It was one hell of an ending.

SERIOUSLY. The first book had a good punch, but I kind of expect the second book in a trilogy to have a whopper of an ending because it's allowed to do that.

It took Katniss long enough to realize the enemy was the Capitol, but, holy crap, she BLEW UP THE FORCE FIELD. And then that last chapter is like the end of Prisoner of Azkaban, throwing plot twist after plot twist at you to explain the weird little threads that have been running through the story. I had suspected that Plutarch was a good guy during the watch scene, but I couldn't figure out what his deal was, and he had still designed a pretty sadistic arena that killed a bunch of people, so, you know. And, sure, I assumed that District 13 was real. But I didn't expect (and was kind of glad) that there had been an underground resistance effort for quite a while, and Katniss really was the spark that lit the fire of the rebellion. I don't really understand how the Capitol snagged Peeta and Enobaria when they were, like, right next to Katniss and Beetee. And I feel like the rescue sort of skirts a plot hole because how were the hovercrafts getting into the arena before? Couldn't Plutarch and Co. have just exploited whatever mechanism that was to rescue everyone? I mean, I like blowing up force fields and causing lots of explosions and mass panic as much as the next guy, but still. And holy crap, when Katniss just clawed the shit out of Haymitch, CHRIST. And then what the shit the Capitol FIREBOMBED DISTRICT TWELVE INTO OBLIVION. WHAT THE FUCK. IT IS SO ON.

I am really worried about the mixed reviews of Mockingjay, but I hope I CAPSLOCK ENJOY it as much as the first two. Stay tuned tomorrow.

I didn't realize Peeta and Enobaria were right next to Katniss when the shit went down, I was reading too fast. If they'd rescued everyone before Katniss blew up the force field they wouldn't have gotten that powerful image of rebellion broadcast to all of Panem .

Oh, right, Laga, sometimes I forget that the Games are broadcast, although there are so many times that Katniss says they would have edited things out. So something like that...may not have made it to the screen. I don't have a real problem with the rescue; I...just still want to know how the hell the hovercrafts get in and out.

And I checked the text and I was wrong about Peeta. We actually don't know where Peeta is at the time, and he's far away from the action. Enobaria is by the lightning tree, but so is Finnick. Katniss and Beetee are up a slope a few yards away. So my guess is that Finnick ran up to join Katniss and Beetee immediately, since he knew what was going to happen, whereas Enobaria probably was too stunned to do anything. I assumed that Beetee was, like, right next to the tree, but Katniss says the wire's twenty-five yards long, so they could have been far enough away (and camouflaged, and hidden by the dark) that the Capitol hovercraft wouldn't have gotten them on the first pass.

Just finished, P-C. And wow, right there with you. Holy shit.

I am a hundred pages into Mockingjay !

Man, why did I not expect District 13 to be a mini-dystopia? TATTOOED SCHEDULES WHAT THE HELL. I HATE THOSE GUYS. But they're all we've got. YOU CAN'T TAKE BREAD WHAT.

I really, really want Cinna to be alive. NO ONE SAW A BODY. Plutarch's sources could be wrong! Come on, Collins, give me this one.

I've really enjoyed Katniss's transformation into the Mockingjay, a symbol of the rebellion. I can't wait till the movies come out and someone makes a vid to "She's a Rebel." She's a symbol! Of resistance! She's the salt of the earth and she's dangerous!

I also liked the discussion of Katniss's Greatest Hits. Aw. And then when the moment came, she stepped up: "If we burn, you burn with us!" BADASS.

Matt and I went away for the weekend. I have Mockingjay with me and haven't started it because I didn't want ot ignore him ( our anniversary was yesterday ) but I will be starting it Sunday

I am so glad so many of you are enjoying Catching Fire/Mockingjay!

I finally finished Midnight's Children. It was a very tedious read, but I feel accomplished having completed it. And it was definitely worth reading, I think.

I have now moved on to Snow Crash, because any book where the main character is named Hiro Protagonist is definitely worth reading.

I just started reading Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. I read a good review of the sequel in i09 so I decided to get the first book and give it a try. So far, I am enjoying it. Anyone here read this one?

Sumi, I read and enjoyed the first book, but have yet to get hold of the second.

I just finished Dreadnought by Cherie Priest, and while I enjoyed it, I have some sympathy with the person who criticized her making up shit. I have no objection to the explanation of the zombies, since there is no scientific basis for zombies, which are created entirely out of handwavium. However, I can't come up with any way that the Civil War could last 20 years as a shooting war. Two countries with skirmishes on the border, yes, but not 20 years of war. At a minimum, this alternate world had to be one without Antietam and Gettysburg, or there wouldn't be enough warm bodies to carry on, and, as she implies, England would have come into the war on the Southern side. England would have had to pour munitions into the war, because the South was getting short of anything that could be made into bullets. Also, I doubt the cotton economy would have survived the Southern states freeing their slaves in a world where there is still a huge frontier to fill and a Union army for the ex-slaves to join.

Also, she used the word "gentrification."