The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay

Name: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Year: 2010

Genre: Adventure, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Thriller

Here is my review of the third and final novel in The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.

Plot

(Note: This review does contain some spoilers - you have been warned).

The novel begins a few weeks after the events of Catching Fire, with Katniss visiting the wreckage of what was once District Twelve. We soon learn that after Katniss destroyed the arena the Capitol sent firebombs to destroy the entire district. Those that did manage to survive are now living in District Thirteen, a district which up until now was considered destroyed by the Capitol.

We also learn that the rebels managed to collect her from the wreckage of the arena but did not get the time to rescue any of the other tributes, who are now in Capitol custody, including Peeta.

However, Katniss was not just plucked out of the arena for nothing and District Thirteen now want her to become the face of the rebellion - the titular Mockingjay.

As the novel progresses we follow Katniss's journey from initially uniting the districts to taking on the Capitol and facing her biggest battle and greatest personal tragedy to date...

Thoughts

Out of the three books in The Hunger Games trilogy, I personally found this final novel to be the most hard-hitting and enjoyable of the three as Collins uses all of the ideas laid out in the previous two novels to create a riveting final novel.

One of the overarching themes in the novel is that of war, devastation and loss and Collins presents and uses this theme constantly. The sense of devastation is delivered right at the start when Katniss visits the remains of District Twelve which can only be described as an horrific moment showing the brutal reality of what she is going through. This then continues throughout the novel when Katniss begins to enter combat in the districts and again in the final chapters in the Capitol.

Also the book throws up more complex and morally ambiguous issues than the previous novels such as the underlying tension between Katniss and President Coin, the leader of District Thirteen where Katniss suspects she may be helping someone to take power who has her own dark political motives and throughout the novel Katniss is seen to constantly evaluate her actions, usually believing herself to be at blame.

The events in District Two also serve to create a moral dilemma where Katniss and Gale disagree on whether it is right to blow up a mountain base, trapping everyone inside and not giving them a chance to surrender.

My final point though I do not want to reveal too much is the ending of the trilogy (which happily I had forgotten about after I previously read the trilogy a few years ago) is exhilarating, pulse-pounding and definitely has the shock factor.

Verdict:

An exquisite final novel which manages to surpass the two before it to create a complex and thrilling conclusion to the trilogy.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Name: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Year: 2009

Genre: Adventure, Dystopia, Science Fiction

After last weeks review of the first novel in The Hunger Games trilogy, here is my review of the second novel in the trilogy. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Plot

(Note: This review contains spoilers for the first novel - you have been warned!)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins six months after the events of the first novel. Katniss and Peeta have managed, against all of the odds, to survive The Hunger Games together (after Katniss's trick of attempting to take a few poisoned berries rather than kill Peeta which meant the Games were cut short and they were both declared victors).

Now, she and Peeta both must go on a Victory Tour to visit all of the districts they managed to defeat in The Hunger Games. The stakes are much higher for Katniss however when President Snow visits her in District Twelve and informs her that her actions in The Hunger Games may have started the first sparks of rebellion and she must convince both the President and the entirety of Panem that what she did was the act of a girl madly in love with Peeta and ultimately prevent a rebellion before it starts. If she fails, the cost would be unbearable, especially with the 75th Anniversary of The Hunger Games looming around the corner...

Thoughts

Overall, this novel has massive improvements on the first novel in the trilogy.

From the beginning the book has a much more sinister and dark undertone than the first novel managed with Katniss debating whether her actions in the games were the right thing to do, especially with her feelings of guilt over Gale and the early visit from President Snow at the beginning of the novel serves to make this tone all the more prominent.

Also one of my criticisms of the first novel was that the other characters in some ways barely got a mention and as such the novel's events seem a bit inconsequential. In this second novel however Collins completely changes this with the Victory Tour allowing us to see all of the other districts and the shocking events in District Eleven in particular prove how tyrannous the Capitol's control of Panem really is. The fact Katniss's actions in the first novel have such consequences make this novel a more richer experience than the first one.

Also the novel allows us to see more of the Capitol's ways within the Victory Tour which helps in particular to make the villain more visible and more of a physical presence whereas in the first novel the Capitol is a bit of an unknown entity in the same way as the districts. Also the twist in the middle of the novel revolving around the 75th Hunger Games leaves you in no doubt of the Capitol's evil core and will make you want to read on though I do not want to go too in depth into the novel's second half as I am a bit of a tease and I would like you to read it....

Verdict:

Overall, a fantastic second novel in the trilogy which ups the ante on the previous novel's foundation.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Name: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Date of Publication: 2008

Genre: Adventure, Dystopia, Science Fiction





With all of the excitement recently about the release of the third movie in The Hunger Games saga, I thought it was an apt time to re-read this trilogy in it's entirety, kicking off with the first novel, The Hunger Games.

Plot

The Hunger Games is set in a futuristic North America now known as Panem, where 12 districts are ruled by a totalitarian government in a city called the Capitol, following an earlier rebellion of the districts. Each year, to remind the districts of the rebellion, the Capitol forces every district to send a boy and a girl to compete in The Hunger Games, a twisted annual reality show where all of the tributes have to fight to the death until there is one person left standing.

The main protagonist in the story is Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from District Twelve who, as luck would have it, ends up volunteering to compete in The Hunger Games in her sister's place.

We then follow her story as she prepares for and competes in The Hunger Games and we discover though she is from District Twelve, the poorest district where in previous years the tributes are easy pickings, she is definitely someone who can and will do anything to survive....

Thoughts

The Hunger Games is a book which I enjoyed hugely the first time I read it a few years ago and on revisiting it I can still say it is a brilliant book to read.

The book rattles along at a fantastic pace, with Collins beginning the novel in District Twelve, where the people are suffering abject poverty and living miserable and worthless lives. Then, once Katniss's name is drawn the book sweeps to her arrival at the Capitol where things could not be more different and the characters we meet are almost universally greedy, vain and shallow. This striking contrast cannot help but draw you in to Katniss's situation as she tries to adjust to the Capitol whilst at the same time preparing for the Hunger Games.

Katniss indeed is a very intriguing and complex character who on the one hand appears passive and even cold in places but on the other is following her own moral code to ensure she survives the Hunger Games to return home to District Twelve and to her mother and sister.

However, when the Hunger Games start it is here where the action and violence increase dramatically as all of the characters we meet start to be killed off in gruesome and violent scenes which do grip you and kept me up for far too late at night. These are also interspersed with the friendship developed between Katniss and a girl called Rue from District Eleven which comes to a tragic end and the complicated relationship she develops with the male tribute from her district, Peeta Mellark, which provide welcome breaks from the violence.

There are however some problems I did find with the novel. The plot is very simple to the point of being wafer-thin and with such a location as dramatically realized as Panem, you can't help but think Collins could have done more with the basic material she gave herself. For example, the other eleven districts barely get a mention in the novel so it can seem a little inconsequential when these characters are killed off in The Hunger Games.

Also, the novel does include a love triangle between Katniss, the male tribute, Peeta Mellark and her friend and hunting partner Gale which is completely predictable. saps the novel and makes it seem like another teen franchise. Personally the friendship between Rue and Katniss I think would have been more unusual and interesting for the novel but is over all too briefly. Furthermore, the emphasis on action in the novel as opposed to emotion also produces similar thoughts for me that the novel is trapped by the teen novel cliche's and highlights how much further Collins could have taken the idea had she focused on emotion a little more.

Verdict:

Though it does have some of the usual trappings of the teen genre, the Hunger Games is still a fantastic novel with fascinating characters and a dramatic, thought-provoking plot which will stick in your mind for a very long time.