Tuesday 14 June 2011

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The last book of the Hunger games trilogy. After her rescue by the rebels, Katniss willingly agrees to become "the Mockingjay", a symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol. As part of a deal, she demands that the leader of District 13, President Coin, grant immunity to all of the victors of the Hunger Games. She also demands the right to kill President Snow herself. In a daring rescue, Peeta and other victors are rescued from the Capitol. However, Peeta has been brainwashed into hating Katniss, and tries to kill her upon their reunion in District 13.

The rebels take control of the districts and finally begin an assault on the Capitol itself, which Katniss is a part of. However, an assault on a "safe" Capitol neighborhood goes wrong, and Katniss and her team flee further into the Capitol with the intent of finding and killing President Snow. Eventually Katniss finds herself pressing on alone towards Snow's mansion, which has supposedly been opened to shelter Capitol children (but is actually intended to provide human shields for Snow). Afterwards, bombs placed in supply packages kill many of these children and a rebel medical team, including Katniss' sister Prim.

President Snow is tried and found guilty, but he tells Katniss that the final assault that killed Prim was ordered by President Coin, not the Capitol. Katniss realizes that if this is true, the bombing may have been the result of a plan originally developed by her friend Gale. Katniss realizes that she will never be able to look at Gale the same way, regardless of whether or not he was directly involved in Prim's death. Katniss remembers a conversation with Snow in which they promised not to lie to each other. When she is supposed to execute Snow, she realizes that he was telling the truth and kills Coin instead. A riot ensues and Snow is found dead, having possibly choked on his own blood or been trampled in the crowd. Katniss is acquitted due to her apparent insanity and returns to her home in District 12. Peeta returns soon after as well, having largely recovered from his brainwashing.

In the epilogue, Katniss speaks as an adult, more than fifteen years later. She is married to Peeta and they have two children. The Hunger Games are over, but she dreads the day her children learn the details of their parents' involvement in both the Games and the war. When she feels upset, Katniss has taken to reminding herself of every good thing that she has ever seen someone do.

Monday 6 June 2011

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The second in the Hunger games trilogy. After winning the 74th Hunger Games in the previous novel, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12, the poorest sector in the fictional country of Panem. On the day that Katniss and Peeta are to start a "victory tour" of the country, she is visited by President Snow. President Snow explains that he is angry at her for threatening to commit suicide with Peeta at the end of the Hunger Games, which permitted them both to win. President Snow tells Katniss that when she defied the Capitol, she created talk of rebellion in the districts. He threatens to kill her family and friends if she cannot prove to everyone in Panem that her act was not one of defiance, but that she was instead driven by an intense love for Peeta.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

The hunger games by Suzanne Collins

The first in a trilogy introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where North America once existed. This is where a powerful government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's power.
It is certainly addictive reading, and I finished this book in a couple of days.