Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I picked up the first book after I read the synopsis and it sounded exactly like the plot from the Japanese novel Battle Royale, which I LOVE. It takes place in the future where each year they pick a group of kids from different districts to fight each other in an arena of sorts until only one person is left alive. There are a few differences between the novels, namely that The Hunger Games trilogy are YA books, while Battle Royale is definitely not.

I liked:

- I love the characters. They're so real. The heroine (Katniss...more on her stupid name later) isn't even likable most the time, which makes her more like a real person.

- (POSSIBLE SPOILER) I like when authors have the guts to kill off a fairly well-known character at the end of a popular series. Like Harry Potter. Again, it's more realistic to not have a completely happy ending.

- Speaking of the ending, I was almost really mad with how I thought it would end. Fortunately, Katniss stays true to character and the ending turns out perfect.

- I liked how they handled the love triangle between Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. Gale was her best friend from childhood who was in love with her and Peeta was her partner in the Hunger Games. I liked how they didn't make the romance the main plot, but instead kept it secondary to everything else going on.

I didn't like:

- The name Katniss. Every time I read it, I wanted to call her Catnip. It's just a terrible name. The names in the book are a mixture of normal names (Annie, Gale) and weird, future names (Peeta, Cinna). Cinna makes me think of cinnamon buns.

- I didn't like who Katniss ended up with at the end. I was kinda hoping she'd go for the other option.

At first, I was worried how they were going to keep this series going after the Hunger Games ended in the first book. They threw them back in the arena for the second book, but I wasn't sure what they were going to do with the third and still keep it interesting. The war between the Capital and the Districts was just a good a read as the others.

Verdict?
5/5 stars.