Mockingjay

If you read my thoughts on Catching Fire, you'll remember I said it was weakest of the three books. That's because so little of it was important to the overall story arch. It was still a good read. You'll also remember that I compared the series to The Matrix trilogy. The Hunger Games, like The Matrix, is the best of the three and works on its own. Catching Fire, like The Matrix Reloaded, is a great book but depends on Mockingjay for it's conclusion. Unfortunately, like The Matrix Revolutions, Mockingjay is necessary for those who read Catching Fire and is the worst of the three on every level. However, unlike The Matrix Revolutions, Mockingjay does tie up any loose ends left by Catching Fire and doesn't suck all of the life right out of you.

Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. Catching Fire begins right where The Hunger Games ended, so make sure you've read that one first or you'll be lost. As I said in my review of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and the next book, Mockingjay, do not work as stand alone books. If you're going to read Catching Fire, you're committed to reading Mockingjay.

The Hunger Games

I recently finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy (anyone else hate when a series is just named after the first part of the entire work, like Twilight, and not given a proper name, like The Lord of the Rings?). I was going to write one post on the entire trilogy, but decided, for reasons that will become clear once I'm done with all three posts, to do each book separately. I'm going to try and do so without spoiling anything, but, as with any review of a story driven medium, some things will be revealed that you might not want to know, so proceed with caution.