It is time for Katniss and Peeta's Victory Tour, and Katniss is dreading it, and the prospect of mentoring another doomed child in this year's Hunger Games, which is a Quarter Quell. Something unprecedented happens every 25 years in the Hunger Games, so no one has any idea what to expect. The change is revealed and it will change Katniss's life forever - again. The stakes are high in this book. Also, there's more romance than in the last.

You will hear that this book is a letdown after the first two. I don't think so. Collins wove a beautiful, if dark, tapestry in the first two books, and rips it apart with a vengeance in this one. Will she sew it back together again at the end? You'll have to see. District 12 is destroyed, and Katniss is relocated to District 13, where she plays the role of the Mockingjay, the public face of the rebellion, in the war that will decide Panem's fate.

I was dead to the world for about three days reading this trilogy. Katniss Everdeen is a survivalist. Born and raised in he impoverished district in the corrupted country of Panem (dystopian America), all of Katniss's efforts go directly to finding food. Every year, Panem holds a tournament, the Hunger Games. Each of the 12 districts must each send tributes, a teenage boy and girl, to compete. When Prim, Katniss's little sister, is picked against all odds, Katniss volunteers to go instead, which is practically unheard of in her district. Katniss is plunged into the Capitol, a world of lust, greed, and politics, and then into the arena, where anything goes. It was amazing.

Thanks. I was very confused. Ugh, politics.

I considered it an excess of whimsy. The songs were OK and the actual plot was a bit formulaic. However, if you like that stuff, go for it.

I don't think it's fair that all the people who aren't involved basically lose their jobs but all the people responsible still get paid.