Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Caution: Spoilers

Here it is then, the last one of the trilogy before I have to decide what to do after this. But that is my problem and it's neither here nor there, or not anything to do with this review come to that. Not that that ever really matters in the first paragraphs of my reviews, I tend to ramble on a bit before I get down to the point. But not today! Shall we begin...?

Another quick read for me but not necessarily because I was so completely into it that I could not put it down. I made myself read this one quickly because it was the only one where I did not have a basic outline of what was going to happen because of the films. This meant that I went into the book blind with only my ideas gleaned from the previous book to tell me what might happen. Now I can see how they are going to split the book into two films, there is a fairly obvious point in the book in which you can split it in two.

From the beginning of the book we find ourselves with a civil war going on in the background. Despite this we do not actually get to see much of it as our main character, Katniss Everdeen, plays very little part in the war itself. She is used by the President of District 13 as a propaganda weapon against President Snow in the Capitol. This lasts until Peeta Mellark, who is held prisoner by the Capitol, is put on television by President Snow and Katniss realises that he is being tortured, at which point she has a mental breakdown. The war itself is very much in the background of this book as we focus mainly to Katniss’ struggle in district 13. Now when Peeta is rescued in order to try and bring Katniss back into the war we see the result of this torture. This leads to Peeta and Katniss being unable to be near each other, seeming to bring an end to their developing love affair.

As the war is won in the Districts Katniss moves in to the fight against the Capitol itself, in order to escape from Peeta. With people on both sides who want her dead, she manages to use an attack in the Capitol to fake her own death in order for her to exact her revenge on President Snow, which is the only thing keeping her going at this point. Through this mission she is constantly battling the decision she will eventually have to make concerning the two men she loves as well as the defences set up by the Capitol. As her mission climaxes she loses many people she loves which drives her fragile mental state into an almost complete breakdown. At her mission end everything is resolved from the point of the revolution, but not as you would expect it to be.

My first issue to characters in this book is Katniss Everdeen herself. If you were expecting a strong female lead in the book who is the powerhouse behind the whole resistance you will not get this. Katniss is an unstable mess throughout this film, driven mad through loss and the war she sparked with her antics in the first book. She is controlled and kept alive by other characters throughout the whole story, even succumbing to drug addiction and two separate points during the book. When the book finishes she has given up completely and is a psychological mess living with someone who is not much better and on top of that occasionally has the urge to kill her, completely abandoned by most of the people who claim to care about her.

Now another part I did not enjoy was the death of my favourite character, Finnick Odair. Now Finnick is not exactly his normal self in this film, suffering in a similar way to Katniss mentally, but he is still a source of the only humour to be found in the book. Finally, and this is no one’s fault just something that I personally did not enjoy, Plutarch Heavensbee. Now this character was played brilliantly by the late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who really makes you connect and admire Plutarch. Now in the book this character could not be more unlikable if he tried, he comes across as manipulative and uncaring despite his role in Katniss’ escape and the revolution.

Now I was very complimentary of both of the books that came before this one but I am afraid I did not enjoy this one. Maybe because I enjoyed the first two books so much that I raised my expectations so high that the third book was only ever going to fall short. I did not like the storyline, which areas were focused on or the eventual outcome of everything that goes on. I would still recommend the series to anyone who asked me about it but I am disappointed that the final book could not live up to the first two.

4 out of 10

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Well then, you know why I read the series, but you don’t know why I am writing reviews on each individual book. This is very simple and a lot more boring than my rant at the beginning of the previous review, and here it is...I read The Hunger Games series at my girlfriend's request so I could post as a guest reviewer on this blog. Anyway I think I let her down a little bit because instead of writing a proper review, which you may have guessed I have no idea how to do, I just rambled on about how I felt about the book rather than tell you what actually happened. Then again if I did that before you read it you may as well not read it so chew that over when you’re bored some time! On top of that rather than just doing it as a guest reviewer I decided to set up my own blog and do a few things myself, so please check me out! I am still not sure why I decided to do this but I guess I’ll either get bored of it or just rant about random crap at some point in the future.

Anyway, on with it! At this point in the last review I wrote about how the book was written but since it was written in exactly the same style as the first book I guess that is out of the question. So to recap; written in first person, blah blah blah, I  love David Gemmell, blah blah blah, quick to read...and so on.

This time the book and the film are a little further apart, but not enough to annoy me or make me think that one is overly better than the other. Our young heroine, Katniss Everdeen, is in the aftermath of the annual event known as The Hunger Games, of which she was last years winner. The book begins with her struggle to cope with the obligations towards the Capitol that winning the Hunger Games brings as well as dealing with the psychological ramifications as she struggles to regain her former life. Tours of the country, fake marriages and personal threats from the president himself are among some of the events she has to deal with as her mental state deteriorates. Then the bombshell, which if you have seen the film you already know, she must go back to compete in a special Hunger Games as part of an event called the Quarter Quell. We go back to the Capitol to meet many previous victors who also have to compete and then begin the ‘75^th annual Hunger Games!’ as Stanley Tucci so brilliantly puts it. Her and her fellow victor Peeta Mellark go back into an arena to once again fight to the death. However this time there is a twist at the end of the tail as the games go on and people die it is made clear that the tributes are trying to keep Katniss and Peeta alive. This culminates at the end when Katniss destroys the arena and is rescued by a group of rebels who inform her on the last pages of the book that ‘this is the revolution’ and ‘you are the Mockingjay’.

After reading this book I realised how perfectly Josh Hutcherson had played the role of Peeta Mellark in the films. His character's kindness, compassion and devotion to Katniss come across very strongly in this book and you get the sense of a real relationship developing between them, rather than the fake one they had in the previous book.  We are also introduced to another of my favourite characters in Finnick Odair, who is just brilliant. Also, if you have seen the film you will be glad to know that his sugar cube speech is almost word for word with the book, so credit to both writer and director there! As I mentioned in my review of the previous book you begin to lose the illusion that Katniss is the strong independent girl that she is meant to be. This continues in this book as her every move is controlled by another characters and she begins to have a couple of breakdowns because of the mental stress of her ordeal.

Once again I surprised myself by reading this book in a couple of days without having to spend hour upon hour reading. Once again I enjoyed how close my read was to what I had seen in the films. I thought the book was a brilliant read and did not want to put it down again. You are pulled into a political situation that goes well beyond the first book and creates complex plots which I instantly bought into. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book just as much as the first one and would recommend it again to anyone who has any lingering doubts.

8 out of 10

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

OK, so this is how it begins. I have seen the first two films and am well aware that there is a book series but have no desire to read it despite my love of reading. Why you ask? It’s quite simple. I thought both films were brilliant, but as most of you know any film based on a book can never be as good as the book itself, for obvious reasons. So my logic is this ‘why would I want to read the books and ruin the films for myself when the last one hasn’t even come out yet?’. This whole scenario is going on with my girlfriend, by the way, and my logic seems to have won out, but then you must be thinking 'why this report?' If you worked that out, well done my learned friend! The problem came when the announcement that the third film would be split into two films. This of course means my missus will have to wait two years for me to read that books and this isn’t good enough! So the nagging begins...nag nag nag nag nag nag nag. This is of course when I give in. Oh, you thought at the start of this paragraph that I was talking about how the book begins. Don’t be stupid! I called you clever earlier and now you throw it back in my face, shame on you! For this is not necessarily a review of the books but a review of the franchise itself! And of course in order for me to tell you this I have to tell you about not only the books, but the film and my personal experience with it all.

So this is how it begins...no, still not the book, will you get over that? I open the book onto page one to see the size of the font and the spacing used throughout the book. At this point I should probably tell you I am dyslexic; so you will understand when I thought I would finish this book in just over a week, I meant it would not take me long to do so, by my standards anyway. Secondly, I read the first couple of lines and discover to my horror that it is written in the first person. Now as you may have guessed from this statement that I am not a fan of books written in this style. However, when I first picked up a David Gemmell book I did not like the style it was written in but after reading the first book, Legend, I fell so in love with the character he created that I ended up with him as one of my favourite authors. So for this reason I give it a chance...

Now as the book unfolds I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the book plays out more or less exactly like the film, with a couple of minor bits that couldn’t be less relevant. The book follows a young girl who lives in a country called Panem that consists of twelve districts plus a city called the Capitol. A civil war 74 years ago between the districts and the Capitol, which the Capitol won, has lead to an event called the ‘Hunger Games’. In these game two ‘tributes’, one male and one female, are selected from each district to go to the Capitol and fight to the death on a television show in which the last person alive is the ‘victor’. Events ensue and our main girl ends up winning the ‘Hunger Games’ along with her male competitor from twelve, which is unheard of since there should only be one winner. In doing this she embarrasses the Capital and insights a small uprising in a couple of the districts. The whole story is told from the point of view of our main girl as she does everything possible to protect herself from death in the arena, enemies in the Capitol and her eventual return to her district.

 You begin to feel for some of her characters and as things go on you meet more characters that you actually like rather than ‘feel for’. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, is obviously meant to be your strong independent female character but this is often challenged as she is young and often relies on other characters to help her deal with situations. This is not completely clear at the start of the book but is made more apparent as you read on. However, she is ruthless and is solely focused on her own survival, even when at a later date she is protecting her fellow tribute, Peeta Mallark. The best character is without a question Haymitch Abernathy, a drunken former champion who acts as a ‘mentor’. Of course I already wanted to like this character since he is played in the film by Woody Harrelson, one of my favourite actors. He offers an often outspoken and straightforward view on events as well as being able to ‘play the game’ as it were.

Now I said at the start of this rant that I expected to finish this book in just over a week, so imagine my surprise when less than three days after I began the book that I had already finished it. Despite having seen the film and knowing what was coming, I completely bought into the characters and their struggle for survival. The complexity of events, the consequences of every action and the game itself are so elaborate that they keep your attention from start to finish, with your mind always working to keep up with all the information you are allowed by the author. All in all I am very glad that I read this book despite my reservations about ruining the film and would recommend it to anyone who was on the edge like me!

8 out of 10