Mockingjay

Mockingjay

By Suzanne Collins

Book 3 in series

Book 1! The Hunger Games

Book 2! Catching Fire

Book 4! The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Weeks have passed since the mayhem at the Quarter Quell and the bombing of District 12. The survivors are now in District 13 with Katniss and the other victors who were helping the rebellion. District 13 was thought to have been destroyed in the rebel defeat 75 years ago, but it wasn't. It was the original Capitol military base, and it had nukes. It reached an agreement with the Capitol to pretend to disappear if the Capitol left it alone. Now, the above ground is in ruins and everyone lives underground.

    Katniss returns to the ruins of District 12 to collect a few things, and returns in time to see Caesar Flickerman's interview with Peeta. He claims that she didn't know about the rebels and that everyone should call for a ceasefire. Katniss knows the District 13 military will see this as treason, and leaves the military room in a rush. Fortunately, Gale helps her figure out that she can use her Mockingjay role to her advantage. She tells President Coin she will play her part only if she assures that Buttercup, the family cat, can stay, all the victors who were captured by the Capitol get full pardons when the war is over, Gale will be her partner in battle, and most importantly, she gets to kill Snow. Coin agrees to announce this to the public so that she can't go back on her word.

    Katniss finds that her prep team, along with Mockingjay clothing designs by Cinna, are also in the district. She finds that her prep team is being semi-tortured for taking extra food (a no-no in the underground city, where food is scarce), and frees them. They help her prepare for her first propo (propaganda) session, which doesn't go well. The smoke, makeup, everything seems to fake, and Katniss asks to go into battle so she can record a true, on the spot war call.

    She goes to one of the districts where the fight isn't going well, and brings some energy to the injured with her presence. While she is there, the Capitol sends a fleet of bombers to take out the hospital. She and Gale take some of the hovercraft down, but parts of the hospital are hit. In the aftermath, she records a new speech. She points out the atrocities of the Capitol, "You know who they are and what they do...If we burn, you burn with us." Beetee manages to hijack the Capitol TV's and air the broadcast. It is followed up by another interview with Peeta, who continues to push for a ceasefire. At Finnick's urging, she says nothing about it, because it might give Peeta a bad image.

    In the morning, Katniss is called into the command center to see the propo. They interject an interview with President Snow and Peeta with "We Remember" footage. Peeta looks worse than before, and toward the end, he manages to eek out that District 13 will be destroyed by tomorrow, before he gets beat up. Katniss realizes he was trying to warn them, and everyone evacuates to a bunker in the nick of time. Coin announces that the bombing is over after many long hours. The District 13 command decides to rescue Peeta and the other prisoners, and it is a success. Only one problem. Peeta has been hijacked. The Capitol people brought his memories of Katniss to the front of his thoughts, then injected him with tracker jacker venom, which made them seem painful and delirious. He now believes Katniss is a muttation and wants to kill her.

    Katniss is in shock and pain, and the medical staff is working around the clock to fix Peeta. Meanwhile, she heads to District 2, the new Capitol military base, to help take it down. It is nicknamed the Nut because it is inside a mountain. But Gale has found a fatal flaw. It has air vents that can be blocked by an avalanche. The bombers brings down rocks, and the District 2 people are forced to surrender.

    Peeta calms down over that next few days as the medical staff tries to feed him good information on Katniss. He asks her about the day he saved her by giving her bread, and she tells him it is true. He also remembers that her kisses during the Games hadn't seemed real, and she leaves, feeling hurt. She can't worry about him right now, though, because Coin tells her she needs to get in shape if she wants to be part of the attack on the Capitol. She succeeds, of course, and heads off. In the Capitol, there are pods on every block that activate and attack if someone comes near. Katniss and her friends are sent to one of the safer blocks to record a propo. Unfortunately, they forgot that the Capitol has cameras, and they get ambushed. Their leader dies, transferring command to Katniss, and Peeta goes rabid again because the Capitol brings back bad memories.

    When he calms down, they collect some food and start moving through the sewers. After a day, they have to come out, because Snow sent wolf like mutts to kill her. They lose a pair of twins Finnick, and nearly Peeta and Gale. One District 13 officer knows a safe house, and they hide with a clothing designer named Tigris. Peeta is convinced that he will somehow ruin the mission to kill Snow, so Gale and Katniss leave him behind. They are so close now. Suddenly, the floor opens up beneath them! They hang on to the edge of the street for dear life as smoke fills the street. Gale is captured, leaving Katniss alone. When she gets to the center, she finds children walled in in the President's garden. She realizes that they are his last defense. The rebels wouldn't dare attack them.

    A Capitol hovercraft arrives to deliver packages of what looks like food. But they're actually bombs. When they blow, rebel medics, including Katniss's sister, Prim, go in to help, when another load of bombs blows up. Katniss tries to save Prim, and passes out.

    When she gets up, the Capitol has been defeated and she is in the President's mansion. Mentally distraught, she cannot speak for a while, and is left to recover. During her excursions in the mansion, she stumbles upon Snow and his artificial rose garden. He tells her to think. Why would he blow up the children? If he had any spare aircraft, he would have used it as a getaway vehicle. But he didn't. That means...?

    Katniss realizes it. Coin could have hijacked the Capitol hovercraft to lure Prim in and blow her up. She knew that the only way to control Katniss was to kill Prim. Why else would an under-trained 13 year old child be in a combat zone? But what if Snow is lying? She contemplates everything until Snow's execution. Where she promptly kills Coin. Her friends lobby for her and manage to pass the assassination off as mental illness, and she is sent back to District 12 to live out her life. Only one choice remains. "'You love me. True or false?' 'True.'" She lives happily with Peeta in a new world.