I just finished this final book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. I was told by a wise man that I shouldn't review books I didn't like, so I have been abiding by that advice. Some works that I enjoyed had drawbacks in language and content, but Collins' work was exemplary in both aspects.
The first book had Katniss Everdeen, the "girl who was on fire," a desperate young adult who sacrificed herself in substitution for her sister's name being drawn to participate in the Hunger Games. The Games are a fight to the death in an arena rigged by Capitol Gamemakers' traps, seeded by weapons. It is a brutal and cruel reminder to the districts that they failed years ago to overthrow the Capitol. To the citizens of the Capitol, however, it is popular entertainment to send gifts of food, medicine, and weapons through silver parachutes to favored tributes.
Katniss sees the decadence and excess of the technologically luxurious Capitol and is sickened, knowing that the resources used for the Games could improve the lives of the citizens. The Games traditionally demand one victor out of the 24 tributes from the districts, but Katniss's fellow tribute Peeta declares his love for Katniss, capturing the sympathy of the nation. Katniss' focus back home had been providing for her mother and sister by illegally hunting in the woods - she had not considered her effect of attracting suitors.
The Capitol promises that this, the seventy-fourth games, will be different - that Katniss and Peeta can be co-victors if they both survive. When the conditions are met and the Capitol reneges on its promise, Katniss pulls a stunt that saves them both, but at a cost she cannot fathom.
The second book, Catching Fire, expands upon the fallout from the seventy-fourth Games - Katniss's act of defiance earns her the audience of the Capitol's President Snow in her own home. When she saved herself and Peeta, she was desperate and saw it as just survival. What it had become in the eyes of the districts was a symbol, a rallying point of rebellion. The mockingjay pin that Katniss wore during the games has changed into the watchword of insurrection and unrest. Snow warns Katniss that her family and friend's lives are on the line - The girl who was on fire is contagious, her continued existence is emboldening the masses that the Capitol is not invincible after all. Katniss made the Capitol move an inch, the districts want to push it further. President Snow announces that the Seventy-Fifth Games, a quarter quell (every 25 years, there is a twist in the set-up of the games), will be drawn from the pool of previous victors. Katniss will have to undergo the horror of another Games. She and Peeta are troubled already with the memories and nightmares from the previous Games, now she will be facing a field of the best and worst the Games has to offer.
I think I will pause here, because the above sounds good enough to me. I left out some key parts and persons, for I think the reader will enjoy meeting them on their own time. The second book may not have the novelty of the first and the anticipation of the unknown challenges. By Catching Fire, the reader has reached a transition point between the Capitol's dominance and the districts' flames of rebellion. This is the crux of the series, and perhaps the finest in my opinion for the dexterity of Collins treatment of Katniss's unenviable position - "Yes, the Capitol is despicable and wrong to take joy in the Hunger Games, but bringing the violence out of the arena and into a state of war will take more lives. Besides, her family and friends' lives are on the line whether she succeeds or fails. Katniss is walking a thin line, and struggles with understanding the icon she became, with the importance interpreted from her actions in the camera's eye."
Mockingjay, brings us to the blossoming of Katniss's character and role. Surviving two Games has made her into a walking shell and wreck of humanity. The rebellion wants her to become their Mockingjay, the living symbol of defiance and rebellion. This third book is dissimilar with what the previous two set up. It is carried out in an unfamiliar environment, we as readers can sympathize with Katniss's bewilderment and confusion as to where she is going and why. She watches as those who she knew so well adjust to the hardships of military discipline and roles.
"War makes good men better and bad men worse." - Joseph Chamberlain, civil war officer of the Union.
We see this happening as Katniss begins to puzzle out who she is underneath the attitude and shields she places around herself. She is broken and the Capitol's propaganda is malicious - torturing those in the Capitol whom she befriended or were attached to her in the Games. She bears the guilt of all who sacrificed their lives so that she could live. So many district citizens have invested their hopes and futures into her survival, what she means to them as a symbol. But she is not perfect, she cannot be an ideal, and Katniss struggles with the burden of the living almost as much.
To be truthful, I wasn't sure of Collins's intent in writing the third installment of the series. It just felt so different - the culmination of what went on before. But as I arrived at the end, I was treated to an ending that was fittingly eloquent, a nod to the past and what is to come. In a string of books whose authors cannot bring themselves to cut the strings and knot the conclusion, this was a refreshing departure.
Highly recommend
The Hunger Games which I send
Most refreshing end
4 months ago
