Books 17 & 18

BOOK 17

Had to finish rereading the series!! And I'm glad I did! I've only read Mockingjay once and that was in 2010 right after I got the book. At that point I wasn't sure I loved the book. In fact, I think I was kind of disappointed. Parts of it felt so rushed to me. But it was interesting to hear the opinions of others and read that many other people thought it was dragged out.

My opinion of the book is better than it was in 2010. There are still a few parts I feel like Suzanne Collins rushed through but it wasn't as disappointing as I remember it being!! 

And I still LOVE the ending!! Hopefully you've read this books or this might be a spoiler for you.....

Team Peeta all the way!! 

And did I ever tell you the full story of how I got this book?! 

First off, it was my friend and co-worker Megan that even got me interested in the Hunger Games series. I had heard of the book before but for some reason kept associating it with Enders Game. It wasn't until Megan explained the plot line to me that I decided to actually read the books.

I.WAS.HOOKED!

I think I read both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in a matter of days!!!

That was in May of 2010.

The final book didn't come out until August.

And you all know how I feel about waiting for books to come out!! 

Mockingjay was scheduled to be released the day before my 25th birthday and I don't know how many times I told my mom I wanted it!! I think I even printed her a picture of the book cover so she'd know what to look for!! I was also hoping she would buy it before I got home from my vacation to California!

Well, there I was, already having a ridiculously awesome birthday at Disneyland, when we decided to go back to our hotel to change out of our Splash Mountain drenched clothes, the day after my birthday.

There was a message that I had a package waiting for me at guest services.

A package? 

For me?

At a hotel?

I didn't even realize you could send mail to a hotel guest!! 

I seriously had no context for what would be waiting for me! Even when I had the package in my hand I didn't know what it could be.

I was absolutely shocked when I opened the brown package to find my very own copy of

Mockingjay. 

It was from Megan!! She had bought a copy for me and overnighted it to California for me!!

How awesome right?!?

I'm still so grateful for her gift!! It was such a fun surprise!!! 

BOOK 18

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprints for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test. 

What Wicked doesnt know if that somethings happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine. Will anyone survive the Death Cure? 

Alright.... I'm going to warn you right now that there will be lots of spoilers in this part of the post so if you are planning on reading The Death Cure you may want to stop now!!

I wanted to love this book series as much as I loved The Hunger Games. And maybe I shouldnt have read Mockingjay and then turned around to read this final book in the series. But I just didnt love it like I thought I would. 

Here come the spoilers...... last chance!!

I felt like this one dragged on forever!! The main characters would final gain some ground and then all hell would break lose. They got the upper hand..... things fell apart immediately. You getting my drift? It's like they could never catch a break. Obviously that was the whole point of the plot line but I kept thinking "Seriously!! Let them go a chapter or two when they are not fighting to the death". And towards the end there were pages that I was basically reading every third line because it just kept going and going with the resurgence of the bad guys!! 

Something else that frustrated me about this book was that Thomas never got his memories back. You get bits and pieces throughout all three books but you never really find out how he was connected to WICKED or what his relationship with Teresa really was. You never find out what happened to his parents or why he believed helping WICKED was a good thing.

But, in the end, those that survive do live happily ever after. And that is just the way I like a story to end!