My favorite so far. I found Mileva a very heartwarming character, how she was willing to sacrifice herself so that her kids could have better lives, and the ending was just *chef’s kiss* perfection. This is genius storytelling, and I said previously that I thought the characters were flat, but now that I finally understand Jacob I think he is an interesting character, albeit not a unique one. He definitely adds something to the story. I’ll be sad when the series ends, but happy that it happened.

Not bad, I liked it just as much as the previous one, good adventure but left me with more questions than answers!

What a ride! I admit, the characters are pretty boring, but not so boring that it takes away from the story. The plot is the main thing, and it’s so unpredictable that there aren’t really plot twists, since there isn’t really anything you ARE expecting. Fast paced and easy to get through, I enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next one.

Meant for a bit younger than my age, but I still enjoyed it. The humor made me cringe sometimes, but other times it was actually funny. Much like a lot of fiction involving time travel, I didn’t even bother trying to understand how it worked and the plot still made sense (if you just accept a few things, and as someone who enjoys fantasy that wasn’t a problem for me). You can tell the author did her research, it’s almost historical sci-fi. I enjoyed this but not so much that it’s a favorite. Had I found this a few years ago I would’ve liked it more.

Reminds me of Land of Stories except more descriptive and dark. Sort of like comparing the Disney movies of fairy tales to the originals, because this really reads like a long fairytale. I enjoyed Nerron (aka the Bastard)’s perspective because of things like this:

Charles de Lotharaine was a crowned cat pretending to be vegetarian while the tail of a mouse hung from its mouth. (Pg 86)

Made me chuckle a few times with his thoughts or opinions, even though he is the antagonist. Also, I had suspected that

Jacob was related to Guismond because it would make sense that his father was important in this world

.
Also, I would be fine with the books ending here, as a duology, but I’m also secretly glad that there’s more so that I can see Jacob and Fox all happy together. An epilogue would’ve sufficed though. All in all, I liked this one just as much as the first one, although there’s more action and less world building.

I enjoy Funke’s writing style and third person point of view, with very well written prose and descriptions. Her characters needed a bit of work in this, Jacob doesn’t seem to have much of a personality other than how much he cares about Will and his enjoyment of treasure hunting. The dark fairy is definitely my favorite character, and Fox (aka Celeste) after her. Clara is a bit flat, as her only defining characteristics are her love for Will and her innocence. Will’s perspective is not seen a lot because of how the story goes, but I think there’s potential in his character. I’d say that the characters’ reasons for why they do things aren’t really explained, but if we’re going off the fact that they don’t even know then that makes sense. Other than those things, it’s a great story, Cornelia Funke is good at writing tense scenes (whenever Jacob is sneaking in to somewhere) and occasional exciting ones although there isn’t much action (the unicorn scene, page 147, was one of the best in this book in my opinion). The Inkheart trilogy is still better, but these weren’t bad.

You can tell this was written just for fun, but I still enjoyed it! I'll never get sick of these characters, and it was funny seeing how you inserted little anecdotes from today into their situation. (Also how does she manage to convey how charismatic Thorne is in a simple short story??? Such a talented author.)

Much better than the first book. The first one was confused between being plot or character driven, and since I don’t really like any of the characters I much prefer this book which is more plot driven with a lot of twists I didn’t see coming. One thing I did predict is that to make Katniss finally see the rebellion as a good thing someone she cared about would die/get hurt by the capitol, directly or indirectly, which is exactly what happened, around page 100 when she finally comes to her senses about the uprising. I don’t particularly like Katniss, I prefer Gale who hated the Capitol from the start. Katniss calls herself a coward and I admit I somewhat agree, of course I’d do much worse in her situation but I’m allowed to want strong protagonists. She is kind of flat too, I find a hard time empathizing with her.

This book did bring me to tears once, but I don’t remember why, most likely in the first half. My favorite part was the ending, especially since I read Mockingbird right afterwards. I think Suzanne Collins is good at making you feel like there’s no way out, and sometimes there really isn’t.

The third book is better with characters, this book has a better plot, the first book is boring and the only thing I liked was the scenes at the start where Katniss is just hunting in her daily life.

Wow. This book made me cry at least three times, and just thinking about it is depressing. This one was harder to get through, I think mainly because reading it from 2-6 in the morning was not a good idea, but I had just finished Catching Fire and was trapped in the well-written plot of that book and its cliffhanger.

Mockingbird is the opposite of Catching Fire. While that book was plot driven, hopeful, and full of twists, this one was mostly expected, character driven, and emotionally destroying. I’ve said before that one of the hardest things for me to read about is a characters mental health falling apart, which usually happens in fantasy in the form of some kind of magic caused darkness, but here there isn’t magic. Just depression and trauma that cause Katniss to fall apart. The ending is coming full circle which I really appreciate, with her going out to hunt for a bit.

I didn’t expect such a sobering and realistic turn of events in Mockingbird. In fact, I wouldn’t have minded if the ending was happy and all “we defeated president snow and the capital let’s live happily ever after”. But that wouldn’t sit with the rest of the series which is all “we got out of it alive but my mental stability is nonexistent”. I say realistic because no one could come out of two hunger games and a revolution with their mental health intact.

I’ll be honest Gale was by far my favorite character so it was really hard even for me to accept what happened, not to mention for Katniss.
I said in my review for Catching Fire that Collins is really good at making you think there’s no way out, and often there isn’t. This book is a great example of that.
Basically this book sucked to read but was great writing at the same time. I feel like part of me died reading this book, and if that was the desired effect, a round of applause for Suzanne Collins.
If you want a happy ending you’re better off just not reading the third book. The cliffhanger at the end of the second is nothing compared to the last 10 pages of the third.
Now I’m off to read a comfort book.

Also, this is my warning to not get attached to Gale. No one warned me and that was not fun.