Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games trilogy comes to an end

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (book 3 in the Hunger Games trilogy)

Scholastic, 2010, 448 pages

Every now and then a character comes along who you'd read about even if they were only selecting furniture at B&Q - our heroine Katniss Everdeen is one. 

Here's the background: Katniss lives in a dystopian version of the States, which is now divided into 12 districts and ruled by the cruel Capitol. Each year two children from each district are "volunteered" to take part in the Hunger Games, a reality TV competition set in a jungle-sized arena, where the children are armed and sent in to kill each other. Last kid standing gets to live. Cheers. Katniss is only sixteen when her baby sister Prim is selected to compete in the Games; Katniss volunteers to take her place. Together with the baker's son, Peeta, she travels to the Capitol, knowing the odds are she will never return. But having been the sole hunter and food provider for her family, Katniss has a few survival skills up her sleeve, and Peeta may turn out to be more than just a sweet-smelling competitor.

Not to give any plot-spoilers away but as there's a trilogy, you'll guess Katniss survives the Games and by book 3 she's involved in a plot to overthrow the Capitol and its menacing, vindictive ruler, President Snow. And so Mockingjay begins...

I was blown away, I just loved it. Katniss is a dream character, brave, self-sufficient, intelligent, honest, honorable, but with all the insecurities, uncertainties and needs of a teenager. On one page she's orchestrating the death of a competitor, on the next she's craving the warmth of a solid pair of arms. She's just wonderful. And her supporting cast are no mean characters either: her fiercely protective hunting companion Gale, bitter alcoholic Haymitch, and slow-burn stand-up Peeta. I could have stayed with them for hours.

It's an idea that's a little close to the bone, and it makes you want to throw the TV set out the window whenever Big Brother comes on, but it makes for superglue reading, a lot of late nights, and some heavy-duty dark circles. READ IT. You won't be disappointed.

http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/