You know, for what this book is? It was good. Probably the strongest of the three books in both character and story.

On the other hand, I can see how people could really hate this book after loving the first two. Mostly based on two reasons:

1) It's a completely different sort of book. [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337857402s/2767052.jpg|2792775] and [b:Catching Fire|6148028|Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268805322s/6148028.jpg|6171458] were more or less 75% Romance/Relationship based & 25% Dystopian Rebellion on the side. Mockingjay was more like 90% Dystopian Rebellion and War Novel and maybe 10% tragic, dysfunctional romance. If you were expecting anything like the first two books--you were very quickly informed otherwise. Instead of Katniss trying to figure out what Peeta's (non-existent) game is, or Katniss figuring out her own feelings for Peeta, we got war training, fighting, blood & gore, mind-trips, tyrannical leaderships, torture rescue missions, and tense relations with everyone involved.

2) Because of the shift in story focus, this allowed this book to be absurdly depressing (which you probably guessed from some of the above descriptions). There's no one really to root for in this book, or side with. The rebel faction turns out to be just as bad as (if you ask me--worse than) the Capital they're fighting. The death toll is through the roof--no one is safe be they children or adults, and Anyone Can Die gets a work out. If something bad can happen, it does. Katniss is powerless to control the events around her through most of the book (which on a sidenote, I admired as much more realistic storyline considering her age & experience based on the super-strong fighter everyone keeps thinking she should be), and it turns out that everyone lies. People are broken physically & emotionally, light and happy moments are few and far between, and I could go on, but I think you get the picture. At least the first two novels had some sense of victory/accomplishment to them, be it winning the games, or just flat out destroying the arena. This one's just a spiral into disaster on all fronts, with maybe a tiny shed of light in the epilogue representing the fact that "time moves on."

All that aside, it is a very good novel. No one said every book has to be happy or encouraging. Mockingjay does depressing very well, and I think it's probably my favorite of the three novels--which is something, considering I was mostly on board with Hunger Games in the first place for the Peeta/Katniss romance. Everyone gets their time to shine, character wise, and we get to see what people are really made of. The ending (read: the final execution), in particular, was something I appreciated. If she had to kill one of them, I'm glad it was the one she picked. And Snow's end was more than appropriate, and probably better for Katniss in the long run. The action was good, everyone's sense of madness was well played out, and the last little jab at the end was a nice final punch in the gut. Everyone is flawed, and everyone paid for their actions.

If you keep in mind the change in focus, and take the book for what it is, I think you'll enjoy it. Either way, if you've made it this far there's no reason not to finish the series.