Ratings:
Book Rating: ★★★★★
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13
Review:
I just finished this book, and I am numb. I almost want to cry, but I think there's some part of me that's still too shell-shocked for that.
I can't write my usual character-plot breakdown. That isn't this book. No, this is the story of those who fought the monsters for those they loved, only to realize they had become monsters themselves. Wars are not staged in a vacuum like the heroes of old would tell us. Actions have consequences, and the end of the war does not mean the pain was gone.
I hated how many died in this book. We watch these characters' trauma, their loves, their dreams, their hopes. We watch them live, hoping against hope that life will get better one day. But then there's a scream and a spatter of blood, and they're gone forever. I hated how many characters died, but I know why Suzanne Collins did it. She wanted to represent the brutality of war, the moral ambiguity of power, and how bloodthirsty and hateful we humans can become. Who really was the villain? Was it Snow? Was it Coin? Or was it all of them, all willing to take whatever extreme to save themselves?
That brief look at Katniss and Peeta in the end hints that they did not ever fully recover from the trauma they endured. Cinna, Finnick, Rue, Prim, none of them deserved the horror that were given to them. Even those alive and physically stable did not walk out unscarred. It was a bittersweet ending, because no story that details the depths of human depravity and desire for revenge can have a truly happy ending.
You can only roll the dice, and hope the odds will land in your favor.
"On bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I'm afraid it could be taken away. That's when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I've seen someone do. It's like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.
But there are much worse games to play."
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