Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, 2010

The summer's been scorching hot and dry as a bone. There's been next to no rain to disturb the piles of ash left by the attack. They shift here and there, in reaction to my footsteps. No breeze to scatter them. I keep my eyes on what I remember as the road, because when I first landed in the Meadow, I wasn't careful and I walked right into a rock. Only it wasn't a rock--it was someone's skull. It rolled over and over and landed faceup, and for a long time I couldn't stop looking at the teeth, wondering whose they were, thinking of how mine would probably look the same way under similar circumstances.

I stick to the road out of habit, but it's a bad choice, because it's full of the remains of those who tried to flee. Some were incinerated entirely. But others, probably overcome with smoke, escaped the worst of the flames and now lie reeking in various states of decomposition, carrion for scavengers, blanketed by flies. I killed you, I think as I pass a pile. And you. And you.

Because I did. It was my arrow, aimed at the chink in the force field surrounding the arena, that brought this firestorm of retribution. That sent the whole country of Panem into chaos.

In my head I hear President Snow's words, spoken the morning I was to begin the Victory Tour. "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, you have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grow to an inferno that destroys Panem." It turns out he wasn't exaggerating or simply trying to scare me. He was, perhaps, genuinely attempting to enlist my help. But I had already set something in motion that I had no ability to control.---- (pages 5-6)

Whoa.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first two books of the Hunger Games trilogy. They were both interesting, action-packed and attention-grabbing, with reasonably compelling characters and smart writing. They were not, however, books that really moved me much or engaged me beyond the simple pleasure of good storytelling. They were definitely "good reads." I expected Mockingjay to be an entertaining end to a fun series. The good guys would win, Katniss and Peeta would ride off into the sunset, and the Capitol's evil would be eradicated. Simple and satisfying. The trilogy would go down as a really well-done series of YA thriller-romances that will undoubtedly make terrific popcorn movies.

I wasn't expecting this.

Mockingjay is not the peppy, candy-coated grand finale I was imagining. It's astoundingly dark and nasty and philosophical and even subtle in spots. Collins takes the series and characters to places I would have assumed were way too adult, and she wreaks merry havoc with her cast of beloved characters, torturing them with such brutality that she actually reminded me of Joss Whedon. This is easily--easily--the best book in the trilogy, topping the first two in nearly every way. Even Collins' writing is progressing from the young-adult-y tone that I have such little patience for. Naturally, I have quibbles, but even with its flaws, this was a book that actually engaged me, riveted me, moved me. I can't really say the same for 1 and 2.

After the apocalyptic end of the Quarter Quell, Katniss has been rescued by the District 13 rebels, while Peeta is still in the hands of the Capitol, enduring hideous torture. The rebels have begun a full-scale revolt that has all of the Districts battling against the Capitol in a no-holds-barred war. Katniss's unique position as a beloved public figure gives them an ace in the hole: she can act as the Mockingjay, a figure of revolution and defiance, and stir up the Districts against President Snow. Much to Katniss's chagrin, she is becoming the pawn of a new government that seeks to use her for their own benefit. All Katniss wants is to free Peeta, kill President Snow and bring down the Capitol. But what (and who) will victory cost here?

Mockingjay, unlike the first two books, doesn't revolve around a Hunger Games, which frees up its narrative considerably. The Hunger Games concept is a solid one, but it's also limiting, and the fact that Collins doesn't spend the last book chronicling a Games gives her the leeway to tell a more complex, involved story. The specter of the Games still looms over the novel, though. One of Collins' masterstrokes is taking the reality-television-as-propaganda angle and applying it to the war with the Capitol. Even when visiting war zones and fighting battles, Katniss is trailed by cameras, her every move recorded in the hopes that she will provide inspiring material. It's a cool way to keep the themes of voyeurism and entertainment politics alive without rehashing the Games. Another way that the Games' influence is felt is in the final battle in the streets of the Capitol, which have been extensively boobytrapped in a way very similar to the arena. Collins really does a nice job of essentially jettisoning the core conceit of the first two books and making the final act its own animal.

Not to overstate it, but it seems to me that Collins's writing has matured significantly between Fire and Mockingjay. Maybe it has more to do with the book's complex plot and themes, but it seems as though some of the more YA-y elements are missing. The dialogue is a little snappier, the descriptions a tad richer. The characterizations are definitely deeper. That's not to say that there aren't a few characters who get shortchanged in that department (Boggs and President Coin are two that jump to mind), and I could have done with a little more action and a more dynamic climax. But overall? A big improvement, writing-wise, on the first two books, which were good to begin with, despite a nitpick or two on my end.

For instance, I may have complained that Collins flinched away from the violence and brutality in Games and Fire, but that couldn't be farther from the case in Mockingjay. Here, barely a page goes by without something shocking or gruesome happening. Collins seems to be trying to give Stephen King a run for his money in finding creative ways to kill people. The action is relentless and gory; no one, even children, are safe. As a result of this, the book is easily twice as suspenseful as either of its predecessors--even though Games and Fire were intense, I never really feared much for the main characters, who seemed sure to survive every catastrophe. In Mockingjay, Collins is absolutely merciless. There are two major deaths in particular that are real jaw-droppers (the fact that one of the victims was my favorite supporting character didn't help).

The levels of darkness that Collins is willing to go to is nothing less than astounding, especially where the characters are concerned. Katniss spends much of the book teetering on the brink of insanity due to all she's experienced, and her moral code becomes more flexible as the war goes on (I mean, she actually kills innocent people). Gale has gone from being a boy filled with rage to a somewhat frightening man who's willing to destroy the Capitol no matter what--even if he has to kill innocent people. Perhaps the most surprising change is wrought in Peeta, who has been tortured with tracker jacker venom by the Capitol, giving him a bitter new personality and a hatred of Katniss. Frankly, the characters have never been my favorite thing about the HG series until Mockingjay, where everyone seemed to suddenly gain dimension. The Dark Peeta angle in particular gets huge points from me for making the Katniss/Peeta romance feel truly relevant and surprisingly emotional. There are some truly hurtful and affecting scenes between the pair, and Collins does a good job of setting the readers off balance by detonating the series' core relationship. It's a mature and thoughtful device, something I wouldn't have guessed she was capable of. The ultimate ending, too, is amazingly bleak and intentionally anticlimactic; I was reminded of the end of Jonathan Stroud's Ptolemy's Gate, one of the darkest, most brilliant conclusions to a young-adult series I've ever read.

Now, I don't necessarily agree with Collins's strident anti-war message, nor do I think that she argues the philosophical points with impeccable logic (her claim that District 13 and the Capitol are morally equivalent is kind of weak). But you know what? She makes the readers feel her passion and belief in a way that she doesn't for most of the series. Ending the series with pain and suffering instead of triumph feels like a shock, and yet, it also makes total sense considering all that has happened over the course of the novel, and the series. It's a fitting end, and one that still sneaks up on you and delivers a gut-punch.

NEXT UP: My review of P.G. Wodehouse's The Code of the Woosters.

ALSO: I am happy to announce that I have begun As I Lay Reading, a companion to this blog. Unlike this blog (where I will continue to write capsule reviews of the books I read), AILR will feature constant commentary and complex, heady, thought-provoking analysis as I read, as well as any stupid thing I think to post. It is the Damon to this blog's Stefan--funnier, sexier and less straight-laced (sorry, I've got Vampire Diaries on the brain). Please head over there and check it out!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 2009

I look at Cinna, raising my eyebrows for an explanation. He just gives his head a slight shake, as perplexed as I am. Why are they delaying this?

Suddenly the door behind him bursts open and three Peacekeepers spring into the room. Two pin Cinna's arms behind him and cuff him while the third hits him in the temple with such force he's knocked to his knees. But they keep hitting him with metal-studded gloves, opening gashes on his face and body. I'm screaming my head off, banging on the unyielding glass, trying to reach him. The Peacekeepers ignore me completely as they drag Cinna's limp body from the room. All that's left are the smears of blood on the floor.

Sickened and terrified, I feel the plate begin to rise. I'm still leaning against the glass when the breeze catches my hair and I force myself to straighten up. Just in time, too, because the glass is retreating and I'm standing free in the arena. Something seems to be wrong with my vision. The ground is too bright and shiny and keeps undulating. I squint down at my feet and see that my metal plate is surrounded by blue waves that lap up over my boots. Slowly I raise my eyes and take in the water spreading out in every direction.

I can only form one clear thought:

This is no place for a girl on fire.---- (pages 262-263)

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, tributes from the impoverished District 12, have won the Hunger Games. As the first joint winners of the games, Katniss and Peeta find themselves in a delicate political situation: the trick that won them the Games has made Katniss into a symbol of defiance against the government. As districts begin to rebel against the all-powerful Capitol, Katniss is forced to walk a tightrope between encouraging the rebels and keeping the Capitol appeased and her friends and family safe.

Things only get worse when the twist is revealed for the next year's Hunger Games: the tributes will be chosen from the former victors, all of whom are now countrywide celebrities. Katniss and Peeta will be forced to return to the arena, to compete against a gang of hardened older killers. And this time, only one of them can survive the Games.

Like The Hunger Games, Catching Fire is a zippy and highly entertaining novel, written with a lot of originality and verve. Even though Fire had some structural problems that Games didn't, I actually enjoyed it more. Since the characters and world have already been established, Collins is free to deepen the plot and character development, while still providing hair-raising adventure and some admirably imaginative devices. I'm not doing handstands over the central love triangle, which occurs more in Katniss's mind than in reality, but it's still done pretty well.

The only real problem with the book is that it has a slow beginning, a repetitive middle and a terrific third act. We know from the beginning that Katniss and Peeta will end up in the arena again, since it's the book's main plot and it's the only direction the story can go in. But instead of revealing this early, Collins draws out the revelation, focusing on happenings inside District 12, where the Capitol is tightening its control. The dystopian elements are not the real draw of the series; Collins does a fine job of making the Capitol a believably evil force of facism, but she doesn't do much that's new with the concept. Having Katniss internally recap the events of the first book for about thirty pages starts things off rather sluggishly, and it doesn't help that the love triangle proves to be more conceptual than actual. Katniss goes over the Peeta/Gale debate in her head over and over, despite the fact that there isn't enough interaction between either couple to warrant all the analysis (that said, the idea that Katniss and Peeta have to pretend to be lovers for the camera is delightfully wicked).

Once the twist in the Games is revealed, we have to go through all of the Games-related routines that were established in the previous book--like all reality shows, the Hunger Games has a set formula that is repeated each year. This is fine and is probably necessary for the story, but it sometimes feel like a warmed-over rehash of what happened in Games. It feels as though the story doesn't really begin until the Games do, some 260 pages in.

Like its predecessor, the last act is far and away the best part of Fire. The concept of the deadly competition is Collins's masterstroke and she does a great job of coming up with inventive (and sometimes grisly) traps and obstacles. This time around, the other tributes are also much better developed than Katniss's opponents in Games, something that leads to a much more dynamic conflict, since Katniss actually knows some of the people she's fighting. The whole section reads like one long action movie--which it soon will be, since the adaptation of the first book is coming out next year. Collins has provided quite a gift for the filmmakers with Fire; her talent for cinematic description is one of her most useful writing tools.

I still have problems with young-adult-iness of her writing. Having bare-bones descriptions is not bad in and of itself, but when writing about a sci-fi world, it seems odd not to describe it more effectively. For instance, the whole Captiol is described in only a few lines, as is the arena. Collins's spare style may be perfect for action, but it hurts her a bit when it comes to world-building. On the other hand, we get pages of Katniss's emotional descriptions, which tend to be pretty generic star-crossed lover material. A lot of teen literature has this kind of internal narration, as though younger readers can't interpret a character's motives based on her actions and dialogue. Collins does tend to over-explain and reiterate certain concepts over and over; she feels the need to remind everyone that Haymitch is an alcoholic every few pages by having him throw up or pass out. The present-tense narration also turns into a distraction after a while. A more conventional past-tense might have served the story better.

There's definitely stronger character work in Fire than in Games. Katniss is still a pretty engaging protagonist, even if she goes back and forth between being a total badass and an emotional wreck. Gale gets a little more depth, as we see the depth of his hatred for the Capitol and his desire to escape his miserable life in District 12. Peeta remains the most likable character, and Collins gives him some much-needed dimension here. A couple of the new characters show promise as well. President Snow is an appropriately unnerving baddie and dangerous heartthrob Finnick Odair is an interesting and somewhat multi-layered addition to the cast. Even though Collins is not particularly good at writing compelling supporting characters, her heroes are strong enough to keep the plot moving along and just complex enough to keep the book from feeling cartoonish.

I spent most of Catching Fire enjoying myself without getting too involved or being much shocked by the plot twists, so when Collins suddenly hit the gas and gave us one hell of a cliffhanger ending, I was surprised by how skillfully she had woven it. It's an ending that basically upends everything that has been constant about her universe and sets up an all-bets-are-off final chapter, 2010's Mockingjay. I still wish that Collins had written the trilogy with an adult audience in mind, allowing her to have a more complex plot and richer prose, but Catching Fire is still a pretty satisfying and creative sci-fi thriller, and I'm genuinely excited to see how it all turns out in Mockingjay.

NEXT UP: Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008

The Hunger Games gleefully and literately mixes together several genres (sci-fi, dystopia, action, romance) and then wraps it up in fairly standard YA prose. Like Twilight, it's struck an immediate chord with teenagers, and there's a big-budget Hollywood movie already in production.

Like a big-budget Hollywood movie, Games is sleek, swift and suspenseful, but somewhat lacking in finesse and subtlety. The basic premise (a deadly reality show) is actually the best part of the novel, a timely, cuttingly funny allegory. The teen romance segments are somewhat less inspired, although even that is perfectly fine, as far as those kinds of things go.

Games begins in a post-apocalyptic America--now called Panem--which is comprised of twelve Districts and a Capitol. Once a year, two teenagers are selected from each District to participate in the Hunger Games, a lethal reality show in which the contestants kill each other on live television.

Katniss Everdeen, a born survivor from the poorest District, isn't selected to join the Games: she volunteers in order to save her younger sister from certain death. She finds herself an early favorite, but she'll have to use all her skills to survive against her bloodthirsty fellow contestants.

There's a really fantastic sci-fi thriller in here. The fact that it's a young-adult novel means that (despite a fairly graphic amount of violence) the concept is never allowed to really take off. It could have been dark, edgy, grim, maybe a little twisted. Instead, it's glossy and fun, but not much else.

Collins' writing style is fairly generic, get-the-job-done YA, heavy on emotional description, light on description of pretty much anything else. The budding romance between Katniss and fellow "tribute" Peeta (yeah, I know, unfortunate name) is given more attention than anything else. The main--and admittedly somewhat ingenious-- twist is that Katniss and Peeta have to keep up their relationship to stay alive, since their pairing is incredibly popular with the audience. It's a shame that Peeta is so much less interesting than Katniss, who is herself a fairly generic protagonist.

The novel's best sections are definitely the action scenes and the amusing skewering of reality television (tributes are sent important gifts like weapons or food by "sponsors"). If Collins was a subtler author (or if the book was written for adults), the satire could have been sharper and more complex. But because the book is far more preoccupied with dewy-eyed teen romance, it's a throwaway element.

The action is fun, though, and marvelously inventive. Collins throws a lot of amusing challenges at her characters--psychedelic wasps, fireballs, booby traps, mutated monsters and even weather manipulation. The book's latter half is almost nonstop suspense, like an entertaining action movie that thrills the senses and allows the brain to sit back:

The game has taken a twist. The fire was just to get us moving, now the audience will get to see some real fun. When I hear the next hiss, I flatten on the ground., not taking time to look. The fireball hits a tree off to my left, engulfing it in flames. To remain still is death. I'm barely on my feet before the third ball hits the ground where I was lying, sending a pillar of fire up behind me. Time loses meaning now as I frantically try to dodge the attacks. I can't see where they're being launched from, but it's not a hovercraft. The angles are not extreme enough. Probably this whole segment of the woods has been armed with precision launchers that are concealed in trees or rocks. Somewhere, in a cool and spotless room, a Gamemaker sits at a set of controls, fingers on the triggers that could end my life in a second. All that's needed is a direct hit.

Whatever vague plan I had conceived regarding returning to the pond is wiped from my mind as I zigzag and dive and leap to avoid the fireballs. Each one is only the size of an apple, but packs tremendous power on contact. Every sense I have goes into overdrive as the need to survive takes over. There's no time to judge if a move is the correct one. When there's a hiss, I act or die. --- (page 175)

Despite the entertaining plot and cool gimmicks, the flaws are serious enough to be distracting. The only characters with any real development are Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch (a crusty, alcoholic mentor for the District 12 tributes), and they're all strictly two-dimensional. The other characters are flimsy stereotypes and the tributes are barely sketched at all. The arena scenes would have been more dynamic if we had actually known who these people were.

Dialogue is also a big problem. The characters' lines are always just a little awkward--they either say exactly what's on their minds, or they clumsily hide it. I don't know why, but dialogue in young-adult novels is often very dumbed down, as though kids aren't smart enough to pick up any subtleties on their own.

Games is an entertaining diversion and it's just original enough to warrant some attention. It's just too bad that Collins couldn't have gone further with her concept, although maybe that's what she does in the two highly popular sequels that have been released. I definitely liked the book enough to read the second one, which will hopefully feature better character development and an improved style. And maybe Peeta can change his name.

NEXT UP: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill.