Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins YP FIC COLLINS

Katniss Evergreen burns still. She survived not one but two of the Hunger Games: nightmarish games where only one survivor is permitted. Both times she survived by defying the rules of the all powerful Capitol. This time by joining with the rebels of the fabled District 13 she has brought complete destruction to her home and Peetna the boy who loves her is the hands of the enemy. Now the rebels want her to be the Mockingjay: a symbolic figure of the rebellion to rally all the districts to fight against the capitol and President Snow. But Katniss is tired of the dead that surround her and blood on her hands. Will she ever be able to fly free and what will it cost her? The Final Hunger Game begins!

Good news for the Hunger Games fans: Mockingjay delivers in a big way. This might be the best book I read all year. The final volume is as exciting and suspenseful as the first two and the ongoing tragedies and triumphs of the war shape your favorite characters in shocking new ways. This is a brilliant look at what the horrors of war bring to all sides and the impossibility of easy solutions in the face of tyranny. Surrounding all these weighty themes is just an outstanding adventure filled with realistic, vulnerable characters. Collins is brilliant at very quickly establishing and cementing characters in your mind only to destroy them a chapter or two later. It makes for very scary reading because you never feel like anyone is safe. If you haven’t read the previous Hunger Games books then you want to check them out before reading this one. So much of the impact is on how much the characters change for better and worse through the novels. I think this is one of the strongest YA series out there and recommend it to anyone wanting a good series.



No comments: