'Mockingjay' is the third and final book of the Hunger Games trilogy (it wouldn't be a trilogy otherwise, would it?) and a great one it is. "Mind-blowing" according to one review, albeit sometimes confusing.
Katniss Everdeen has now won the Hunger Games twice and is truly feeling the physical and psychological effects of having to kill a large number of people for the entertainment of a capitalist state. However, she won't stop fighting. Not until the rebels, of which she is now the symbol - the Mockingjay - have won.
Despite still suffering from vivid nightmares and being unsure of who to trust, who she is trusted by and whether she will ever be safe again, Katniss has decided that she is going to face the Capitol head-on and, to use a phrase not used in their trilogy, kick the shit out of them.
That's the basic plot outline of which I can't say much more about without giving things away. However, much like the previous two books, this is, again, well-researched and written with great characters/characterisation, lively events and heady cliffhangers which prompt one to read into the early hours.
As mentioned in previous Hunger Games reviews, the plot contains some bits and pieces which could very much be compared to the Revolutionary political activity of today. In Mockingjay, we still have the Capitalist state (Capitol) but there is also the Egyptian Revolution to look into. Now, this is something I'm not extremely knowledgable on, but after attending a meeting earlier this week on said Revolution, I am able to notice some similarities.
Some examples could be the taking down of a state, living in slums and hunger. I'll stop there before I try and be clever but come off as the opposite. I do feel, however, that this book is much more connected to real, current activity than the previous two as it uses less of the 'kids in arenas' ideas and instead draws inspiration from troops patrolling streets and taking down innocent civilians. Or so I'm assuming.
Unfortunately there were some bits which confused me or took some double readings due to there being some slight continuity. I'm not sure if this was my tiredness or a genuine mistake, but I've decided I'm not going to let it affect anything.
Imagery was, again, excellent and presented capitalism and slums at their worst with characters being well and truly injured beyond 'a little scratch' or a sniffly cold. What I also enjoyed was the use of Morphling: a hospital-issued painkiller which, when taken, produces some interesting images. Name and description sound like something you may have taken to cure pain? Yeah, thought so.
All in all this was an absolutely excellent trilogy and well worth the read. If you liked the first film, definitely get these books (all of them, not just the first).
Another 5/5
And remember: "If we burn you burn with us"
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