#RereadReview : Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins – an incredible finale

Mockingjay is an incredible finale. It’s messy, complex, and devastating, way deeper, complex, and more heartbreaking. I’m so glad I decided to reread it.

Previous Books in Series –

The Hunger Games (Book 1)

Catching Fire (Book 2)

Synopsis

My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

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.

Review

Mockingjay, final installment in The Hunger Games series takes everything we know—politics, rebellion, loyalty, and love—and turns the complexity dial up to top notch. The stakes are higher, the characters are more broken, and the war against the Capitol is no longer just a fight for freedom… it’s a blood-soaked chess game with way too many players.

Katniss: The Girl on Fire or The Girl in Denial?

Here’s the thing—I love Katniss, but in the first part of this book, she tested my patience. She spends so much time in denial about what’s happening, what role she’s played in all this, and what’s expected of her. She has literally defied the Capitol, become the face of a rebellion, and yet she acts like she’s just some pawn who wants to sulk in the corner.

Yes, her reactions are realistic, anyone in her shoes would be traumatized, but at times, it felt less like trauma and more like tantrums. After how she ended Catching Fire, you’d expect her to be ready to melt Snow to the ground. Instead, she channels all that anger into hating District 13 for existing, mourning over Peeta, and pretending she doesn’t love him!

And what finally snaps her out of it? Seeing Peeta on television saying war is futile. It annoyed me because the world is literally on fire and she’s sitting there lost in her thoughts until Peeta enters the frame and she isn’t even sure she loves him!

Oh, and let’s not forget how she lashes out at Haymitch. That was another “What do you want from him?” moment for me. She’s mad he didn’t save Peeta, but honestly, what were the options? Let her die? Let all of them die? I’ve always had a soft spot for Haymitch—probably because I understand the trauma of someone who’s been through the Games and then spent decades mentoring kids who all died. The man’s a mess, but who wouldn’t be? Katniss forgetting all that and acting like he betrayed her was…frustrating.

Thankfully by the end of Part One, she was a whole different person—focused, determined, and willing to take charge. That was a relief after the frustrating start. And I liked how she saw the signs that Coin didn’t like her.

Gale

Now, rereading Mockingjay made me see everything I missed the first time. Gale and Katniss? No, I don’t see that happening. He doesn’t understand why she wants to protect Peeta, why she feels empathy for her prep team, or why she hates him hiding Peeta’s second interview from her.

And that kiss in the District 12 visit… it’s basically manipulation. That was the nail in the coffin for me. He says he loves her, but he doesn’t really get her. And Katniss isn’t innocent here either. She ignored who Gale really was all along. His anger and thirst for revenge were always there, but she turned a blind eye…until it hit her in the face.

I also kind of agree with Gale that Katniss would only love him if he was in pain and I can’t help but see the truth in it.

Peeta

While I wasn’t leaning towards Peeta either, he didn’t deserve what Snow did to him. Watching him go from loving Katniss to literally wanting to kill her was brutal. It was one of the hardest things to read, and honestly, it cemented Snow as a villain who deserved the worst.

Love triangle

I wish the love triangle didn’t exist by this point. It added nothing but confusion and dragged the story down in Parts 2 and 3. Gale’s “She’ll choose the one she can’t survive without” comment felt painfully true, though. It echoed Snow’s words from Catching Fire that she is self-preserving.

Coin & Katniss

The one thing I respected about Katniss here? Her instincts. She saw through Coin way before anyone else even blinked. Coin’s plan was terrifying. Sending Peeta to Katniss’s team was a death sentence disguised as strategy. I just don’t get how no one else saw through it. Plutarch, Haymitch—what were they doing? Why didn’t anyone question her motives? And one person who saw it, Hobbs- he dies! It drove me nuts.

The final mission into the Capitol was intense, suspenseful, and heartbreaking. And then Finnick’s death wrecked me, and I partly blame Katniss freezing at the smell of roses. That tiny hesitation cost his life. If anyone needed therapy, it was Katniss, not Johanna.

Climax and end

And then the climax… Prim’s death… WHY did no one question why a 14-year-old was on the front lines? WHY did it take Snow spelling it out for Katniss to see through what Coin did? And when Katniss kills Coin, she never explains why to anyone, just go along with whatever punishment she was subjected to.

Gale disappears in the end and Katniss feels relief he’s gone! I mean yes I could see her blaming him that his design killed Prim but then Coin would have found another way to do it but she spent half the book kissing him and it took Prim’s death by his design to decide she doesn’t want to be with him! That made me scream.

While the end was satisfying, I still found whole thing so complicated and it left me with so many questions that I had to fill them by binge-watching analysis videos on YouTube.

Despite all my rants, I feel, Mockingjay is an incredible finale. It’s messy, complex, and devastating. It’s not the hopeful ending I usually prefer, but it’s the realistic one the story deserved. This series is way deeper and more heartbreaking than I remembered, and I’m so glad I decided to reread it.

Book Links

Goodreads | Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

What do you think about this series and that end?
What Scene hit you hard in this series?

Just in case you missed,,,

• Slaying the Vampire Conqueror (Crowns of Nyaxia #2.5) by Carissa Broadbent – fantastic addition to the series
• The Battle for Baramulla by Mallika Ravikumar – unforgettable historical fiction
• #RereadReview : Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins – an incredible finale

Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | YouTube

---