Review of Reviewers

I'm pretty nerdy when it comes to reading. I love to read, because for me it's like watching a movie playing in front of my eyes, but it's my imagination forming the pictures from the words. I can lose myself in a book so thoroughly that I'll start to feel the emotions of the characters, the adrenaline from an action scene.

I also can get very protective of authors. Because I get so into books, I feel the need to defend an author's masterpiece. A lot of people do this. So this review is for the terrible reviewers of the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy: Mockingjay.

!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS OR WANT TO WATCH THE MOVIE, I'M GONNA RUIN BOTH FOR YOU BECAUSE THIS IS ENTIRELY ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THE BOOKS!

Now that that's out of the way, I very much hate how people are flogging Mockingjay with poor reviews. A lot of people say that it was "disappointing", "whiny", "less exciting that the first two". I agree with all of those statements, but for completely different reasons, for positive reasons, if you will.

Let me explain.

The first book sets a post-apocalyptic scene with a 16 year old girl Katniss who is tired of the poverty and oppression in her life. She and thousands of boys and girls from ages 12-18 must enter their names into a pool to be chosen for  the Hunger Games, a punishment for the past rebellion of the Districts against the Capitol. One boy and one girl from 12 Districts. They fight to the death in an arena, until one person is left, and their District receives food for the year until the next games. Hence Hunger Games.

When Katniss's sister is chosen in her first year putting her name into the pool, Katniss steps in to take her place, and is given a mockingjay medallion to wear. She goes to the games, and through an exciting series of trials, near death experiences, and pure cunning, she and the boy from her district, Peeta, survive and are both permitted to live. She suddenly finds herself becoming a symbol for the few rebels who still have hope of a world without the Capitol. Her mockingjay becomes her identity for change. She begins to fall in love with Peeta.

The second book finds Katniss and Peeta living wealthy, but not happily. The Capitol's President suspects her impending treason and decide that, for the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games, they will throw all of the old winners' names into a pool and select them again. Peeta and Katniss go back to the Hunger Games, with a new series of challenges far more horrific than ever before. They manage to rally together and form a pact with a few from other districts to stay alive. Katniss discovers the invisible barrier to the arena and their team create a way to escape. Katniss is saved and finds herself in the hands of the rebels, but Peeta is captured and tortured by the Capitol. She realizes how deeply she feels for him.

Now to the third book. The third book is entirely about Katniss's struggle against being a prop for the rebellion, but trying to take down the Capitol, helping to save lives of thousands who believe in her, their mockingjay. Often she has nightmares, is depressed, and not the strong character she was in the first two books. She seems to have unraveled, and when Peeta is saved from the Capitol., she finds his mind has been "hacked", and he has been poisoned against her, to believe she is the problem and should be killed. After much internal struggle, she makes plans to attack the Capitol and kill the President, thus inspiring the rebels to attack. The Capitol's president is captured and sentenced to death after a trial, but Katniss discovered that the leader of the rebellion has decided to reinstate the Hunger Games as a punishment for the Capitol's crimes. Katniss kills the leader, and after awaiting trial, is released to go home to her district. The epilogue fills in how, though Peeta remembers how much he loves her and they get married and have children, he still has the urge to kill her every once in a while, and somberly Katniss remembers the people who died as her children run through the fields.

Super long, I know, but I had to describe them. The third book is less exciting and uplifting than the other two. It reads more like a losing battle than a defeat of the oppression of the Capitol and Hunger Games. But let me put it this way:  war sucks for everyone. Although we may have succeeded in killing Osama, we still have the scars of 9/11. People who go to war and come back having won are never the same. It is not the same happy world for them. And yes, damn it, of course by the third book Katniss is distraught and less strong. SHE'S FUCKING 16. AND KILLED HALF A DOZEN PEOPLE. AND WATCHED PEOPLE DIE HORRIFIC DEATHS.

The third book is a realistic look at what winning such a battle actually is for the people who fought. And she is so young, and has no happy memories of a good childhood, that the two Hunger Games just destroyed her. It's not triumphant. It's not the slightest bit satisfying as a happy ending, but boy is it real. And that is why I hate that people say it was terrible. Because guess what, war is terrible, just in case you didn't know.

Want a happy ending? Watch a Disney movie. But not Up, because that movie is depressing as shit.

Also, my husband put out his metal cover of Rihanna's S&M, and it's AMAZING. So go buy it and his metal cover of E.T., because that is ALSO AMAZING!!!!