The Hunger Games series Book 3
Note: This may include spoilers to previous books in the series
Summary
Well, Katniss Everdeen has had an interesting couple of years. She has been through two Hunger Games, dealt with the death of people she cared for, and she's received many threats and warnings from the violent dictator of Panem, President Snow.
After her second time in the Hunger Games arena, Katniss almost didn't survive. Once she took down the forcefield that kept all the tributes inside, the rebels of Panem rescued her from near death. Once she realized what had happened, she noticed that there had been more allies with her in the arena than she had previously imagined. There were many people who were tasked with keeping her alive. Little do they know, Katniss didn't want to be saved, she wished they had saved Peeta, the one person she was really trying to keep alive who was in the arena with her.
On top of the anger she felt to them for not saving Peeta, she had to come to terms with the fact that her home, District 12, has just been destroyed because of her defiance to the Capitol. Her family and Gale, her best friend (and one of the people she loves the most), got out just in time with a fraction of refugees from 12 and they're staying in District 13, the home of the rebellion.
In this insane conclusion, Katniss deals with the transition from one leader to another and has to figure out where her loyalties lie. Should she be loyal to the resistance and its leader, or should she be loyal to only herself, her family, and what she believes? Finally, how will she try to save Peeta from the clutches of President Snow and his tortures?
Opinion
Scale of 1-10:
9
I'm going to say right off the bat that out of all three books, this wasn't my favorite. I still obviously loved it because of the characters. I was definitely still unnaturally invested in their livelihoods to the point of psychological issues. I just think that there were certain expectations that this book didn't meet. But other than that, I have no problems.
Because I've seen the movies, I knew when certain deaths were coming and so I knew the moments when I had to mentally prepare myself for the sheer amount of emotional trauma. One thing I can definitely appreciate Suzanne Collins for is that she introduced this one character in the book and I just grew insanely attached to him throughout the story... I don't want to talk about what happened to him...
I think that the ending of this book was a really good closure to her and Peeta's story but I kind of wish we could've seen a little bit more. It's hard to explain without spoiling it. If you do read the book (which I think you should do if you've liked the other two books) you'll see what I mean by that.
Age Rating
12+
I think that compared to the other two books, there was a little more sexual content and a little bit more graphic violence.
Language:
None present (shockingly)
Sexual Content:
There are a couple of kissing scenes throughout the story but it never goes farther than that. There is a part of the story where Finnick Odair is talking about some of the stuff that happened to him when he was first crowned as the victor in his Hunger Games. Apparently Snow would sell Finnick, because he was attractive, to the one who would pay the most and Finnick implied he had to "things" with those people. That had happened often with desirable victors of the Hunger Games. This is a fairly lengthy monologue from Finnick but it's not like he went into detail about the things he had to do but he more talked about the secrets he heard about Snow which he then told the resistant and the people of Panem.
Violence:
I think that this is the one thing that is the most constant in the Hunger Games trilogy. I think that there was a lot more graphic violence than the previous books. One of the most disturbing in my opinion is when a side character died by being impaled by wires. Another one is where another character had their face melted off... yeah it's fun stuff...
There's also talk about large pools of blood and shooting other people. Katniss also deals with her guilt about the people she's killed.
Other:
There are moments when Peeta wants to just die because of his psychological distress. Katniss also has those same thoughts in certain moments. Drugs that are used are painkillers that are referenced and characters sometimes become addicted and have withdrawals from them. There is one moment when Katniss is desperate to get some by any means necessary. This is a brief scene and isn't dwelt upon too long.
Here's the link to the book on Goodreads:
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