Suzanne Collins’s “Mockingjay” was among the most waited for young adult novels of 2010 – or at least that’s what my book-related websites tell me. I have to admit they might be right, since I got my copy the day after the premiere as any fan girl would, and read it in just two days. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I enjoyed it in the same way I have the two previous novels in the cycle.
The book begins where the previous one ended – Katniss, the protagonist, finds herself in District 13, which proves never to have been bombed, after all.
Together with a handful of allies, she joins the district’s government in its attempts to fight the evil Capitol and its super-villain president, Snow.
What appealed to me were the ways in which the novel continued the themes of the preceding volumes. Public opinion and the importance of the media don’t diminish in importance once the Hunger Games are no longer the primary plotline – even in real war, morale and therefore propaganda are very important, and Katniss becomes a tool in a new set of hands. I was also surprised by the moral complexity of the issues of revenge, desire ...