The third and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay is solid.  Perhaps the bloodiest of all the novels, Collins juxtaposition of media and war is clearest here.  Collins forces her readers to reexamine mindless reality t.v. and even the news’ “if it bleeds, it leads” motto.  I think most spectacularly, Collins has written a series that is for teens and adults, without giving in to the expectations of either audience.  She interweaves the love triangle without pandering (ahem, Stephanie Meyers) and the sad, cruel realities of war are far more prevalent in Mockingjay than the romance anyways.  The growth of Katniss, the protagonist, from The Hunger Games to Mockingjay is not unexpected, but so pronounced by the end of Mockingjay, given all she has been through.  Mockingjay’s plot is deliberate at times and Collins’ development of some characters is thinly veiled from time to time, but Mockingjay and this series as a whole, is both a compelling read and relevant.  I can’t wait to re-read this with a more focused eye on the media aspect.