my review of Mockingjay

[SoldierMellark1]

Now we really get to the war story!


The story was peppered with interesting tactical details. These come to mind:
rank and the soldier title bieng separate
'cell disintegrators' as a weapon that existed but not anymore
Capitol trying to capture 13 vs. destroying it
planning the district 2 attack
the final traning exercise
the train station stage of the Capitol attack


People die in war, Collins had the guts to make some of them main characters, that was my main thought about Finn and Prim. Would love more about the political situation afterwards.


Peeta needed Katniss and only had her, he was very sick and di his best to gett better for her - thats great. but I really like Katniss for sticking with him since she had more options. And there was a lot more of growing closer to peeta and further apart from Gale. Glad she eventually changed her mind on having babies. Peeta semmed like the kind of great guy that usually doesn't get a chance, which I can identify with, so glad to see him get one. Gale seems like the kind of guy that's usually good at that, good luck to him and Johanna.


Collins was painfully obvious about explaining Crazy Cat and The Hanging Tree, that was annoying.

[Satsuma]

Uh...unless there is some SC interview out there I don't know about, you do know that "Gale and Johanna get together" is fanon, not canon?  Yes, she seems to find him attractive, but so does Fulvia, Delly, and I'm sure many other girls.  Agree that the Hanging Tree and Crazy Cat exposition was a bit too much.  Luckily, she doesn't do that for every plot point, such as the whole "Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games" idea, in which she didn't go into mind-numbing detail about why the pods are just like Game-maker traps in the Hunger Games.  So, I really think parts of the book needed better editing.    I think that SC, however, made a good choice in not going into detail about the political situation at the end, because that makes the book meaningful to people with different political beliefs. 

[Abel Toy]

Yeah, I was also glad the government wasn't detailed or anything. Just leaving a blank {insert good government here} instead of telling us and patronizing on what form of governing is better.

[lambstew]

The political outcome wasn't important as it's a story about Katniss told from her own angle. She has never been interested in power and politics. So a brief summary of adult's quarrel while she was incarcerated was enough because bluntly speaking she doesn't give a damn.

What I liked about the last book was all the unexpected twists and turns, and the emotional highs and lows. SC touched on the horrors of PSTD, manipulation of the truth, and the resulted blurriness between real and fake, sacrifices for a cause one believes in. Peeta's strength in his struggle to rediscover himself was highly inspiring. His strength saved Katniss life in the end. Overall it's written on a very different tone compare to the first two books, but leaves the reader with much to think about. I'd love to know what happened in the end to the pearl though.

[SoldierMellark1]

I know Gale/Johanna isn't confirmed, I heard fans talk about it and reading the book it seems plausible. Towards the end at least SC/Katniss were distancing themselves from what Gale was doing so that's maybe why we don't hear much about it.
 
Yeah, maybe SC didn't wanna go there with politics (or religion for that matter) (or represent that Katniss wasnt focused on it)

The pearl was one of those things I didn't think about much.
Defending the Capitol with arena style traps was an interesting plot point - maybe it's because they had the expertise and it gave the Gamemakers something to do the rest of the year. even facing victor rebels it probably would have worked without Plutarch's intel; it makes sense that he didn't have perfect intel and had to contribute to the system to maintain his cover.

"Peeta's strength in his struggle to rediscover himself was highly inspiring. His strength saved Katniss life in the end." lambstew, I said kinda the same thing, but less poetically and with more typos.

[Ivana2804]

Gale/Johanna is unlikely to have happened by the end of MJ, since he went to District 2 for his job, and there's no reason for Johanna to be there; I really can't see them hooking up in the short time span before that and getting so serious that she would decide to follow him there. It's merely something that could happen years later, perhaps, under the right circumstances - or never. It's more likely, however, that any relationships he went on to have were with new people he met in D2.

In any case, I'm glad that we did not get any info on whether Gale was moving on or not and that we didn't get any info on his later relationships, since that would seem like one of those endings where the author goes by the rule that every character has to be paired up and happy, even if it's a relationship that happens completely off-page/off-screen or happens suddenly, or a new character we never knew. And that's cheesy. It's much better that we know that Gale got a great career, ironically in D2, and imagine what else might or might not have happened to him. Ditto for Johanna: I would love to know more about how she was coping, but I wouldn't want some cheesy "...and she found love too" ending.

[Satsuma]

SoldierMellark1: I'm not saying Johanna and Gale as a couple isn't plausible, but statements like "good luck to him and Johanna" remind me of others I've seen around the fandom, that imply that this pairing isn't just speculation, but established canon fact.  It reminds me of how so many fans assume that Cato and Clove were romantically involved, to the extent that many criticized the movie for showing Cato getting cozy with Glimmer instead, insisting "The movie got it wrong!  In the books, it was Cato and Clove!"  I can just imagine some fans reacting to MJ the same way if they don't show Gale and Johanna in a liplock at the end, that the movie somehow departed from the book. 

Ivana points out some solid reasons to NOT support this pairing.  Personally, I'm not sure why it's that popular.  I guess many people see similarities between Gale and Johanna, as they both seem to show a tendency to be vengeful, ruthless, and deceptive...but those are all pretty negative things to have in common, or base a healthy, lasting relationship on.  (Maybe some fans see them as a grown-up version of Cato and Clove?)

Also, while I've read many Gale-Johanna stories, many seem to portray her as just a sexy, "bad-ass" girl and ignore her background as a victim of torture, as well as the likely murders of her loved ones on orders from Snow, in light of her comments in CF that "there's no one left I love".  Johanna is a deeply wounded woman, and I'm really not sure Gale has the capacity to understand and support her.  I can see them having a fling, but a serious relationship that inspires Johanna to leave the district we know she's homesick for, that leads to marriage, kids, etc?  Not saying it's impossible, but I don't see it as that plausible.  Gale certainly provides little emotional support or comfort for Katniss in MJ.

I suppose another reason for the popularity of this pairing, is that is neatly pairs off two significant characters whose post-war lives are left vague by SC.  But to me,  that just seems TOO "neat", or "cheesy", as Ivana would say.  It doesn't seem to be at all in line with the rest of the ending, which is far from that, and manages to be open-ended and hopeful, but not in a cheesy way. 

[SoldierMellark1]

what's ironic about Gale in D2? speakign of irony, by not saying whether each character has a happy ending, the audience is happy because they can use their imagination (and maybe I was overimaginative with the tiny Gale/Johanna hints)
Johanna and maybe Gale do seem like the kind of sexually charged people that might be up for a short fling (Johanna strippign her costume, and it being the adult version of Gale's kissfests)
couldn't deal with emotionally damaged Johanna? hmm. maybe that also has do to with why he didn't end up with Katniss (I mean, I love Peeta, but sometimes I wonder why Katniss wasn't attracted to Gale like so many other girls are, and this could be part of that)
Cato/Clove, Cato/Glimmer? I could see either or neither. In general, it's not what I focused on, and it seems to be exactly what many other fans focus on.

[Ivana2804]

what's ironic about Gale in D2?

He was the one who wanted to blow up the Nut, and it's not just that he was going to do anything to win, he hated the people from D2, as indiscriminately as he did people from the Capitol - remember when he pretty much told Lyme that they deserved to be blown up since the Peacekeepers burned down D12, and most of the Peacekeepers were from D2? And in the end he ends up living in D2 and working with people from D2, perhaps learning that he's got things in common with them - if nothing else, he obviously became a pro soldier, which is what people from D2 traditionally were.

[carolyn]

Fabulous point, Ivanna.

[SoldierMellark1]

that's true, great analysis of Gale and I definitely think he's a soldier type, but I didn't get what's ironic about it.

[Mycrofte]

Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. Didn't care for the ending at all though!

Prim getting killed was stupid because there was no reason for a 14 y/o with little combat medic training to be there. The front line was 4 blocks behind and medics would have been behind that.

Katness running around drugged up didn't serve any purpose to the story line.

When she found Snow, his little speech could have been better. The termoil she went through the entire series makes me think she wouldn't have been able to execute Snow like that anyway. Should have found him dropping dead just before she shot in his office or something.

[THGluvr]

This was the my favourite book in the series because the war was written so well.

[Ivana2804]

Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. Didn't care for the ending at all though!

Prim getting killed was stupid because there was no reason for a 14 y/o with little combat medic training to be there. The front line was 4 blocks behind and medics would have been behind that.

That was the point, that there was no reason for her to there and Coin deliberately put her in harm's way by allowing her to be on the front lines.

Katness running around drugged up didn't serve any purpose to the story line.

Didn't serve any "purpose"? Katniss's state of mind is crucial to the story, since she's the protagonist, and the book is not just an action story where good guys shoot bad guys and everything turns out great. War is terrible and the experience of living through violence and having to commit it and the deaths and loss leaves people with traumas and mental scars.

The termoil she went through the entire series makes me think she wouldn't have been able to execute Snow like that anyway. Should have found him dropping dead just before she shot in his office or something.

Why? And why wouldn't she be able to execute Snow? That was the easiest but also the most pointless thing ever, since he was going to be executed anyway. She was able to do much more, to assassinate the new dictator who was in power, condemning herself to disgrace and, as she believed at the time, prison, torture or death.

[Mycrofte]

Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. Didn't care for the ending at all though!

Prim getting killed was stupid because there was no reason for a 14 y/o with little combat medic training to be there. The front line was 4 blocks behind and medics would have been behind that.

That was the point, that there was no reason for her to there and Coin deliberately put her in harm's way by allowing her to be on the front lines.

Katness running around drugged up didn't serve any purpose to the story line.

Didn't serve any "purpose"? Katniss's state of mind is crucial to the story, since she's the protagonist, and the book is not just an action story where good guys shoot bad guys and everything turns out great. War is terrible and the experience of living through violence and having to commit it and the deaths and loss leaves people with traumas and mental scars.

The termoil she went through the entire series makes me think she wouldn't have been able to execute Snow like that anyway. Should have found him dropping dead just before she shot in his office or something.

Why? And why wouldn't she be able to execute Snow? That was the easiest but also the most pointless thing ever, since he was going to be executed anyway. She was able to do much more, to assassinate the new dictator who was in power, condemning herself to disgrace and, as she believed at the time, prison, torture or death.

      For all of these points, my main thought is that thay could have been written better. I got the feeling the end wasn't written as well as the rest of the book because the author was pushed to finish or not enough time to edit afterwards. A bit like a Mel Brooks movie. Great stuff during, but never knows how to end one.