TDLR: 4/5 I think it's completely reasonable for anyone that has read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire to think Mockingjay is boring. I definitely thought it was boring as shit when I read in high school. However, reading it back, although it's not as action packed as the prior books, what Collins does instead is pack a SHIT TON of political commentary that I appreciated much much more with having a fully developed prefrontal cortex.

Despite me actually enjoying this book a lot, Collin's weaknesses throughout this book really show in her pacing and her "show not tell". I think she tried to do a lot and I would say I think I got the gist of what she wanted to convey, but there were so many ideas crammed into this book. I think if she had taken her time and fleshed it out even more, I would have appreciated it. I wish there was more Finnick and Haymitch. Additionally, Collins did a lot of tell. This is the limitations of having a pawn for a main character who isn't exactly on the front lines to report what's going on. So these very significant events are just told to the reader like a newspaper article.

I definitely think it was slower but I was never completely bored nor was I thinking about DNFing it which trust me, I have a short attention span. This book is real. It portrays what anyone would have done if they went through what Katniss did. It's brutal, bleak, nauseating and depressing. It really depicts a traumatized 17 year old being used a political pawn, and although yes, it takes out some of our main character's agency, Katniss has never been the "I'M GOING TO BRING DOWN THE BAD GUYS", she's the "I'm doing whatever the fuck I need to do to survive." It really shows what would probably happen if some teenager ended up being the figurehead of a revolution.

In a world where half these dystopian YA books are "YEAH WE'RE GOING TO START A REBELLION", it's quite refreshing for Collins to highlight the reality of how things would be: 1. the rebels are not 100% the good guys you think they are 2. there will always be casualities 3. things can always be manipulated to serve a political purpose 4. media and propaganda are essential in war 5. people come out of war with severe psychological side effects. I really love how Katniss, Haymitch and Finnick really show that the games were not over. That they saw the capitol's lasting holding ground as a final arena.

Every time anyone mentioned Katniss's fake pregnancy and how they were going to play it literally made me cackle out loud. They're in full revolt and STILL fucking caring about this shit. Katniss barely gave a fuck throughout Catching Fire for gods sake!

Worldbuilding: I LOVED LOVED LOVED how much we learned about District 13. I have never played Fallout but I did watch the live action and how district 13 is set up really reminded me of it... the bunkers, the underground gardens, pox epidemic, etc. I loved how strict they were, how militaristic, how utilitarian they were. The schedules, the calling everyone soldier, how they never celebrate holidays or anything really added to the environment.

Coin: I saw a review saying that Coin is 1-dimensional and how he wished she was more sympathetic like in the movies. In the movie version of Mockingjay, she gets a lot more scenes where she seems human and nicer to Katniss. I...would like to disagree. I don't need Coin to be sympathetic or talk about some family she had. She represents an idea that I think is pretty novel especially for the YA genre, that although she is the leader of the rebellion and technically a "good guy", her actions are much too similar for Snow. I think it's different from most villains and I kind of enjoyed how much she detested Katniss.

Plutarch: You know how some characters you have respect for but are disgusted by them? This is how I feel about him. Using Katniss's pregnancy for propoganda, coaxing Finnick to reveal his secrets, getting the prep team to work a day after their released from chains... The dude really is a gamemaker through and through. He would be Littlefinger in Game of Thrones lol.

Peeta: To make Peeta hate Katniss and make him see her as others do was genuinely a genius move. God I loved it so much. It was horrible yes, but it showed just how much they tortured him to make him go from loving her to hating her.

Katniss, Peeta, and Gale: This might be because Collins is in fact not a good romance writer or maybe it was really never about Peeta and Gale but more the values they represent behind it, but I never really cared that much about it. I don't care she played around with their feelings, I think she was pretty up front and they decided to stay and be messed around anyway. In my ideal world, I would have loved a story of Peeta and Katniss finally falling in love. Do I buy their love story? I think I do.. but not for a normal story. I buy they're two people who are trauma bonded and have immense care for one another. I would have been okay for Katniss to end up alone, but I think that...would have probably been even more bleak after this story. I think she had them end up together because it shows that Katniss finally feels safe to have a family.