Suzanne Collins Inspires Mockingjay Madness

BY RT BOOK REVIEWS, SEPTEMBER 03, 2010 | PERMALINK

The entire RT office was waiting with bated breath for the release of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy ender, Mockingjay. We got ready for Mockingjay's August 24 release date with giveaways (of the series starter and series schwag) and reports back from the official pre-release party. We were so excited about Mockingjay that four of the six RT editors already had their copies in hand by 10:00 on the morning of the book's release.

And the RT editors aren't the only ones who rushed out to get their copies ...

Mockingjay debuted in first place on the bestseller lists of both the New York Times and USA Today. But that's not so surprising, considering that in the first week of Mockingjay's release, more than 450,000 copies of the book were sold. Yesterday Scholastic announced that Mockingjay was selling so well, the publisher scheduled an additional 400,000 copies to be printed to make sure that there would be enough copies to meet reader demand!

After having devoured Mockingjay, the RT editors have done their best to sum up their feelings about the series finale with their group review.

You can e-mail us here for your chance to win one of the three complete sets of The Hunger Games trilogy that we are giving away.

There are some SPOILERS in the rest of this blog entry. So stop reading here if you haven't read Mockingjay and want to stay in the dark until you see the action on the page.

MOCKINGJAY
4.5 Stars
TOP PICK
Reviewed By: The RT Editors

OPINION ONE: Collins' conclusion to The Hunger Games trilogy is without a doubt a page-turner. The author pushes the emotional buttons as Katniss tries to make sense of her new reality. The romance triangle wraps up in a satisfying manner. However, overall, the book is stark and bleak — much like war itself. The resolution is not entirely satisfying, and the Katniss shown in the epilogue seems almost removed from her own reality.

OPINION TWO: I know the response to Mockingjay has been varied, but I love, love, loved it. I thought the inherent darkness of the tale was absolutely necessary to the plot, and really, if Katniss — who, let's be honest, was never chipper to begin with — was lighthearted after all she'd been through, it would have really rung false. Katniss' struggles throughout the novel are heart-wrenching and realistic and I'll be darned if Collins didn't wring some tears from me. I even loved the end even though I was (ahem) firmly on the other Team, boywise. Collins does this amazing thing in her prose, where she consistently zigs when you think she's going to zag. "Oh, I know what's going to happen next," you'll think, and it never, ever does. The trilogy is destined to be a classic, one I'll relish reading again and again.

OPINION THREE: The first time I read Mockingjay I devoured it so quickly I had to go back and re-read whole swaths. This was no sacrifice; Collins is so skilled and masterful that I did so gladly. Katniss’ character arc is heartbreaking and believable, and her friends — and enemies — are well drawn. I was happy with the love-triangle resolution, but it’s secondary to the main point of the story, which is, to quote a popular ‘70s poster: War is not healthy for children and other living things.

SUMMARY: After being extracted from the arena by the rebels following her second Hunger Games, Katniss must deal with the devastating fallout and consequences of the revolution, including the annihilation of District 12. Adjusting to life in District 13 proves difficult as she struggles to accept the role the rebels have set out for her, while President Snow continues to bait her from afar. (SCHOLASTIC, Sep., 400 pp., $17.99)

Don't forget to e-mail us here to enter to win one of three sets of the entire trilogy of The Hunger Games that we are giving away!

WE WANT TO KNOW: What did you think of the trilogy ender?

Tags: RT Daily Blog, Young Adult

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Mockingjay

Submitted by vanette22 on September 11, 2010 - 4:10pm.

As much as I wish I could say otherwise, I found this book really dissapointing. My friend read it before me and warned me that it wasn't what you'd think (in a bad way), but I refused to believe her until I read it. For one thing I didn't feel like the characters were true to themselves. Peeta, with his Capitol brainwashing had an excuse; Gale and Katniss, however did not. For one thing, where did Katniss's badass image go? For more than half the book she was hiding in a corner, crying or depressed. And in my opinion Gale would have never let Katniss go with only Haymitch back to District 12 for a high-end job in District 2.

I felt the epilouge was the most dissapointing part of all. I always respected Ms. Collins' way of throwing a wrench in every kind of prediction a reader could have. But suddenly the last few pages are exactly what you'd expect in a classic 'happily ever after' story.

While I felt the book did have it's good parts, like how Gale was a lot more involved in everything than the first two books, I was overall dissapointed in what I had hoped would be the best book of the series. The book was steadily building, then all of a sudden it crashed. Finnick's death was the most memorable part of the whole read.

Hunger Games/Mockingjay

Submitted by cories on September 4, 2010 - 3:53pm.

After reading reviews and such, I decided to put off reading "Mockingjay" although I enjoyed the first two and was looking forward to the last. If the ending is as unsatisfying as "Tender Morsels", then I'd rather not read "Mockingjay" at all. Enough with the bleak, post-apocalyptic, dystopic books; I'm going back to romances after this.