Review: Mockingjay

Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: August 24, 2010
Hardcover, 390 pages
5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

I'll be perfectly honest that the first time I read this book, over two years ago, I wasn't that impressed with it. I felt it lacked what the other books so strongly provided and to me, it wasn't the perfect ending to a fantastic series. Now, after reading the series over again, I can honestly say my opinion of this book has changed greatly. While my opinion on the other two remained relatively the same, everything about Mockingjay felt fresh and amazing. I don't know why I didn't enjoy it that much the first time, but this time I couldn't get enough of it.

Katniss is in District 13 now, a place she only learned existed at the end of her second stint in The Hunger Games. She discovered that the Capitol bombed District 12 and the only hope for the citizens to be free is to take over all the districts and kill President Snow. Katniss has been voted in as the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion, and the one that will help the rebels win. Reluctant, Katniss finally agrees to doing this as long as her friends are kept safe and she is the one who kills Snow. Life is very different from Katniss in 13, She is still recovering from the Quarter Quell and Peeta has been taken hostage by the Capitol. She spends her free time hiding from everyone or hunting with Gale. Nothing is the same between them either and as much as she thinks she'd like to fix that, her only worry is Peeta. Seeing him on TV, disintegrating in front of her eyes, kills her and she is determined to go to the Capitol and save him. When that proves impossible, she does the next best thing. She goes to any district they will allow her in and gets herself on TV as much as possible to prove to everyone that she is alive and well and willing to do whatever it takes. When a rescue mission for Peeta takes an awful turn, they set out for the Captiol. What is originally just a glorified mission turns into a real hunt for Snow and Katniss finds herself in another version of the Hunger Games, where Capitol pods explode everywhere and mutts find their way to her. 

When I read this the first time, one of my complaints was that there were no Games, but in reading it again, I see that the Games were all around them as they tried to get to Snow. Real life games that the Capitol began using against its own. Pods that hold a number of dangerous things like poison, tracker jackers or traps. Mutts that can track down Katniss by name. Bombs and explosions erupting the streets of the Capitol.  This is scarier than the Games because it isn't a fight for a Victor, it is a fight to get rid of everyone who has ever gone against the Capitol, and even those who haven't. The rebels will do whatever it takes to take over the Capitol and show Snow who's boss. Surrounded by those she trusts, Katniss dives head first into the Games, determined to be the one to take down Snow. The new characters are clever and strong in different ways. some are from the Capitol, Cressida and her cameramen, who prove their worthiness in front of the camera. Coin, the President of District 13, is cold and ruthless and will do anything to take back what she thinks is hers. And Boggs, Katniss's commander, who believes that Katniss can take their mission to the end and do what needs to be done. Old friends join them, Gale, Finnick, and Peeta. We see a lot if development in each of these characters and see how Katniss's opinions of them change throughout the book. 

It is nonstop action in this conclusion to a fantastic series. Katniss has never followed the rules and she doesn't plan to ever. For once though, she does not think of herself and she tries her hardest to lead her team to Snow's mansion in one piece. Fighting her mixed up feelings for Peeta and Gale while trying to be the leader she doesn't feel she ever will be. She is not at her strongest for most of the book, but she finds a way through it, pushes to the other side and comes out stronger in the end. The ending is heartbreaking in a way that perfectly sums up the series. I wish I could read about these characters forever, but at least I can watch them on the big screen and keep them in my heart. To me, this series will forever stay with me. The horror, the power and the love that I've read throughout the books captured every feeling i've ever felt. I related to most of them in one way or another and I love how everything played out in the end. Collins was not afraid to do what she had to do to conclude the story and I love her for that. To me, this ending is perfect and Katniss will live on forever within me. 

“You're still trying to protect me. Real or not real," he whispers.
"Real," I answer. "Because that's what you and I do, protect each other.” 

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” 

Review: Catching Fire

This week is Hunger Games week on my blog! With Catching Fire hitting theatres this Friday, I'm devoting every post to my favourite series. 

Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: September 1, 2009

Hardcover, 391 pages

5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

If The Hunger Games didn't make you cringe with despair, the sequel certainly will. I don't mean this in a bad way at all, in fact this series quickly became my favourite and still holds that title, but it's brutal, let's be honest, and unlike anything you'll read in the YA genre. Katniss has won the Hunger Games against all odds and she got to save Peeta while she was at it. Her actions did not go unnoticed though and now the Captiol is out for her blood. Her victory tour proves to her that everything they feared is happening. There are uprising in the Districts and President Snow wants her dead. He is sure that everything she did in the game was just a ploy and now it's up to her to prove that everything she did was out of love for Peeta. But nothing is good enough for Snow and when the Quarter Quell is announced, he uses this against her and announces that the Quell tributes will be drawn from only Victors. Without a shadow of a doubt, Katniss knows she is returning to the arena and her mission is to keep Peeta alive no matter what.

Katniss never fails to surprise me. She is at a crossroads at the beginning of the book. Her love for her family makes her want to run away, taking Peeta and Gale with her. Gale refuses to go, knowing that whether Katniss admits it or not, she has feelings for Peeta. When new Peacekeepers arrive and turn everything about District 12 into something unfathomable, Katniss realizes too late that she should have run. When she's shipped back to the Captiol, Peeta in hand, not ready for the next games to come, she does whatever she can to fight the Captiol. What I love is that as Katniss is coming up with her own ways of rebelling, everyone else on her team, as well as the other Victors, are also trying their hardest to let the Captiol know that what they're doing is wrong. There are so many small moments that took my breath away and I was eager to see how the Games would play out. Katniss never stops being strong, never stops worrying about Peeta, and is able to go into the Games ready for him to make it out alive. The way that she propels herself by thinking of Peeta is the most selfless thing she's ever done and it just prove how deep her love for him really is, even if she doesn't know it yet.

The Games in this book blew me away. They were sneaky and strategic and not at all like the previous. Katniss immediately became allies with Finnick, the pretty boy from District 4. Unsure if she can trust him, she goes through a lot of emotions throughout the game, continuously trying to keep Peeta alive. More allies soon arrive, putting Katniss in a very difficult situation. She knows she can only save one person and she wishes she weren't becoming close to more. This has always been Katniss's mindset. She is the kind of girl who does not get close to anyone because she knows in the world they live in, getting close surely means a harder goodbye. But the more time she spends with Peeta, the more she longs to stay with him. She still does not want to lose the boy with the bread. There were spins and surprises every chapter ad even though I'd read the book before, I was still eager to see how it all played out again. Collins is brilliant in her writing and plotting, keeping us guessing until the very last page. The new characters are memorable and unique, their stories all so different even though they have all been through the same thing. The acts of rebellion, the hints of trust, and the subtle nods to how well they all know each other, offered a completely different games with a much harder result to render. 

The cliffhanger ending killed me the first time I read it. Luckily, I have Mockingjay beside me so I can quickly dive back into the conclusion of this fantastic series. Katniss, the face of the rebellion, the Mockinjay, still has so much to go through before she can finally be out of the Hunger Games.

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now and live in it forever.”

“My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here.” 

“I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.” 

Top Ten Tuesday: Hunger Games Moments

This week is Hunger Games week on my blog! With Catching Fire hitting theatres this Friday, I'm devoting every post to my favourite series. 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we list off our top ten bookish loves. This week, since it's all Hunger Games, I've decided to do something a little different. Here are my top ten Hunger Games moments:

1. Madge giving Katniss the Mockingjay pin: It's unfortunate that they had to cut out Madge from the movie. She's a small character, but she's important to the story. She gives Katniss this pin that her aunt had before she went into the games herself and never returned. This pin obviously becomes a sign of the rebellion none of that would have happened without Madge.

2. The tribute interviews: This is a huge turning point in the book. There's been an unspoken agreement that Peeta and Katniss are going to be portrayed as a couple, but it's not until Peeta tells the audience that he's loved her all his life that it feels real to her. She suddenly knows exactly what she has to do to stay alive.

3. Peeta and Katniss on the rooftop of the training centre: A small scene, right before they go into the games, where Peeta tells her what's on his mind before entering. He doesn't want the games to change him. Katniss doesn't really know what he means until she's in there, has seen too many brutal things, and decides she doesn't want to be changed either.

4. Katniss stuck in the tree with the Careers below her: A heart wrenching scene where we have no idea how it will play out. Katniss gets her first sponsor gift, medicine for her burns, and Rue shows her the tracker jacker nest that she uses to outsmart the Careers. This ends up turning into Katniss's first kills and the beginning of her alliance with Rue. It also changes her mind about Peeta, who has been with the Careers but saves her life.

5. Rue's death: The most heart breaking moment in the book, Katniss is too late to save little Rue from Marvel. Katniss kills Marvel with her own hands, her first real kill, and stays with Rue until she dies. She sings her a song she used to sing to Prim, and covers her body in flowers before the hovercraft takes her away. What she's done for Rue gains her the trust of District 11 and she is rewarded with a loaf of bread.

6. The rule change: When the Gamemakers announce that there can be two Victors as long as they are from the same District, Katniss immediately screams out Peeta's name without thinking of the consequences. We know that most of what Katniss has been doing around Peeta has just been for the cameras, but at that moment we know that she cares about him in a way that the cameras will never capture. He is the boy who saved her life many years ago and she does not want to lose him.

7. The cave scene: This scene became infamous among the fandom. It was the moment the Katniss/Peeta ship became a real contender. They share their first kiss and are both very vulnerable with the other. Katniss finds out just how much Peeta loves her and tells him he saved her life. There are a lot of kisses, cuddling, and the flame between grew larger and larger. There was no going back after this scene.

8. The sleep syrup: I was disappointed that this was omitted from the movie as well, as I love how Haymitch and the sponsors are all helping her get rid of Peeta for a day so that she can go against his will and get him medicine. He realizes it too late and Katniss leave the cave to save him. 

9. The berries: Katniss and Peeta are the last standing and believe they have won. The Gamemakers announce that there can be only one, and suddenly they have to kill each other. Knowing the Captiol would rather have two Victors instead of none, Katniss takes out the Nightlock berries and threatens to kill them both. They pop the berries in their mouths just as the Gamemakers announce they have both won. The whole scene is nerve-wrecking and changes everything. 

10. The last scene: Here we see that Katniss was not completely acting for the cameras. She may be unsure of her feelings for Peeta, but she knows she doesn't want to lose him. She has started a ruckus in the Captiol because of her little stunt and now knows how in danger she is. But all she can think of is when Peeta will let go of her hand. She doesn't want it to happen. She doesn't want to lose the boy with the bread. 

This whole book blew me away and they did a great job with the movie. Can't wait to see what they'll do with Catching Fire!

Review: The Hunger Games

This week is Hunger Game week on my blog! With Catching Fire hitting theatres this Friday, I'm devoting every post to my favourite series. 

I've started a re-read of the series in anticipation of the new movie. I've been waiting a year and a half for my favourite book in the series to hit the big screen, and now that it's so close, I knew it was time to finally do the re-read I've been wanting to do since the first movie came out. So I watched The Hunger Games, then started to devour the series. And since I haven't had a chance to review these books yet, what better time than now!

The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: September 14, 2008

Hardcover, 374 pages

5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

Imagine a world where the government forced 24 children to fight to the death. That's the world Katniss Everdeen lives in. Panem - a futuristic United States where the Captiol has the only say. Divided into twelve districts, Panem has more rules than ever since an uprising 74 years ago threatened to destroy everything the Captiol had put in place. The Captiol has reminded citizens they're in charge by holding The Hunger Games, a game where two tributes, a boy and a girl, are chosen from each of the twelve districts to compete in a horrible televised fighting match where only one will come out alive. In one swift sacrifice, Katniss finds herself separated from her family, her best friend, Gale, and in an arena unprepared for what she must do to survive.

Collins creates an entire new world, describing it in great detail with little resemblance to our Earth now. Each district is in charge of a different aspect of living, District 12, Katniss's district, is in charge of mining. They are the outer most district and therefore the poorest and it's unlikely one of them could win the games. Although the world is different, the way its run is unsettlingly similar to ours. We are ruled by the government and the power of money and greed. Some people will do whatever needs to be done to achieve fame and fortune. The Hunger Games takes this further by involving the nation's children while the rest of the world allows this to happen. The scariest part is that it seems like something that could actually happen in the future. By putting children in this arena and turning it into something that everyone needs to participate in, and those who are poor need to put their names in more in order to survive the year, citizens will obey as much as possible in fear of worse things happening. Katniss does not go into the games set on rebelling, but she does it naturally, hating the Captiol and what it does to the world just like most everyone else. She does not want to kill, she simply wants to survive. The way humanity works for some people os amazing. Even though Katniss is in this arena where she knows she won't survive unless everyone else dies, she still does not go around killing people. Instead, she does what she has to do to survive, she becomes allies with a young girl, and she finds Peeta, the boy from her district that saved her when she was a little girl and may be in love with her, when she knows there's a chance she can save him. 

Katniss is the perfect female heroine. She is brave and strong but at the same time she is still a teenager and therefore makes mistakes like the rest of us. She has betrayed yet loved, fought and killed yet saved and enlightened. She has always only known one life, a life of survival and fear of what will come next. In the arena, she learns what she's made of. She escapes her shell and does what she has to do to survive. She doesn't see how other people see her, but throughout the book she learns more about those around her and those she left behind. She is told to play up her relationship with Peeta, something that was sprung up on her right before she had to enter the arena. She makes the effort, knowing it will save her, if not both of them, from the death around the corner. The romance between them is swoon worthy. Peeta is desperately in love with her, but Katniss doesn't know how she feels. At first, it's all for the cameras, but we all know throughout the game, she falls more and more for him. It's heartbreaking and endearing and I knew the minute they kissed the first time, that it would not end up just for the cameras. Some people are convinces she belongs with Gale, but there was never a doubt in my mind that she was meant for Peeta. 

The Hunger Games is beautiful in its brutality. War and death linger around every corner and the words and events will shock and destroy you. But there is always hope, love, and family to make the world seem like a better place. This series started the dystopian craze. Many have tried to recreate the feeling of living in Panem, but not many have succeeded. The writing is wonderful, the plot is terrifying, and the characters are memorable. This book will go down in history for a good reason and it's certainly one to be added to everyone's to-read list. 

“And while I was talking, the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don't want him to die. And it's not about the sponsors. And it's not about what will happen when we get home. And it's not just that I don't want to be alone. It's him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.” 

Top Ten Kick Ass Heroines

Yay it's Tuesday! That means it's time for Top Ten Tuesday, the wonderful weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's list is a topic I love. Heroines are my favourite part of novels. I like a strong female lead that I can relate to and watch kick some serious butt. It's good to know that there are a lot of there!

 1. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games): Hands down, my favourite heroine. She is brave, fierce, stubborn and would do anything for her family. In my make believe world, I'm exactly like her

2. Tris (Divergent): Tris is small and quiet but she proves that even if you're tiny, you can do whatever you put your mind too.

3. Kaylee Canvanaugh (Soul Screamers): Kaylee has been through a lot and she's only just discovered that a lot of what's happened in her life is because she is actually a bean sidhe, a banshee. Instead of cowering in a corner, she takes on the Netherworld head first and will do whatever it takes to make sure those she loves are safe.

4. Taylor Rene Krystal Hawkins (Beauty Queens): Okay, so this book is chalk full of kick ass heroines that find ways to survive on a deserted island. Taylor is my favourite though. She is a little priss but when it comes to finding a way out, she goes totally Lord Of The Flies and proves just because she's pretty doesn't mean she can't live in the wilderness.

5. Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson): The epitome of smart, beautiful, and full of fight. Annabeth will do anything for her friends and her brains take her far as she goes on quest after quest. She never let her love for Percy weaken her and I think that's a kick ass trait to have.

6. Lena (Delirium): More so in Pandemonium, we see Lena's strength and ability. She fights for what she believes in and will not let the government rule her world. She is cautious in love, but falls deeply once her guard is down.

7. Six (I Am Number Four): Ya, she's an alien and ya, she has awesome abilties. She is fierce, ruthless and practically invincible, but when she meets Number Four, her guard goes down a little. There is a softer side to her but that hard shell keeps her strong.

8. Liv (Blood Bound): Rachel Vincent has a way with kick ass characters. I haven't read her Shifters series yet, but I bet Faythe is just as kick ass as Liv. She takes all the pain that comes with her job but doesn't lose herself in the process. She will do anything to keep her family safe and will stop at nothing to be free from her bounds.

9. Sophie Mercer (Hex Hall): What I like most about Sophie, is that she's geeky, clumsy and doesn't come off brave at all. But when the time comes, she shows her true colours. I don't think you have to be strong and confident all the time to be a kick ass heroine. What matters most is how you act in the time for bravery.

10. Eowyn (The Lord Of The Rings): Saving her for last, she's quite possibly one of the first kick ass heroines I read. When I first met her character, I fell for her. She was sad and broken, but boy was she tough. And she continued to prove her strength throughout the series and ends up being the one who defeats the biggest, baddest enemy there is. Can you get more kick ass than that?