Midwestern Escapes

I finally got around to reading the Mocking Jay, which is the third installment of the Hunger Games. This series is a very successful book and movie franchise. Set in the future, and revolving around brutal games, which are literally a fight to the death, this fictional world left me dreaming at night.

The main protagonist is a seventeen year old girl known as Katniss Everdeen. As I read Katniss’s first hand account, you feel the girl’s angst, confusion and resolve. You also become engrossed in a love triangle, and, at the same time, Katniss’s unintentional role in sparking a revolution.

But, as good as the characters are, Suzanne Collins’s world building skills had impressed me most. My favorite setting, and probably the dreariest world, would have been district thirteen. It seemed so strange and depressing, yet I could totally relate to it…and needless to say, if you can relate to something, you can believe it exists.

If you don’t know, district thirteen is as an underground military colony, one where every step is scheduled, every bite is measured and blind obedience to a cause is seemingly mandated. I related this to my basic training days in the United States Air Force. So yeah, I could swallow the strict life, one set in a completely foreign world, as very tangible.

This particular book, which I just finished reading, doesn’t feature a yearly Hunger Games. But, instead, Katniss’s sharp shooting team infiltrated the gluttonous Capitol. There, with traps and genetically engineered monsters, the streets of the city represented the arena.

I shouldn’t say the Mocking Jay is the last book. However, after reading the last few pages, I had the impression that the author intended it to be. So, I’ll debate reading the Mocking Jay part two. I don’t know if Suzanne Collins was prodded to write the fourth book, or if she simply wanted to revisit her wonderfully created dystopian world, but I’m always skeptical after a series’ intended conclusion.

Anyways, each book in this series reads fast. I actually wanted to grab a bow and arrow, which was Katniss’s weapon of choice, and jump into the pages. The only question I had, and this really shocked me, I won’t give it away, but someone I had hoped to survive did not. And even though Katniss, herself, saw the revolution through, it seemed all was for not. I just wondered why the author chose that ending…it probably ensured a new democracy, but, at the same time, it undid every intention the main character seemed to fight for.

Besides that, it was a great book.

Take care and Safe Travels!