Books: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games), Specials & Extras (Uglies series)

P.s: Never read my reviews if you don't want any spoilers!

I'm really behind on posting book reviews! Mockingjay was supposed to be up months ago but I've only got around it now lol No worries though, coz I re-read the whole Hunger Games series and now the story is once again fresh in my mind! (Okay fine, I finished re-reading it weeks ago and have since then read at least 3 or 4 books but still!) There's nothing to it honestly, I just love this story so much! The characters in the book really grows on you and I still kinda hate Collins for killing some of them off. Ugh. It hurts!

 

Mockingjay by Susan Collins

Mockingjay is the third and final installment to The Hunger Games series and is my second favorite book out of the three. I just love the way Collins describes the tension between Peeta and Katniss when they rescued him from the Capitol after you know, President Snow tortured Peeta for 'information'. Ever since the first book, Katniss has been thinking of never having any kids and yet towards the end, she has 2 kids with Peeta which I think is very sweet but she had them to please Peeta. So I guess she never wanted kids after all.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. I like that Katniss ended up with Peeta because I've never really cared for Gale (which is unfortunate because in the movie Gale is better looking wtf). However, Katniss's perspective of her 'new world' is quite grim and she talks of her children playing on a graveyard and how she learnt to move on and 'keep busy'. I guess I was hoping Collins would write something more positive like how the people don't starve anymore and are happier and stuff. I mean sure, people died but that was years ago before her children are born. It's kinda sad to see her so hung up with the past and instead of living life to the fullest with her family, she's still living in the past (kinda). But I guess once you were a tribute, those things stay with you forever so I can't blame her.   

To sum up, here are the parts that I love about Mockingjay:

- Anything regarding Peeta and his recovery

- Katniss and her team fighting their way to the Capitol

- Moments between Finnick and his wife

- Katniss shooting and killing Coin

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

I didn't know this was the final book where Tally Youngblood was featured as the main character! Specials is the third installment in the Uglies series. Turns out the final installment, Extras is all about this Japanese girl and it was three years after the third book, Specials happened. 

So this is where it gets interesting, Tally is finally a Special! She was operated on and have strong ceramic bones and super speed, which I think is pretty cool. They gave her sharp teeth too and her team consists of five or so other Specials just like her, including her best friend Shay. They also have these tattoos on their body and arms which flashes with light according to their moods. I really have no idea what that looks like so use your imagination for this. ;) Anyway, there's a catch. They make you stronger and faster with animalistic features and instincts yes, but they also alter your brain into thinking that you are the superior species and the others are weak and disgusting.

This is obviously a huge problem because the love of her life, Zane is still a Pretty unlike her. Even worse is that Zane was 'crippled' after his brain injury which causes his hands to tremble and that made it harder for Tally to see past his imperfections. Her mission throughout this book is to get Zane to be turned into a Special just like her so that they can be together because she simply can't stand looking at him as a Pretty. Anyways, shit happened and Zane died. It's a real bummer because Tally was trying so hard to remember him as the person she loved instead of just another weak Pretty (thanks to the brain alteration).

Towards the end, all the Specials were cured of their brain alterations except Tally. She and David decided to live in the wild and protect nature. If you didn't know, in Tally's world preserving the nature is extremely important because they knew the dangers of excessive cutting down of forests. Tally lived in a futuristic city 'three hundred years in the future'.

Favorite parts of Specials:

- Any moment depicting the use of Tally's special abilities

- Moments between Tally and Zane 

- When they first arrived at Diego city

- Tally's journey to the city

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Extras is set 3 years after Specials and follows a Japanese girl named Aya. I was kinda disappointed that the author didn't continue with Tally's story but I guess her quest was done. This book did feature Tally nonetheless as Aya gets to meet her. It's interesting to read Aya's view of Tally because before this we readers get to be in Tally's head and know exactly what she is feeling and thinking but from a third person's view it can be interpreted differently. I'm not a big fan of Aya however, she seems very nosy to me and maybe that's coz she's a journalist or something along that line and is always looking to uncover new and interesting stories about other people.

In this book, Aya pretended to be friends with this secret circle of girls who did really crazy stuff at night. Basically she wanted to write a story about them but in the end she started to really love doing all those stunts but was discovered by the girls and was shunned instead. That's all I'm gonna tell you, read the book to find out what happened!

Overall, Uglies is a pretty good series in general although I find myself preferring The Hunger Games and Delirium.