Mockingjay *As spoiler-free as I can make it!

Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
Hunger Games, book three

*This is as spoiler-free as I can make it, but if you haven't read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire turn back now!! :)

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

I finally...finally...got to finish this last night. (I had a family death this week, so though I bought it on Tuesday, I had very little time to actually read it and still sleep!) All I can say is I LOVED the way that Collins weaved the ending to Katniss' story.

I was a big fan of her earlier series, The Underland Chronicles, though the ending to that series disappointed me just a little, so I think I was more prepared than some other readers for the sheer...brutality and realism...of Collins' war scenes. What made this book spectacular was that the action did not overtake the character development. Each and every character felt heartbreakingly REAL.

As I was reading I knew...just knew...that not everyone could survive (don't worry, I won't name names!) but I had that same series of moments that I did when I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when first Dobby died, then one of the twins and my heart just felt like a gaping hole in my chest! It is hard to lose characters that you've come to know and love so well.

I was pleased with the focus of the book being solely on Katniss...her relationship to the rebellion...not having each battle of the war overtake the book's plotline. I loved seeing her explore how she related to her friends, her family, her allies, her enemies, and then to the larger whole of Panem. As she made choices along the way, I felt each was fully justified by her character and fit the story perfectly.

I will not spoil the whole Peeta/Gale love triangle debate...but, I was happy with how things worked out in the end...largely because of the way each character developed in this last book. There was really no other way it could have ended...

That's all I will say for now, but I am going to reread the whole series again soon, because they truly are fantastic books!