Mockingjay

It didn't take me long to finish the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (#229).  Katniss Everdeen has been snatched from the Quarter Quell arena by a hovercraft.  When she regains consciousness, she is being cared for in a District 13 hospital, far underground.  Several other victors have been rescued along with her, but Peeta has been captured by the Capitol.  Gale is there, though, with his family and hers, refugees after the Capitol bombed District 12 into oblivion immediately after the Games.

It gradually becomes clear to Katniss that District 13's President Coin has a specific role in mind for her.  She is to become the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion, in a costume designed for her by her stylist Cinna before he was beaten to death in front of her.  Her job will be to appear in propaganda films for the rebels.  Beetee, one of the older victors, has recovered sufficiently from his own ordeal in the Quarter Quell to figure out how to hack into the Capitol broadcast system to air these "propos".   But Katniss isn't sure she wants to support a regime that has stood by and watched the other Districts be destroyed.  It seems she has exchanged one dictatorship for another, and if Katniss doesn't comply, those she loves will suffer.  Only two things drive her at this point: releasing Peeta from the clutches of the Capitol, and her desire to kill President Snow with her own hands.  It's a very costly war, indeed, physically, emotionally and psychologically. It's not at all certain that Katniss or anyone she loves or values will manage to survive.

I think that these books succeed because they are such compelling reading.  The reader is caught up in the world of Panem, but Suzanne Collins raises so many pertinent moral and ethical issues along the way that the questions and discussions that arise after reading this trilogy are as much a part of the story as the adventure itself.  That's why I think reading the book will always trump the movie version of any literary tale, no matter how well it's done.  It can only be a paler version of the original; after all, an action (thinking!) always creates a stronger impression than a passive (watching) experience.  I encourage you to read this series and think for yourselves.