first two in the series. I will definitely be reading the new book that came out a couple of years ago, though, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The main plotline of the book, the rebellion against the Capitol, was really interesting. It was the best part of this book. But there were some big things I didn’t like.

My main problem with this book, however, was that it made Katniss a really unlikeable character. In the first book, she was an awesome, fierce girl who was very strong-willed. She was still that way in Catching Fire, but a little less so. In this book, though, she was just really whiny and mopey. I understand why she would be angsty, she had been through a lot, but she didn’t need to just hate everyone and not want to do anything. I compare it to Harry in the 5th Harry Potter book. He was really angsty in that book (understandably so) and sometimes lashed out at the people around him, but he was still a nice person who was fighting the good fight and staying strong. Katniss, however, just sat around and waited to be told what to do. I loved it when she actually had a plan and executed it, going off on her own to do what was right, but that didn’t happen as much as I would’ve liked. Her character was one of my favorite parts of the first book, but I found her very unlikeable in this one.

Peeta’s storyline also frustrated me, purely because I love Peeta and didn’t like to see him as this mutated version of himself who didn’t remember that he loved Katniss. It was nice in the third section of the book when he was getting back to his normal self, but I didn’t like it before that. I also wish there was more of Katniss’ romance with Peeta in this book. I’m glad she ended up with him instead of Gale, but we didn’t get much of the two of them together. The epilogue was cute, though, and made me happy.

Back to the good things. The last chapter was amazing. Katniss making the scrapbook to memorialize everyone who had died was really sweet and she was much more like her old self in that chapter. It was also the moment where she finally grieved Prim and everyone else instead of bottling up her emotions like she normally does. (Side note, I accidentally got both Prim and Finnick’s deaths spoiled for me so it wasn’t as emotional or shocking for me)

In conclusion, I think that Mockingjay was the weakest of the books in the Hunger Games trilogy. But, if the weakest book still gets four stars, you know it’s a good series.

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