In Mockingjay, the final instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy, Collins gives us full scale revolution of the Districts of Panem against the Capitol.
Katniss plays an integral role in the revolution, although at first she is not convinced that she wants or is even able to take on this role. She soon realises, however, that her needs are not as great as those of Panem and she takes to her role wholeheartedly. Although the love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta is still explored in Mockingjay, it is the themes of oppression and revolution that play a primary role,
I found the plot in Mockingjay more... messy (for want of a better word) than the plots of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. It felt a little as though Collins was trying to fit so many parts of the story into the final book that it became a little chaotic.
Having said that, I so admired the way in which Collins portrayed the revolutionary forces and the Capitol that a little chaos in the plot was soon forgotten.
In Mockingjay, Collins doesn't give us a black and white world. The Capitol is not portrayed as always being in the wrong, just as the revolutionary forces are not portrayed as always being in the right. Both the Capitol and the revolutionary forces use the same media indoctrination techniques as each other to takes their messages to the masses. The revolutionary forces create short video clips, essentially advertisements for the revolution, which they broadcast throughout the country. To do this, the revolutionary forces send camera crews into real battles, people are dressed in dramatic costumes for effect and great thought is given to setting up 'scenes' that best suit the video clips they are creating. These clips are often as manipulative as the Hunger Games themselves were. In fact, the leaders of the revolutionary forces are shown in the end to be just as power hungry as the leaders in the Capitol.
It is clear in Mockingjay that the desire for power can corrupt the best of people who have the best of intentions, regardless of which side of a conflict they are on, and in showing the extremes that the Capitol and the revolutionary forces are willing to go to in order to manipulate and even harm the populace in the name of their cause, Collins gives the conflict a sense of reality.
I did find that Mockingjay was a little slow to get started, and perhaps a little repetitive in the early stages while Katniss was deciding whether she was willing and able to play the part in the revolution that people wished her play. I also thought that Katniss's journey to the Capitol was a little far fetched but then I reminded myself that this was fiction, a YA novel set in a possible future, and so a little bit of implausability could be forgiven.
All the same, there is is something so raw and real about these books that I was unable to put them down. Mockingjay definitely doesn't disappoint as the final instalment in this thrilling trilogy.
8 / 8
One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. Everyone should read it, it is amazing.
What did you think about the final instalment of The Hunger Games trilogy? Did you find it a satisfying end to the story or were you hoping for something different? How realistic did you find Collins portrayal of the social and political revolution that was taking place in Panem?
Originally posted 1 July 2012 Page Turners
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