Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

Has anyone else finished the book yet?

I am so disappointed! I was so obsessed with the first two books and I couldn't wait for the Mockingjay. But I thought it was incredibly anticlimactic



SPOILER LINE!!!!!!!!!!!




I was definitely happy that Katniss ended up with Peeta, but I really would have liked to have read more about their interactions, Peeta walking around like a crazed zombie most of the time just wasn't very satisfying. I couldn't believe that things with Gale ended without a real discussion.

Also, I really disliked how Katniss was not 'herself' for this book. She really didn't have much chance to shine, and I think that is most of what made the first 2 books so compelling

Thoughts??

Message edited 8/25/2010 9:06:33 AM.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I liked it. I thought it was true to Katniss, she continued to struggle to learn to work with others rather than being independent - which has been a theme since the first book. I thought she grew as a person - insisting on immunity for that Career from District 2, befriending Joanna, working with the team to get through the Capitol to the mansion.

I liked that Peeta took of the rose colored glasses when it came to her. Not how it happened, but that he eventually was able to see all sides of her.

And I'm glad we finally saw Gale's true self. I never liked him, so the way he acted when planning with Beetee and attacking the Nut, walking away from Katniss without talking to her - all that rang true to me.

Of course there were things that happened that I didn't like or agree with, but all in all I liked it and thought it was a good way to end the series. Much better than Breaking Dawn - I felt like she just wanted to be done and rushed through everything she had in her head.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I'm really glad that someone else who loved the first books liked this one. I was so nervous that the rest of my friends who were into the series (who haven't finished yet!) were going to be disappointed too.

I think that perhaps my expectations were too high for this final installment. I loved the pace and suspense of the first two books, and I just feel like this book didn't quite hit the right notes for me.

I agree with you about Peeta being able to see all sides of her, but I think it would have been more satisfying if that had come about in a different way.

I also thought that Prim dying just seemed to be a way to orchestrate Katniss not ending up with Gale, and it felt too easy. I was always a huge Peeta fan and I thought that he and Katniss were a much better match, but it seemed like Katniss didn't wind up making a choice at the end. She and Peeta just 'grew back together' since she was sent back to District 12, and that just didn't feel like a decision on her part.

I liked the banter between Peeta and Gale, especially when Gale admitted that he should have volunteered to take Peeta's place in the original Hunger Games so he could have protected Katniss. But did anyone else think that scene too closely resembled the sleeping bag/tent scene from Eclipse?? (Or is that just what I thought since I'm a huge Twihard??)

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I agree, Prim going that way was an easy way to get rid of Gale. But I disliked him so much - even moreso with this book - that I was happy to see him gone.

I see what you mean about Katniss not making a decision, I kind of felt like after so many years of such brutal living and then going through 2 Games and the war her brain was just shot and she just shut down for a while, and since Gale took himself out of the picture the only option was to slowly work into this new reality with Peeta.

The banter was reminiscent of the tent scene (which is my favorite part of the Twilight series) but I was glad it was a short part of this book. But I also feel like there are too many similarities that aren't traditional vampire lore that Stephenie Meyer was reading/had read the early books in the Sookie Stackhouse series when she had her dream that started Twilight.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I devoured the book the night it came out

I was happy that she ended up with Peeta but wish the rapport between them would have been developed a little further in this book. I feel a little unsatisfied in that regard.

I enjoyed the book but did thing parts of it wrapped up too tidy.

Overall I enjoyed the series and really hope they make a good movie with it. I never read the Twilight series but I saw a small piece of the movie and thought it was so horrible that I was turned off from reading the books.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I enjoyed it. I liked the other books better, but thought it was good.

As far as Gale was concerned, I've been saying since book 1 that he had to go. It took forever for Katniss to see it (everyone else did), but she finally saw that he was in her past and Peeta was her present and future. Everytime he said something about bombing or killing, I think she realized that he wasn't for her. She's experienced the effects of killing and the fear of the games, he never has. Only Peeta truly knows what she went through, and it forever links them, no matter how crazy he got. I think if she had been told that PEETA was in District 2 working, she would have plotted her escape to get to distict 2. As it was, as soon as she saw Peeta planting those flowers, it was enough to stop her thoughts of suicide, and make her live again, like in 1 when he threw her the bread when she was depressed and sitting in the rain.

Also, I really thought Cinna was alive somewhere. It seemed like he had planned ahead too well before he died.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I just finished it and I'm really disappointed. The last 20 pages were really hard to get through and I found the book to be depressing. I liked the other 2 books so much more, I wish this one could have been more like them.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I was slightly disappointed with this book too...I felt that all it had were people dying left and right...I know the others were like that too, but this just seemed even more.

And I felt like Prim dying was brushed over a bit...I wasn't even sure she was dead right away.

I am happy with the way it ended and at least it didn't leave you with any crazy cliffhangers or a weird ending.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

ITA! I stayed up all night one finishing Mockingjay because I was so into it. DH woke up when I had 5 pages left in the book and tears in my eyes. He asked what was wrong and I was FUMING. I said "I don't know yet, but if this is how it ends, I'm going to be FURIOUS!" And I was. I'm sorry, I didn't expect them to elect her president or anything, but I also didn't expect them to banish her back to District 12. She never gets to see her mother?! Gale just turns into that assshole and they never talk about it?! I was sorely disappointed. But I still loved the whole series.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

UGH!!!!! I just finished it, and thought what most of you thought.
It was rushed, choppy and I really just didn't enjoy it as much as Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

Re: Mockingjay -- SPOILERS!

I just finished it! Maybe I'm alone here, but I liked it. I had to forcibly slow myself down and read it slowly, because I didn't want to miss anything.

I thought the story was written well. It suited the mood of the book. Katniss was never a soldier; she's a 17 year-old girl that's totally unprepared for the situations she finds herself in. I'm not surprised she spent part of the book hiding in closets. I'd do the same.

ITA that Gale had to go. I liked him, but not for Katniss. Maybe Johanna?

The story was kind of choppy, but again, it suited the book. Few storylines in life follow straight lines; there's no way this one could've without compromising the story. Deaths happened quickly and without warning, but that's how it goes in war. Things can change in an instant.

I liked the ending. I didn't think it was anti-climactic. In a lot of ways, getting married and having children was probably scarier for Katniss than the Hunger Games and war. But she did it, and I feel like she and Peeta rebuilt their lives as best they could.