My heart has been ripped from my chest countless times while reading Mockingjay, the final book in Suzanne Collins’s phenomenal The Hunger Games trilogy. It is a concise novel, but that doesn’t make it any less punchy. In fact, I think I’m bruised all over after getting through this book. All jokes aside, Mockingjay ups the ante when it comes to the rebellion, and the cruelty and detail are not skimped out.

We knew there was a rebellion brewing given the alliances and actions in Catching Fire, but what couldn’t have been foreseen was the impact that rebellion would have, and not necessarily in a positive sense. the lifestyle change is apparent – jarringly so – and the lack of emotional understanding I felt reading Katniss’s perspective in the early chapters of the book made me start to question a lot of things. There is almost a feeling of forced immersion that happens with this book. That isn’t to say Mockingjay is uninteresting or engaging, far from it, but it makes the reading experience take on another level of meaning. You can feel the seriousness of this rebellion, the planning and the procedures, the longing and resentment within District Thirteen and the Capitol higher-ups involved. I felt a shift with this one that sticks with me even now because it stands out in stark contrast to other final books in trilogies, especially the YA ones. This touches upon very mature themes and ways of thinking and it is a reading experience that I am almost shocked over – both terrified and amazed by its intensity.

As mentioned, Katniss’s perspective feels different, and that’s also a running thread in Mockingjay. She’s pushed into the role of the Mockingjay, the rebellion’s star and leader, but at the same time, we see her struggling to come to terms with a lot that is being thrown at her. It’s hard to remember that she’s still a kid in situations that involve fighting for her life in the arena, using her hunting skills to keep her alive, but Mockingjay brings that reality to the forefront of the narrative. Katniss is seventeen and is being thrown head-first into the rebellion that has grown so much larger than herself she’s lost in it. Her trajectory and realisations throughout the book could not have been judged better as I found myself empathising with her and wholeheartedly believing that the actions were what she would do. Moreover, the tragic and horrible truths slapping her in the face at every turn whittle her down to her bare bones, stripping everything from her and making it a pain to read from a sympathetic standpoint. There were moments of genuine pity and sorrow I had for this poor girl because, at the end of it all, she was completely changed and had so little left.

Mockingjay needs no marker for its impact. I know there are some that argue a rebellion conclusion can never be written because the energy and immersion fizzes out after the climax, leaving the reader wanting more, or worse, questioning how things played out. What I know is that whatever way you look at it, Mockingjay is an unforgettable ending to a standout series. Mockingjay is unmatched in all meanings of the word, and I doubt there will be a book or series ending that hits quite like Mockingjay does. This is in part because of the characters and their fates, the pain and emotion flooding the pages, and the underlying feeling that history repeats itself. You can only hope it isn’t within your lifetime, or your children’s lifetime.

Mockingjay, and the whole The Hunger Games Trilogy, will forever be iconic, mesmerising, memorable, and haunting to all readers. There is always something that will that will cut you deep with this book and leave you in ruins. If you haven’t read this series by now, you are depriving yourself of some serious intellectual thinking. You are blinding yourself to revelations and explorations into humanity I think we could do with considering far more often than we are. Read The Hunger Games Trilogy, read Mockingjay, sit down in a quiet place, and think. Just think. You might find yourself questioning a lot of things in our world right now.