Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

If the first book was survival, and the second one rebellion, then this one is war.

Mockingjay doesn't sugarcoat war. The characters are faced with hard choices, like when is it okay to kill, and who is it okay to kill. They don't all agree on the answers, and their differences of opinion strain relationships.
The characters in this book don't come back from battle triumphant, giddy over their victory, and laughing at the expense of their enemies. They come back broken people, forever changed by the atrocities they saw and the savagery they had to take part in.

Friedrich Nietzsche said, That which does not kill us makes us stronger, but that isn't always true. Sometimes, what doesn't kill you changes you forever.

Review:

I'm not sure if I liked Katnis in this book. I did like how the author tried to make her character believable. In lots of book characters go through unbelievable circumstances and it appears to not affect them at all. Katnis becomes irrational at times in this book, and at other times completely closes her self off from the world. What I liked about her in the previous books was how she stayed calm and rational on the outside, even when she was angry or scared on the inside. She still has the amazing instincts and strong combat skills which she demonstrated in the other books, but is more vulnerable and is often found huddled in a corner after the action has died down.

A lot of time in the beginning of the Catching Fire was spent with Katnis at her home in district 12. Although I found this part slow at the time, it was necessary to get to know the characters in her village and see her interactions between the other characters. All of that played a role in this book, because it didn't just focus on Katniss and Peeta, but her village as well.

Katnis spends a lot of time in this book contemplating her position as the Mockingjay, and how she feels about this position she never asked for. There was also a lot of planning in the book. They discussed how to win the war, how to get back at Snow, and how survive in this new world, and how to deal with the things you have done. Sometimes I was wishing there was more action and less talk about it.

I really enjoyed this book. It was more grown-up then the previous two. While the first two were predictable at times, I found my self surprised  by the plot twists in this story. The characters were more grown up too. They took on separate roles in the war, and changed from the previous books. I was even more attached to this story then the other two. In the others there was a clear end, either she survived the hunger games or not, but this time anything could happen. Everything was in such turmoil surrounding Katnis, that I had to find out how it was going to end, and who was going to survive.

In my opinion the best of the three. 5/5