Note: Spoilers in this review!! Book: The Hunger Games series Author: Suzanne Collins Genre: Dystopian Age: For readers 11 and up Rating: Infinity/5 Page turning plot? Check! Best characters EVER?! Check! Amazing writing style? Also check 😌 The Hunger Games has it all! But seriously, words can’t comprehend how much I LOVE these books! They’re the best written series I’ve ever read. Ever. Even after my fourth reread, this series never gets old! The plot is so creative and unique and the characters are well developed, which for me are the two most important criterias a book should excel in. I literally can’t find ONE thing wrong about this series (which is actually very hard for me to do since I ALWAYS find something to complain about in every series I’ve ever read lol). Top Four Characters Ranked:
Peeta and Katniss’s Relationship(Featuring me fangirling over my otp 😁 🤩 ): Hands down THE BEST book ship ever!! Literally no one will ever come close to these two 😌 Peeta and Katniss are both so comfortable with each other and it’s like they’ve been together for years. There are so many subtle ways this is expressed in the books: “From the bag I pull two fresh buns with a layer of cheese baked into the top. We always seem to have a supply of these since Peeta found out they were my favorite.” OK THIS IS SO CUTE?! The idea that Peeta constantly buys cheese buns and stocks them up in Katniss’s house, so she never runs out of her favorite snack, is just SO adorable to me 😫 . *** Obviously the Catching Fire and Hunger Game’s version of Peeta and Katniss is very different from Mockingjay’s version of Katniss and Peeta. In the first two books, their relationship was more of a sweet, young and playful kind. In Mockingjay, it takes a more somber tone with Peeta’s hijacking complications and Katniss’s true realization that she loves Peeta. I prefer Katniss and Peeta’s relationship in the first two books because it was SO CUTE! Yet, Mockingjay version of Peeta and Katniss is still too good to be ignored 😌 Like when Katniss came to realization just how far her feelings for Peeta extend: “‘[Finnick:] ‘After your first games, I thought the whole romance was an act on your part. We all expected you’d continue that strategy. But it wasn’t until Peeta hit the force field and barely died that I-’ Finnick hesitated. (...) ‘That I knew I’d misjudged you. That you do love him. Anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him,’ he says gently. (...) ‘Convince me,’ Snow said. It seems, under that hot pink sky with Peeta’s life in limbo, I finally did. And in doing so, I gave him the weapon he needed to break me.”
Friendships Ranked:
‘What's wrong with her?’ Plutarch says under his breath. ‘She's figured out how Snow's using Peeta,’ says Finnick. Several sets of arms would embrace me. But in the end, the only person I truly want to comfort me is Haymitch, because he loves Peeta, too. I reach out for him and say something like his name and he's there, holding me and patting my back. “It's okay. It'll be okay, sweetheart.” He sits me on a length of broken marble pillar and keeps an arm around me while I sob. ‘I can't do this anymore,’ I say. (...) ‘All I can think of is—what he's going to do to Peeta—because I'm the Mockingjay!’ I get out. “I know.” Haymitch's arm tightens around me. “Did you see? How weird he acted? What are they—doing to him?” I'm gasping for air between sobs, but I manage one last phrase. “It's my fault!” And then I cross some line into hysteria and there's a needle in my arm and the world slips away.” I kid you not, I could not stop sobbing at this part. I cried three times in Mockingjay and this was one of them 😭 This part was heartbreaking. I cried along with Katniss while she broke down in realization that her actions translated into Peeta’s harm. This passage is proof of Katniss’s love for Peeta. I don’t mean to get all sappy and romantic but…. It’s so rare to obtain instances where Katniss’s love for Peeta is undeniable. Usually we see all the romantic actions done by Peeta. But this is one example where Katniss shows that she equally loves Peeta back.🥺 Oh shoot I’m supposed to be talking about Haymitch and Katniss…. Hehe ok back to topic. Haymitch accepting Katniss with open arms is so comforting to read about 😭 Even if they were in the middle of a very intense fight, none of that matters anymore. They both bicker constantly, but are there for each other when needed. No one understands Katniss like Haymitch does and it’s clear to see when Katniss wants no sympathy from anyone else except Haymitch’s. Also, usually it seems like Haymitch is aloof to Katniss and Peeta. But in Mockingjay, Haymitch’s feelings of love and guilt for Peeta’s capture ring true as well as his affection for Katniss.
“At the hospital room door, I watch Johanna for a moment, realize that most of her ferocity is in her abrasive attitude. Stripped of that, as she is now, there’s only a slight young woman, her wide set eyes fighting to stay awake against the power of drugs. I cross to her and hold out the bundle. ‘What’s that?’ she says hoarsely. Damp edges of her hair form little spikes over her forehead. ‘I made it for you. Something to put in your drawer.’ I place it in her hands. ‘Smell it.’ She lifts the bundle to her nose and takes a tentative sniff. ‘ Smells like home.’ Tears flood her eyes.” 4. Finnick and Katniss: Their friendship was meh until halfway through Mockingjay. Finnick and Katniss could relate to each other and their struggles were similar. Katniss refused to acknowledge this and shut him out until District Thirteenth went under lockdown. That’s when Katniss opened up to Finnick about her concern for Peeta and she came to the realization that Snow was using Peeta to break Katniss. But still, other than a few moments here and there, I can’t remember there being much substance in Katniss and Finnick’s friendship so that’s why I am placing it a bit lower than the others. 5. Katniss and Buttercup: No. Because WHAT WAS THIS SCENE: 😭 “She's not here," I tell him. Buttercup hisses again. "She's not here. You can hiss all you like. You won't find Prim." At her name, he perks up. Raises his flattened ears. Begins to meow hopefully. "Get out!" He dodges the pillow I throw at him. "Go away! There's nothing left for you here!" I start to shake, furious with him. "She's not coming back! She's never ever coming back here again!" I grab another pillow and get to my feet to improve my aim. Out of nowhere, the tears begin to pour down my cheeks. "She's dead." I clutch my middle to dull the pain. Sink down on my heels, rocking the pillow, crying. "She's dead, you stupid cat. She's dead." A new sound, part crying, part singing, comes out of my body, giving voice to my despair. Buttercup begins to wail as well. No matter what I do, he won't go. He circles me, just out of reach, as wave after wave of sobs racks my body, until eventually I fall unconscious. But he must understand. He must know that the unthinkable has happened and to survive will require previously unthinkable acts. Because hours later, when I come to in my bed, he's there in the moonlight. Crouched beside me, yellow eyes alert, guarding me from the night.” Stabbing my heart a million times would have been less painful than reading this… I’M IN MY FEELS. NO ONE TALK TO ME 😭 THIS PAGE WILL GO DOWN AS THE SADDEST PAGE IN BOOK HISTORY. NO JOKE. THIS IS WHY I HATE REREADING MOCKINGJAY. THIS BOOK HURTS ME MENTALLY WAY TOO MUCH. Ok but it’s so sad to see the two of them, who were at each other’s necks for YEARS be the only ones left to comfort each other at the end. STOPP I’M MAKING MYSELF SAD AGAIN. 6. Gale: Ok I know that everyone hates Gale but I honestly don’t mind him. He was very opinionated, stubborn and only saw the world through his point of view, but I don’t believe he was a bad person. That being said, I hated Katniss and Gale’s friendship halfway through book 2 and 3. I loved it in book 1 but after that it just felt awkward (which I guess was a result of Gale’s unresolved feelings for Katniss). It’s a shame since I really loved their friendship in book one!! Gale had Katniss’s back for YEARS and kept her family alive when she went away for the games. He was a beacon of loyalty in the first book but not so much in book 2 and 3. It wasn’t Gale or Katniss’s fault in particular, but both of their personalities just clashed too much, making it hard for their friendship to last. Quotes that made me sob (I get very sappy and try to act all deep in this part 🤪 ): “‘And.. you in Thirteen…’(...)’Dead by morning!’(...) The camera knocked down to record the white tiled floor. The scuffle of boots. The impact of the blow thats inseparable from Peeta’s cry of pain. And his blood as it splattered the tile.”
Moral of the story: Don’t reread Mockingjay unless you want your heart to be physically crushed and trampled on 🤠 Oh and also that Peeta and Katniss are the best book ship ever 😎
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