#choochoo

I have mixed feelings for sure. When I first read it, I loved it. Like it made me cry (2 tears exactly, I don't cry easy) for the first time in over 2 years and I haven't cried since. That being said, each time I reread, I like it less. Here are some main points of contention, imo:

we're back in D12 which, honestly, was so boring

it's generally just the weakest book of the series. It felt very dumbed down, the messaging/imagery was very lack luster, the characters felt like they lacked nuance, and (this one is totally personally) I'm generally not a fan of Haymitch actually having been endearing the whole time

Wiress, Beetee, and Mags' inclusions weren't bad (tho Wiress as D12's Mentor makes no sense but I digress) but I didn't like how we didn't get any real substantial *new* Mentors/Victors. And especially nothing of note about the Career Districts

Speaking of which, the Careers are dumb as shit which makes 2 out of 3 Game (not including Lucy Gray's since Careers weren't a thing yet) where they're dumb and I love the Careers too much to stand for that, lol

LouLou was fucking horrifying as a concept (in a good way!) but Louella's death and a few other moments from Haymitch just felt lazy.

So much fanservice. Everyone apparently knows everyone, everyone's related, and yet no one mentioned this once in the entire trilogy? Almost like it's just retcon after retcon.

The general rebel plan and Newcomers just felt half-assed and destined to fail from the start...

Focusing **wayy* too much on the arena only to gloss over the arguably more interesting thing, Haymitch's Victory, descent into depressed drunk, and revival into the Rebellion plots.

I've always lowkey hated Plutarch's "hey, kids, can you do this rebelling thing for me so I can sit out and never be impacted if things go awry" but, my gods, both he and Beetee were lowkey unbearable in this one.

Some highlights bc everything must exist in harmony between light and dark:

Maysilee Donner is an absolute gem, legend, and queen. She's lowkey a girl version of how I'd expect Haymitch to be and she will be missed.

LouLou...just ouch.

Ampert...just ouch.

I could've done without her being Covey (could not care less about them and I'm not sorry) but I liked how devoted Haymitch was to Lenore Dove and how that skewed his views of her. Very accurate teen love story.

We got one District One Victor so that's cool.

Silk got some humanization which is more than we can say for most of the Careers.

Lowkey relieved Plutarch wasn't somehow related to the Districts to explain his propensity for rebellion; nah, he just owns a library and understands history precedence.