Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay:
My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plains--except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay--no matter what the personal cost.

The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and I have to say it was an incredible ending to one of the most intense series I have read in a long time. I actually had quite a few people suggest that I read the first two books, but skip the last because they did not like how it was written. Well, I can tell you that I am glad I ignored them and finished this series.

This was never about a love story, it was about a girl who started a revolution, even if it was unintentional, and changed the lives of many. Mockingjay focuses on the war that breaks out between the Capitol and the rebelling Districts, initiated in The Hunger Games and strengthened throughout Catching Fire. I did see a major change in Katniss, but it wasn't necessarily a good one. I still love her, but I felt that Suzanne lost an important part of Katniss in this book. While strong and independent in the first two books, she allows herself to be repeatedly used as propaganda for the war. After accepting her role as the face of the rebellion, Katniss initially set out to fight for her beliefs, but those in higher command had different plans. Emotional turmoil reigns when Peeta is rescued, he is changed as well: he returns to her as a shell of his former self. Betrayal comes from every side, and there are many brutal deaths throughout the book. The one death that breaks Katniss completely, changes her relationship with Gale and those she once trusted forever, and as she struggles to find herself again, it is only at the beginning that she can find peace once and for all.