Mockingjay - Book Review

I want to write a spoiler-free review of Mockingjay. I'll do my best.

I just read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire for the first time this summer which turned out to be a good thing because I didn't have to wait so long for the third and conclusive volume Mockingjay.

I don't usually stay up late into the night reading because I like sleep even more than I like books. However, I heard so many good things about The Hunger Games that I chose to read it on a night while Utah Dad was gone camping with the boys. I read it all that night. I couldn't put it down. It was completely enthralling. It took me two nights to read Catching Fire--only because I had a cold and eventually the Nyquil took over and I had to stop reading. It was even better. They were both pure entertainment.

I was excited and anxious to read Mockingjay. I preordered it from amazon.com and my copy arrived early last week. I finally finished reading it Saturday night. Which means, that while I did enjoy most of it, I didn't find it as gripping as the first two.

What I appreciate most in the first two books is the adrenaline-pumping action of Katniss's adventures of survival during the Games. Mockingjay lacks so much of that. Katniss didn't get into real action until the last third of the book and then just when it was getting good, Katniss and the reader are left incapacitated and in the dark yet again.

I don't mind how the book ended. Really, it is fine. But I feel like the ending is abrupt. There could have been so much more. Ultimately, I am disappointed with Mockingjay. I don't feel that the finale lives up to the first two books.