Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

SPOILERS!!!! The title of my review sums up my feelings about this novel. I was addicted to the first two books. I could not put them down. When it came time to read the last book I kept saying that I needed to pace myself since I knew it was the last but instead I read it in a day. In the end, there was no need to rush. Now, that I've finished the trilogy I feel as wronged and empty as Katniss felt at the end of Mockingjay. First of all, after reading the first two books I viewed this as a story about an incredible character named, Katniss. I felt that the war was a backdrop to the character. This was was what shaped her, matured her, tested her. But, by the end of the series it changed. It became about war, war is bad, blah, blah. Everyone knows this. This is nothing new. I do not need Finnick to get chewed to death or for Prim to incinerate for me to know this. But, what I didn't know and what I wanted to know was how Katniss would resolve this issue of war, this issue of being a pawn, of loving two different boys. These things were never told to me because she spent the majority of the book hiding, getting injured, being unconscious, staying drugged, or half insane. It was horrible enough that the usually dependable character of Peeta was hijacked but so was the character of Katniss. Her character and her reactions to the Games and the war were what made me invested in this story. There was none of that in Mockingjay. She just simply existed. Gale and Peeta were both seriously injured at the end and she didn't even try to find them once she healed. Really? These two men she would die to protect she suddenly could care less about them when one got shot and the other got burned? The author seemed too focused on throwing in as many tragedies as possible instead of showing us any genuine reactions or dialogue from the characters the readers cared about. Also, when Peeta was struggling to find his old self back in 13 she did nothing to help him but just kept avoiding him. In fact, that was really what she did the whole story which was such a change from who she was in The Hunger Games. The second thing I didn't like was there was just so much pointlessness. When the heroes leave for their mission to assassinate Snow I think that we are finally going to see Katniss take control and stop being a pawn. We are finally going to see her mature and figure out who she's going to love. I'm waiting and waiting for this pivotal moment. I've got no time to grieve for Boggs or Finnick because I'm just trying to hang on to the climax that will make everything worthwhile. It never happens. Peeta and Gale get injured "offscreen". Prim who stayed in the background for most of the book suddenly gets plopped literally right down into the middle of all the action only to die. I'm still thinking there's time for this great climax BUT NO! Once again, Katniss gets injured only this time it's worse. Not only does she watch her sister die but she gets to forever carry scars that will remind her of how her sister died. But, that's not enough. Apparently, Peeta will also carry the same scars, too, only the readers don't even get to read what happen to him. All of this just seemed so pointless. I understand that war is bad and unpredictable but it did nothing to move forward any kind of plot or character development. I just felt like the author was trying to hammer home how terrible war can be but people already know this. This story in my mind should have stayed on track with the character of Katniss. Also, just how many people in a book can be "losing it" at one time? You have Katniss, Peeta, Finnick and Annie all having mental problems??? That's a bit too much. Third of all, there were so many things unresolved. The resolution between Katniss and her two men just simply happened by chance it seemed. Gale invented the bomb that killed her sister so she simply picked Peeta. It helped that Peeta moved back to 12 and Gale did not. Would she have tried to find him if he didn't? Did she pick him because he was the only one there? Would she have picked Gale if he moved back? She was never proactive with her choices in the end. Everyone else made all her choices for her. Then there were other characters never fully resolved. Effie suddenly appeared at the end with little written about that. The style team just went away. Gale never really said good bye. There was no scene to find out about how Annie was coping. Her mother had nothing to say to her in the end other than a letter that was never read. Haymitch barely got mentioned once they were back in 12. Johanna had no ending. Peeta should have had plenty to say after what he went through and how Katniss treated him but there was nothing there to reward the readers in the end there, either. Also, the character of Katniss ended up doing pretty much nothing with her life after she stopped being the Mockingjay. Did her life peak at the age of sixteen and after that she did nothing that was meaningful? It seemed she married Peeta because he never left her side and had children for him because it was what he wanted...not her. In the end, she became this hollow shell compared to the girl her took her sister's place in The Hunger Games. She became her mother whom she hated so much in the beginning for "losing it". I didn't even understand why Peeta would want to stay with her in the end. She was nothing like the "Girl on Fire" that he and Gale fell in love with. After I read this book I could not stop thinking about it. I couldn't decide if I even liked it or not. I was glad she chose Peeta in the end but that was all I was happy about. I had problems shaking off my feelings of depression. The book itself was depressing but I finally figured out my depression came from how drastically different this book was from the other two. It changed from a story about a unique character put into an impossible situation (Hunger Games and the war),deciding between two equally great men and instead changed into a lame After School Special on how war is bad. I already know this. What I wanted to know was how someone as great as Katniss would handle it. I never found that out because the character that I fell in love with never showed up in this book.