The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.
Who do they think should pay for the unrest?
Katniss Everdeen.
The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins will have hearts racing, pages turning, and everyone talking about one of the biggest and most talked-about books and authors in recent publishing history!!!!
Review: C+
[spoilers ahead]
I went into this book with low expectations and imagining the worst possible outcomes. Katniss dies, Gale dies, Peeta dies, they all die, etc. But that's not the case. To be honest, I'm not too disappointed with the ending plot-wise since it was a lot better than I imagined it to be. I can see how the whole tone of this book is on a whole different level than the first two. The first two books had that excitement and suspense along with the danger factor, but still with some semblance of hope. In the first book, all the blood and fighting, you know it will end, that once the hunger games are over, life will continue. In the second book, with all the talk of revolution, you assume that once a new government is in place, there's still that hope for happiness. This book does not really have that. It's bleak, sad, and depressing. And yes, it's war, and yes it's destruction and yes there may not be that bright ray of sunshine but it's so desolate. I can see how fans of the first two book might not be as happy with this one. There's still that general mistrust from the previous books, the same anxiety of people dying. And even though it ends on a happy-esque note, it doesn't really feel like it because it rings empty and hollow. I think part of that is due to the writing and may be intentional because it's summarized and no emotions are shown nor any true joy expressed at the end. In addition, after having read tons of reviews and discussions on the book, I feel I can pinpoint more accurately the problems I felt while reading the book.
One of the discussion posts I found interesting talked about the whole relationship of Katniss, Peeta, & Gale as an overlying metaphor for the struggle she faced with evil vs good. Evil being war, revolution, power, hunger games, revenge, etc. Obviously this choice was Gale, not that he himself was evil but it's what he believes in, the whole eye for an eye war tactic. That the ends justified the means and that he saw the violence as a necessary evil in the bigger picture. This was obviously very destructive and portrayed in the wrong since it ultimately results in Prim being killed by a weapon that he and Betee helped design. Then there's Peeta, who throughout the whole series, is the one other truly good character, who sees things for what they are but isn't corrupted or embittered by it. He's to Katniss what she is to Prim. Wanting to love and protect her from being destroyed. And obviously, the underlying message that is hammered into the story to the point that it takes away from the narrative is that war is destructive. It destroys everything that is good and pure, starting from Prim as a person, corrupting and twisting Peeta's love and devotion, breaking Katniss's friendship with Gale, etc. But here's where I have to complain because I can accept what happened in the story but I have qualms with its execution. Starting from Prim dying. As a plot point, although personally I thought it happened a little too late in the story to matter but I could have gotten over that. But what the heck was that scene with her death. I honestly did not even realize she died until a few pages afterwards when some character refers to it. And the aftereffect of that event could have been so much more powerful if Katniss had not already spent most of the book being crazy and drugged. I read a story to where something similar happened to the main character and I cried for hours and it was so emotionally draining and moving but there was nothing here except confusion. It was like "wait...she died? [flip back, re-read scene again]...huh and katniss is being mute..." And same with Finnick's death. It was like a line with no emotion attached to it. I liked Finnick as a character and his death was so short and pointless. There was no sadness or shock or mourning. There could have been so much more done with that. And in that aspect, I feel a little cheated.
With the whole assassination of President Coin, I thought that was necessary, although I do wish that as other reviewers have mentioned that the thought process that led to that event was explicitly stated because I think that was one point too subtle where the target YA audience would have trouble seeing. The whole President Coin is another version of President Snow, who plotted to throne herself as the new president, who instigated another hunger games, who has high political aspirations and is willing to sacrifice children for that gain, etc and thus needs to be destroyed and that's why Katniss agrees to the new Hunger Games. Because it doesn't make much sense to omit that thought process in a first person narrative which leads to the character making that kind of decision. Also I did wish that Katniss was more active in this book than she was. I understand the whole idea of being helpless and being a pawn in the war, but there was too much reaction to events that were happening and being manipulated rather than Katniss being that girl that wills herself to survive. And to add on to my list of complaints, I have to argue against the love triangle's resolution. Because I did understand that she would have to be with Peeta, simply by the amount of time she spent with him over the course of the two books, versus like two lines with Gale over two books. There's so much that indicates Peeta and not Gale. Gale talks about how he kissed other girls and Peeta loved Katniss since she was 5. Gale mentions that it'll be whoever Katniss could not survive without but the converse holds true as well. Gale could live without Katniss but Peeta says himself that he has nothing to live for if Katniss doesn't make it alive. And I know people don't like Twilight comparisons, but I have to make this one. I feel Katniss & Gale would have worked out pre-Hunger Games, but not afterwards. It's like how Bella tells Jacob that they could have worked out pre-Edward, except instead of Edward, it's the Hunger Games that sort of directs the course of their relationship. And even if this whole love triangle was symbolic of the greater picture, I didn't like how she didn't explicitly make a choice, but it just happened. That Gale becomes tainted in association with the death of her sister and he leaves to District 2 without as much as a goodbye and no semblance of friendship. That Peeta just shows up in District 12 after she's been exiled and it's not even a self-inflicted exile. All of these events are things that were forced upon Katniss without her having to make a single move and that annoys me. There were things that she couldn't decide on that were beyond her control, but I think this was one area in which she had complete control, who she loves and chooses to build her life with. If that's Peeta that's great but I felt robbed because it seemed like she didn't choose him but he was chosen by default and it ended up being the right choice and it annoyed me that throughout half the book how she doesn't treat him with half as much care as he would her.
Ultimately, I feel that Suzanne Collins sacrificed the quality of the third book to really portray that anti-war message. War is bad and it's destructive. I get it. I really doubt there's hardly anyone in the world that would argue that point. But the subtleties that were in the first two books that made them so wonderful was what was missing in this last installment as well as a lot of sacrifices in characterization.
