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BEFORE reading:
Call me crazy but I am going to enjoy waiting for this book for the next, eh, four months. The waiting and speculations and talking it over with friends (what do YOU think will happen??) is the most fun. Once I find out, it's over. (That didn't stop me from pre-ordering it so I can have it as soon as possible.) I like the waiting, the building of tension and excitement as all the fans practically explode from energy and crazy anticipation.

Now, Katniss and Peeta and Gale live. The bad guys are loose and they all have this agenda and stuff to do and battles to fight. Once the third book is over, they MAY still have battles to fight, but I'll never hear about them, so it will be like the characters are dead, even if they're not.
IDK. I can't wait for the book, but I also don't want it to come to a close (esp if the close doesn't live up to the first two books).

As in, I like happy endings more than ultimately tragic ones (so Panem MUST be freed from the capital's rule and all).

AFTER reading:
Reader thoughts: Well, I've read it now. It was a disappointment, but it was bound to be. I still absolutely love the first two. Third was . . . all right.

Katniss spent much of her time in the hospital and didn't really contribute to the war effort except appear on TV (a couple times) and shoot one important person. She spent a lot of time moping, it seemed. She had good reason, I suppose. PTSD or grief or some mixture.

I did not expect quite so many people to die off. Gee, Collins, can you add a few more characters and kill them off as well? Why so many? I know it's war and all, but it's depressing. I wanted to be excited when I finished the trilogy, excited for Katniss and Peeta, not depressed because it all turned out so bloody and tragic and heartbreaking. Seriously, there are about five named characters from book one who end up alive at the end of book three. Maybe six. If you can think of seven, comment on this status.

It didn't help that I read this book aloud to my sister the week it came out. That's right. My little sister and I got to be horrified together.

The idea with losing Peeta and having to find him was neat, if only all the rest of it hadn't been going on, too. (view spoiler)[I mean, Prim was NOT supposed to die. Unnecessary, too. Haymitch got to live, which seemed odd in comparison. Finnick dying was a shock, but doable. Finnick didn't have to die, though, because he has a retractable trident he could have shot into the ceiling. Boggs was expected, but so was Gale. (hide spoiler)]

Mostly, I was just annoyed because Katniss didn't do much. In the other books, she spurred people on, was a beacon of hope, fought despite the odds! It was neat she was the Mockingjay, but I didn't see that help much. In this book, she killed off some 9 or so people to get to the center of the capital on a "mission" only to be beaten there by a bunch of helicopters (since when does the rebellion have helicopters?) and (view spoiler)[by her sister, who promptly dies. And Katniss gets thrown into another hospital (she's sedated about a dozen times in the book, no joke). Earlier, she comforted some people in the hospital, only to have it blown up. Then she goes on TV to tell Panem about it, and then collapses and wakes in the hospital. (are you seeing a pattern?) At the end, she spends six months in a hospital. She stops talking and basically goes crazy. (hide spoiler)]

Don't get me wrong, there were still some great parts, it just didn't live up to the standard I'd expected after reading the first two.

Writer thoughts: Maybe the final book in a trilogy doesn't have to be one that readers want to read over and over. Maybe it's okay if it's depressing because the author already sells enough books on the merit of the first two. Maybe it's acceptable because it helps readers set aside the trilogy and get back to normal life.

I only read this book the one time. And maybe Collins is offended. I don't know.