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Most Helpful Favorable Review
211 out of 294 people found this review helpful.
Excellent read
I loved reading this wonderful book! It is a story that keeps you entertained for hours.
posted by theReader278 on June 23, 2011
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226 out of 294 people found this review helpful.
Really? Is that all there is?
Having been a big fan of the first 2 books, the entire family waited for the last installment in the series. The best I can say for this book is the drama and emotion is well built. However, after spending all this time in the first 2 books building a romantic triangl...Read More
Having been a big fan of the first 2 books, the entire family waited for the last installment in the series. The best I can say for this book is the drama and emotion is well built. However, after spending all this time in the first 2 books building a romantic triangle between the main characters, the whole final book amounts to a long winded commentary on the author's opinion of war and humanity's propensity for self destruction. The resolution we've all been waiting for between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale is quickly dispensed with and with little fanfare in one tiny chapter at the end of the book.
There are some redeeming qualities to the story. There are many twists and turns in the plot. Suzanne Collins is a master at catching the emotion of the moment. However, it feels as though there was a rush to publish, and the end was sort of thrown together at the last moment. Way too much violence and gore, too little consideration for sub characters who were important parts of the other books, and shaky, disjointed writing plagued the story. The story was often times confusing and posed too many questions without any answers.
Good series books build in story and drama until that final book comes along that makes you feel satisfied and happy you spent your time with the characters. Mockingjay leaves me feeling cheated. I walk away from the book saying "huh"?Show Less
There are some redeeming qualities to the story. There are many twists and turns in the plot. Suzanne Collins is a master at catching the emotion of the moment. However, it feels as though there was a rush to publish, and the end was sort of thrown together at the last moment. Way too much violence and gore, too little consideration for sub characters who were important parts of the other books, and shaky, disjointed writing plagued the story. The story was often times confusing and posed too many questions without any answers.
Good series books build in story and drama until that final book comes along that makes you feel satisfied and happy you spent your time with the characters. Mockingjay leaves me feeling cheated. I walk away from the book saying "huh"?Show Less
posted by kmp63 on August 28, 2010
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theReader278
Posted June 23, 2011
I Also Recommend:
Excellent read
I loved reading this wonderful book! It is a story that keeps you entertained for hours.
211 out of 294 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 26, 2010
Good series, great characters, but fails on the last book
Simply put, why would you kill Prim? Kill Haymitch, Kill Kat's mother, kill even Peeta but why would you kill innocent Prim who is the only one there that would give Kat sound advice.
The last book takes so many wicked turns that in the end you wish that you could rewrite the book and fix how all the characters finally fall into place.
This book fell short with the death of Prim, Kat finally ending up with Peeta, Gale becoming just as bad as the enemies, and Kat just becoming a vegetable to walk around and can no longer be happy.
She is suppose to be happy in the end not this depressed maniac. In the end you are wishing she would just end her life to end her misery.177 out of 566 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 11, 2010
Great for struggling readers or people who don't read very much
I read the first book, Hunger Games and the second, Catching Fire to my middle and high school students. They could not get enough of the story. They became involved with the characters and the emotional highs and lows immediately. The students actually would get upset with me for stopping at the end of a chapter!! These are kids who don't like to read or who don't read much on their own. Suzanne Collins does an awesome job at designing a story with enough "cliff hangers" to keep these students coming back for more. And I have to say this was one Young Adult series that I forgot was Young Adult!! I highly recommend this for kids and adults.
99 out of 122 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted August 24, 2010
WOW
The only part of this book I loved was the epilogue. I knew that the final book of this series was never going to be sunshine and rainbows, but I never thought that it would be so depressing and discouraging. I finished this book feeling really rundown. It almost felt like a copout, like Suzanne Collins was trying to make a statement or just couldn't edit herself. The story was random and jumpy. The first book was amazing, the second was really good, but I think the third was just ok. Overall I feel like it had some really good ideas and plot lines, but it just didn't live up to the first two books.
54 out of 81 people found this review helpful.
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ReadingBee007
Posted September 4, 2010
Great book, but a lazy ending
This series was well-written... right up to the end. I still recommend reading it. You can't help but root for Katniss and Peeta. But, Collins clearly can't take the presure of writing the final chapter. No spoilers here, and die-hard Hunger Games fans will read it anyway. But, very dissappointing.
44 out of 77 people found this review helpful.
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Fire Burns Brigher in the dark
I finished Mockingjay about a week ago, and was left feeling completely drained, confused, angry. I knew that if I wrote a review right away then it would be ferocious. But a part of me knew that this book did not deserve a ferocious review. So I gave myself time to let it soak in, to really think about the book. Coming to the conclusion that with all of the hate I experienced, there was equal parts love and understanding. The final book in the trilogy is a whirlwind of everything that made the previous two books brilliant, but this one holds a much more terrifying tone. Suzanne Collins has created a series about fear, rebellion, war and love. I believe many readers forgot the first three ingredients to the story, and just wished for Love to conquer all. With this third book, but that isn't the case. War and the lives of the Districts have always been the forefront of every book and Mockingjay reinforces this. It's a war zone. The happy endings that every reader is wishing for are hard to come by, making this book so much darker than the last two.We see a very different Katniss in this book. Another reviewer put it beautifully, the Katniss we see is suffering from PTSD. She is timid, hides in closets, and doesn't know what is the best solution for everyone. She is no longer confident. She has been broken by this war. Which I do believe that many readers were wanting her to be the strong Heroine she has been for the best two books. This book concentrates on the battle, on the strategy of District 13. Yes I hated all of the propaganda,but I understand why it was important to District 13. They need the other districts on their side. They need to compete with the Capitol on their level. Do I wish there was more fighting on the front-lines with Katniss? Yes. but she was a pawn. She was too broken to be anything else and i think the District 13 President knew this. Many readers hated the death of so many characters, but this is war. To me it shows that there is no happy endings in war. Fighting a war is not easy and there will be casualties and consequences, lives lost and lives destroyed. I understand that the love triangle between Katniss/Peeta/Gale took a back seat, and I was heartbroken and angry which is why at first I think this review would have taken a much darker tone. But none the less, after much speculation, I truly believe the final chapter of this much loved series was perfect. It might not be the ending I had originally hoped for with Katniss triumphantly announcing her true love for Peeta while in the midst of battle, and them skipping off into the sunset, but the ending that Collins gave me fits. Its just fits. It fits with the mood of the bookd. It fits with the whole notion that the young girl who took her sisters place at the Games, who won the games, ignited a nation full of hope, is gone. That Katniss is no longer alive. But the ending fits this new Katniss, who is empty after losing so much. Who needs to find a new way to live. Depressing? Yes. But it fits. All in all, Mockingjay is a heart-wrenching that will leave readers thinking about it long after turning that final page. I bet many people hate the way it ended, but at the same time love it.
34 out of 37 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 10, 2010
Disappointing
The first two books of this series had intriguing plot lines and well defined characters that the reader developed relationships with. The third book is a morass of graphic violence, slow-moving and meaningless plotlines and an ending that neither teachers a moral/cultural value nor satisfies the readers need for closure. Collins must have written this for the screenplay she is sure to get and people pay to see meaningless violence.
27 out of 49 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 1, 2010
not good
I really enjoyed the first two books but the last 100 or so pages ruined the entire series for me. I would almost have rather left the series unfinished.
27 out of 43 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 12, 2010
Amazing book.
I sincerely loved this book. It was absolutely heart wrenching. If you read a majority of the reviews that give this book 1-3 stars, it is littered with a phrase similar to "She didn't get with the guy I wanted her to get with!" or "No one says what happens to _____, he was meant for her!". If you can't have an open mind about this then you're going to be very disappointed. People also felt as if the characters were in fact out of character. When I read that, it makes me laugh. Who would know the characters better than the writer? No, the characters aren't as lighthearted as they were to be in the first book, but if they were I would've hated this. The characters are growing as the book goes along, they're aging and maturing. In the book someone even asks Katniss do you feel like the same girl who volunteered for her little sister, and Katniss swiftly answers no. I will admit, it was slow paced at certain places, but you could always feel something big was just about to happen around the corner. People who found it an absolute bore are forgetting that this book did not take place in an arena, so of course twists happening every other page wasn't going to happen. My favorite part of this book is the that Collins didn't sugar coat it. They are all in a war, fighting for their lives, so people complaining about it being too violent are ludicrous. It's a war set thousands of years in the future. So of course they have improved on instruments of mass destruction meant to kill many people. Did you really expect everyone to have a toy gun and scream "Pow pow, you're dead I shot you!" of course a lot of people are really going to die. If you don't let the fact that Katniss might not end up with the guy you want, or the fact that people are dying due to the fact that they are fighting a war cloud your judgment, you'll love it. It was a well written book, with a lot of emotion. You'll definitely be shocked by the ending.
25 out of 30 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 3, 2010
Epic fail!
My students and I have been anxiously waiting for an intense ending to the Hunger Games series, something that would keep us awake at night. However, that's not what we got! We found the novel to be lacking in creative intensity, moments that were unexpected. Katniss didn't develop into the Mockingjay role. The love triangle smacked too much of Twilight - been there, done that. Believe us, we don't need another Twilight! Sorry, Suzanne, it was a good try, but it just wasn't there for us.
21 out of 42 people found this review helpful.
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BookAddictions
Posted August 27, 2010
Utterly Disappointing.
There's so many things to say about this book...i'll start off with the fact that i've never been so disappointed at a conclusion in all my life. I expected more. I really did. The whole book focuses on the war and Peeta is absent in more ways then you think going into the book. He was my favorite character and not ONCE during the entire book did i actually feel like he was really there. That was the worst thing in the book.
While entertaining, the book was filled with nothing but misery, boredom, and disappointment. The only thing that kept me flipping the pages was curiosity. I wouldn't necessarily say that SC ruined the series, but she definitely ruined Mockingjay. The whole thing was introduction, rising action, rising action, rising action, rising action, rising action...oh, wait is it the climax? I stopped paying attention because i got bored. Oh, guess it's the resolution now. Oh, the resolution's only two pages? Well then.19 out of 24 people found this review helpful.
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Dissapointed
The first two books in this trilogy were nothing short of fantastic. I was completely engrossed, absorbed and thrilled by them. The story, characters and writing were totally what a bestseller should be.
But, the last book, not so much. I agree with a previous reviewer who noted it was like another person wrote "Mockingjay". Or the author was rushed or distracted.
The characters changed to the point of being unrecognizable from the previous books. The story seemed disjointed. The emotion, feeling and sense of purpose of the story dwindled.
The ending was, to me, a total disappointment. The people I had high hopes for were just dismissed, as if their previous rises to and falls from glory never occurred at all.
There was no closure or sense of a real ending. No final relief or gasp of emotion that I waited for.
The book was a good read, but ended like a good read but not up to the fantastic read the first two books were.18 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
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smash821
Posted September 1, 2010
Weird and Disappointing
As I was reading this book all the characters felt like complete strangers to me. It was like the author was not the same person who wrote the other two books. It was very slow reading and the plot was-well there was no plot. There was no emotion from Katniss. She was indifferent to Gale, Peeta, and Haymitch. I wanted her to want to be with Peeta or Gale, but she didn't really WANT anything in this book. The girl on fire was not the same girl in this book. In the end, it felt like she just sat down and settled.
17 out of 24 people found this review helpful.
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Lesara
Posted August 24, 2010
A must buy.
The whole book as a whole is great. The first 3/4's are wonderful, riveting pages that will glue you to your seat. But as the ending came along I started to get lost about Katniss's feelings and motives. The ending becomes depressing and doesn't give the resolution I thought the series could have achieved. The action was great and the emotional tears you get from watching Katniss's and Peeta's relation trying to be remade, But in the end I felt cheated of a good ending. Some may see it differently, but I'm going to go read it again to see if I misunderstood something along the way, I only hope I did.
Otherwise, an awesome book and would recommend it to anyone I know or every will.16 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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kline
Posted September 1, 2010
Very Disappointing
I couldn't wait for this book to come out and I am very sorry that it ended an otherwise, great series so badly, Katniss was a basket case, Petta was non-existent through the first half of the book. The story line was very hard to follow.
14 out of 24 people found this review helpful.
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Great end to a great series
So, alot of people who have read this book were dissapointed by it. They expected more, it didn't live up to the hype, ect. ect. But I thought it was a great end to the trilogy. Katniss was in a state of mental unstability--but honestly, who wouldn't? She has gone through so much in the past two books and this one, that while she is SO strong, everyone has their breaking point and throughout the book Katniss was pushed to hers. She saw loved ones die and see the pain the Capitol put them through. The fact that by the end of the book she was still functioning is an accomplishment in my book.
As for the rest of the book it was filled with emotion and action. It was a bit fast paced and some things seemed to happen so fast and unclear, but besides that it was a truely amazing book. I recommend it to everyone and all Hunger Games fans.14 out of 20 people found this review helpful.
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I'm waiting in anxiety!
This series is deffiantly in my Top 5 favorite book series! The first 2 were amazing! I couldn't put them down! This book will not be one that you will menally throw at a wall (I couldn't do that in real life because I wouldn't dare break one of my books!) this book will be the best one of the series. Hopefully Peeta will be Katniss's choice because to be honest, I really didn't like Gale from the moment I met him. Go Peeta!!
11 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Nikke
Posted June 4, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Gale or Peeta
Edward or Jacob is so over. It is time to make a choice but this time it is between Gale and Peeta. Personally, I have no idea who she is going to pick but I think I want her to end up with Gale. He's the tall, dark, and handsome boy who she was always meant to be with and has been waiting in the shadows her whole life. Peeta on the other hand is sweet and charming and you cant help but think that maybe just maybe he might be the better choice. Collins does an excellent job of creating a true conflict not only within her characters but within her readers. I have loved the last two books and cant wait for the last. I don't want it to end but I cant wait any longer. Cant wait to see who Katniss chooses and if the rebellion we have all been waiting for will be as epic as I expect it to be.
10 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 29, 2012
Haters.......
Stop fussing over the ending.... in fact i think it was FLAWLESS. Showing Bravery, Love, and Emotions. Which is what the series has mainly been about if u haters paid any attention. If u don't like the ending then go and make your own series and have the last book have a happily ever after ending but that was not what this series is about. P.S Your series wouldn't get very far. To the people wondering if you should by this DO because it is soooo worth the money.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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AS_From_Soa
Posted October 18, 2010
Good book, but was an ill fitting ending to the series.
I have read the past two books and was blown away. I loved the plot, futuristic Panem, and the whole idea of 13 districts and the Hunger Games. When Mockingjay came out I was both excited and sad since it was the last book. When I started to read it I wasn't so psyched about how she was still in love with both Gale and Peeta and was trying to decide which to choose. Katniss becomes the Mockingjay and has to be a symbol for the whole rebel force. It is a tough job and she struggles trying to do it and feels that she isn't helping much because she doesn't get to fight. I liked the scenarios and how district 13 was this secluded militaristic district. I especially liked Boggs. I loved how the simple shoots that were supposed to be like rebel messages (they call them propos) became deadly situations such as the hospital in district 8. I also liked how she got an awesome bow that could take out hovercraft out of the sky. Now the whole pod thing with the capital and everything about the military tactics was really cool. I thought it was fitting for this book to have a "final stand" type theme with the rebels going all out to take the capital down. This was a nice touch and a nice change of pace from the usual love drama. So near the end there is a mission, but I don't want to spoil it. I was very disappointed with the ending. It really let me down and some parts didn't make sense to me. I can't tell the details or I would ruin the book for you. I liked this book, but not as much as the original Hunger Games. I still think it is a great book, but it isn't up to par with the other two. If you haven't picked up the Hunger Games, you should because it is a must-read and this book s good enough to be a book worthy of the hunger games series stamp.
8 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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