In anticipation of Suzanne Collins' third and final Hunger Games novel, Mockingjay, I was among the crowd of impatient fans ready to flip through the pages at a papercut-worthy speed. Which is why, as I grew closer to those fateful last pages of the series, I felt disappointment pushing through my thoughts.
Mockingjay wasn't at all what I expected. I knew the story would have to be dark like its predecessors (more so, since it was about war),
but I had no idea how dark it could be.
By the end, Collins writes of so many horrific deaths in such a short time that there is no breather. Her message is pounded into our minds with each slaughter: war is bad, War Is Bad, WAR IS BAD! And yet her writing lacks grace or subtlety. What should have been a sad yet sincere conclusion transforms into a contrived, deliberately alienating story with no regard for the characters who originally brought the books to life for readers.
And yet, with all the pandemonium of war, there was quite a bit of boredom jammed into Mockingjay. At least half the book is spent with a humorless Katniss, deep underground in District 13, with hardly anything happening. And when something exciting does occur, we only learn of it after the fact. This summary-style delivery comes across as the technique of a lazy author who was tired of writing full-action sequences. Instead, we end up with a protagonist conveniently absent of any importance (until the deaths begin, that is).
Overall, Mockingjay is an immense letdown. Personality, subtlety, and closure are sacrificed for the all-too-prominent anti-war message Collins hurls at readers. I would advise fans to hold onto the characters they love dearly and make up their own finale, rather than experiencing the blow to the stomach that the final Hunger Games book inflicts.
Mockingjay wasn't at all what I expected. I knew the story would have to be dark like its predecessors (more so, since it was about war),
but I had no idea how dark it could be.
By the end, Collins writes of so many horrific deaths in such a short time that there is no breather. Her message is pounded into our minds with each slaughter: war is bad, War Is Bad, WAR IS BAD! And yet her writing lacks grace or subtlety. What should have been a sad yet sincere conclusion transforms into a contrived, deliberately alienating story with no regard for the characters who originally brought the books to life for readers.
And yet, with all the pandemonium of war, there was quite a bit of boredom jammed into Mockingjay. At least half the book is spent with a humorless Katniss, deep underground in District 13, with hardly anything happening. And when something exciting does occur, we only learn of it after the fact. This summary-style delivery comes across as the technique of a lazy author who was tired of writing full-action sequences. Instead, we end up with a protagonist conveniently absent of any importance (until the deaths begin, that is).
Overall, Mockingjay is an immense letdown. Personality, subtlety, and closure are sacrificed for the all-too-prominent anti-war message Collins hurls at readers. I would advise fans to hold onto the characters they love dearly and make up their own finale, rather than experiencing the blow to the stomach that the final Hunger Games book inflicts.
This piece has been published in Teen Ink’s monthly print magazine.
TheJust
Brookealee
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