Destinesia

Having literally finished reading the last page of Mocking Jay a few seconds ago, I have nowhere and no one to turn to to reliniquish the urgent flood of thoughts and emotions I think and feel besides tumblr. I have revisited that feeling you get after devoting countless hours and so much energy into a book series, only to have it end abruptly. Now I feel this emptyness, not knowing what else to to with my time tonight considering that I was not expecting to finish the books so early into my summer. What a way to start. I tried to save the books for casual late night reading, when I found myself flipping page after page during any free moment I had.

***Spoiler:

I heard of conflicting opinons regarding the ending of the series, and I can absolutely see why. With so much unxpected gore, action, and horrifying death scenes of characters that started to grow on you, it’s hard not to expect more from the ending. In a way, you forget that you are reading the book through the eyes of a 16-17 year old girl. One of the brilliant things about this book was the way it toyed with my emotions. I have to give Collins credit for guiding her readers from the viewpoint of a brave and innocent girl from the Seam to a ravaged and mentally unstable war hero suffering from loss and grief merely a year later. The character transformations could not have been anymore accurate. In a way, I like that the endings weren’t happy. There wasn’t this great happy ever after, and there was no security in any of the characters’ fates. The way that people moved on was very real and subtly terrifying. Prim’s death upset me, i’m sure, in the way Collins meant for it to upset her readers. Afterall, she was the reason that Katniss was thrown into the Hunger Games in the first place. It would have been nice to have kept her alive, since leaving Katniss (and the reader) with nothing to hold on to was cruel. But in hindsight, it was necessary. The Hunger Games was never about love or family. It was about survival and the means of survival for the human race. Katniss’ last thoughts before her attempted suicide have rung true for me for years. Humans are evil, and they will stop at nothing to destroy each other and themselves. It happens not just in the book series but in real life as well.

I liked/disliked how Gale and Katniss’ relationship slowly fell apart. I never believed that they were going to get together. No, they were too similar. Gale was too much a hardened soldier, whereas Peeta had always been her mental safehaven. She did end up with what she needed to survive, and she needed Peeta. You could tell she loved him when his heart stopped beating in the Quarter Quell.

It’s funny that the book focuses on games. Mind games for the most part. The physical games were just a source of entertainment, but that source of entertainment was just a sort of Mind game the government used on its citizens. I can’t help but think that Suzanne Collins has some very strong opinions on government, media, and control and that the Hunger Games reflects what she may believe of current state of the nation and its wars.

***End spoilers

Well, those were my intial thoughts and feelings on the Hunger Games. Overall, I enjoyed the series. It’s different. I hate how people compare every series to other book series. When I start a new book, I like to store my memories of past stories I’ve read aside. I don’t believe that the Hunger Games is comparable to any other book series. Not Harry Potter, Not Twilight. Each series has their own unique entity, and each posseses their own quality of plot line, character development, and climax that have obviously contributed to their draw and success.

The Hunger Games didn’t end the way I expected it to, but that’s probably why I liked it. The ending didn’t amaze me or even make me feel fulfilled. It sort of left me feeling numb…

***SPOILER:

…much like the Katniss. Reading the story through her eyes put me in as much of a distressed mental state as the character herself. I was left feeling numb, distraught, and not really knowing what to do next.

And that’s how you know it was a great series.