Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is the last book in the trilogy, and it comes to a fitting end.

Once Katniss is rescued from the arena, the civil war begins in earnest. She is taken to join the rebel forces while Peeta is taken by the Capitol. Both sides use them against each other in an effort to win the war. It becomes an moral discourse on what is necessary to win a war. Do you kill people for the greater good, or try to salvage what you can so that there is a future at all.

Eventually they save Peeta in an effort to keep Katniss with the rebel cause, but they find him brainwashed to destroy her. Meanwhile, she finds herself and Gale are drifting further and further apart. He lives for the cause, while she finds it an effort to live at all.

Finally, the rebels win, but at a terrible cost that Katniss cannot come to terms with. During the public execution of President Snow (the Capitol president), Katniss decides to execute President Coin (the rebel leader) instead, because she's realized that there would not be a true republic after the lengths Coin went through to win. It would be simply replacing the existing system with a different face.

With both leaders dead, the survivors of the war elect a new leader. The Hunger Games are over forever, but the impact lives on in Katniss and Peeta's memory.

I think the reason I loved this series so much is because Katniss is so real to me. I find myself identifying with her struggles, her moral point of view. I know that I would have made much of the same choices at 17, and I can imagine the scarring of her experiences.

So good. I hope they don't screw up the movie.