"It's a philosophy book!": A "Mockingjay" Review

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After completing this series, I can say that I was satisfied. The first two books left me feeling bitter and HUNGRY for more... Eh?! Like that?...no? Ok.

All puns aside, I really enjoyed reading this book. At times, I did get bored, or sped through certain part which I felt were "fillers", but for the parts that mattered I was kept on the edge of my seat. This is definitely NOT a children's book. Heck, I barely consider it a book for teens. The depictions of violence are raw and Collins has no mercy while describing scenes of horror and bloodiness. Despite the lovely cover, this is not a warm-fuzzy read.

I really do admire the clear path to maturity that this series has gone through. I'll admit that I absolutely hated the main character, Katniss, for the first book. In the second, I was terribly annoyed by her and her inability to let information pass through her skull that the reader had most likely already figured out pages ago. I started Mockingjay expect to be just as annoyed, but the character finally grew on me. Throughout, she slowly developed into a mature adult, albeit not the way average children should grow. In this book we see her as a human, scarred by the atrocities of war so much that she breaks. I don't believe for a second that society would ever become as barbaric as Panem or as idiotic as the citizens of the Capitol, but you certainly can draw similarities to events in history. Just because it was anceint Rome doesn't mean real-life human beings didn't watch prisoners being torn apart for entertainment. In essence, Collins illustrates to us a point which we all already know: WAR IS BAD. DON'T DO IT. Yeah...we know. (So why do we keep going?)

Now, the reason I like this book the most is because of the varying forms and displays of morality. We see Peeta, who seems to be a genuine dove of peace. (Although, he did coldly murder someone in the first book. No one's going to bring that up again? Anyone? Okay, moving on.) Gale who is definitly bent on serving revenge on the coldest plate in the freezer. (By the way, I still don't buy the Kat/Gale romance. Totally dry.) And even the good ol' Prez Snow with his utilitarian attitude (also, he's a vampire... I'm obviously kidding, but read the book and you'll see what I mean). Katniss constantly flows through different morality models, which makes total sense for a person in her position. Hurt them before they hurt you first? Do eyes for eyes really make the world blind? Does a chance at freedom really justify the slaying of innocents? Conflicting views and questions of morality and human rights in a time of war and opression. Gotta love it. It's the philosopher in me...

So if you're like me, wondering wheter or not to finish the series, my answer is this: Just finish it. You may not like it as much as I did, but it's a series... What kind of lamer just quits halfway through a series? You wouldn't quit watching Merlin after Season 2, would you? (Okay, I did...bad example... Still, go read the darn book!)


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