I just finished Mockingjay a couple of nights ago, even though rightfully I should have been doing homework instead of plowing my way through one of the most impressive series I’ve ever read. I could fill this post with spoilers, but I’m not going to; I’d rather have people actually go read the trilogy. I’ve actually been pushing it in the general direction of a lot of people. Most of these people – to their own loss – have been ignoring me.
The writing style really struck me as I read the trilogy. At first, I didn’t like it. It was first person. It wasn’t first person present, though, so I didn’t hate it. I got over my frustration with that pretty quickly, though. I began to notice the setting and the characters. The descriptions weren’t too much, though. They were enough. Enough to spark my imagination. Collins said “electric fence” and from there I created the interior of the coal-mining town that was District 12. She described the clothes that Katniss was wearing, but only when it was important and related to Cinna. It wasn’t over-detailed, like some aspiring authors do, and it’s wasn’t brand specific (it couldn’t be, of course). Nobody could feel out-of-the-loop about her descriptions. I think that’s really important.
Her plot was mind blowing. I keep saying “it’s just a distopia book” and it is… but at the same time, it isn’t. I really want to go back and re-evaluate ‘Tweens now. I want to look at my characters and make sure they’re flawed. I want to describe more. I want to pinpoint specific references to popular culture and eliminate them.
I want to make my stories very real. Fantasy enough that the reader can step out of them, but real enough so they cannot forget.
Need to read the book.. thanks for the review 🙂