Are You Hungry for the Hunger Games Part 3

Hey folks, I had an amazing holiday weekend, saw family, Christmas lights AND I learned how to make authentic tamales from my Mom and Dad in law (Thanks guys!)  Hope you all enjoyed yours as well.  Well time to jump back into it.  I'm gonna finish up my epically long Hunger Games post today, so here we go.

Mockingjay is the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy.  It starts right were the last book Catching Fire left off.  Katniss awakes to find herself in the hospital wing of the long thought destroyed District 13.  Turns out to avoid mutual destruction due to both District 13 and the Capital having access to nuclear weapons, they agreed that District 13 would be left alone as long as the rest of the world thought that it was destroyed to keep it from becoming a rally point for any future rebellion.  Eventually a woman known as President Coin from District 13 becomes the leader for a rebellion against the Capitol.  She wants Katniss to become the visible human symbol for the rebellion, at the urging of her friend Gale, who survived the destruction of District 12 Katniss agrees on two conditions.  One that all of the Hunger Games survivors be pardoned, and two she be the one allowed to kill President Snow.  Coin reluctantly agrees to both conditions.  Katniss also learns that while her mother and beloved sister Prim have survived the destruction of their home thanks to Gale and Peeta has been captured by the Capital after the last Hunger Games.  Peeta is eventually rescued and taken to District 13, but has been reconditioned to hate Katniss to the point of murder(ah the classic I love you and now I'm going to kill you bit).

 As the book progresses the horror of war in all the districts really comes into focus, the whole time Katniss keeping the goal of killing President Snow, which she blames for all the problems firmly in mind.  As the war continues the upper echelon of the rebellion, especially President Coin and Gale seem to be capable of just as many atrocities (what a great word) as the enemy to win the war.  Finally Katniss and her team enter the Capital losing members one by one until only Katniss is left pushing toward President Snow.  As she finally reaches the mansion, which President Snow has declared as a shelter for the children of the Capital, but is really using them as a shield, Katniss realizes her sister Prim is there trying to bring medical supplies to the children.  While Prim is trying to help the children a helicopter drops emergency supplies, as the children and Prim reach for the supplies, they blow up killing everybody.  The supplies/bombs have the stamp of the Capital, ending any last resistance to the rebellion.  Still reeling from her sisters death, Katniss is summoned to a meeting of the rebel leadership, they are trying to consolidate there control, and as one way to do so suggest that they continue the Hunger Games, but instead of district children as Tributes, for the people of the Capital to send theres instead.  A vote is called and Katniss finally votes in favor of continuing the Games.  She goes and speaks with the captive President Snow, remembering an earlier vow they made to never lie to each other, he tells her that President Coin was the one who really ordered the attack that killed her sister Prim.  Realizing the truth, she also speculates that her friend Gale probably had a hand in the plan as well, and she will never be able to go back to a friendship with him.  Later she is summoned to perform the execution of President Snow as promised.  As she lines up her bow and arrow to take the shot, she thinks of everything President Coin has done to gain power and realizes she is just as bad, if not worse then President Snow, having lived through the horrors and still choosing to use the same tactics to gain power for herself.  Katniss then proceeds to kill President Coin.  In all the ensuing confusion President Snow is killed as well.  Katniss is "pardoned" on account of supposed insanity and sent to live in the rebuilt District 12.  Peeta eventually recovers enough to come home and marry Katniss.  The book ends 15 years later, with Katniss wondering if there children can ever forgive them for there parts in the Games and the ensuing violent rebellion.

Whew!  Now that we are all caught up with the story let us discuss .  I liked this book better then book 2 but not as much as book 1.  I again thought there was a lot of repetitive introspective (another awesome word) doldrums.  I understand the author was trying to show the internal personal struggle of Katniss, but on occasion it just came off as whining.  Overall I really liked the ending, showing that just because you are the rebel doesn't always make you right, another case of the winner writing history.  I liked how the author showed how easy it was to fall right back into known patterns, even ones you hate. I like how she showed how everybody suffered, not just the good guys or the bad guys, and in some cases you couldn't even tell who was who, just like in real life. I thought it was a good conclusion to the trilogy and am glad it ended the way it did.  The first movie is coming out soon and it will be interesting to see how Hollywood decides to portray the wholesale slaughter of children on the big screen.
What did you all think of the trilogy?  Is this post or series of posts way too long?  What are your thoughts on the themes of the book, and how they correlate to modern times? (wow that sounds like a college essay question :-)  )