I recently finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and I'm still not quite sure what I thought of it. It is a very mature book and she's making a point about the nature of war, the impact it has on its participants and also of the danger of thinking that one side is 'better' than the other (which is probably why I get so irritated by the whole Team Gale -v- Team Peeta debate because Collins herself puts a line in the book that shows how much it misses the point). At the same time though, I never quite believed in Katnis or her dilemma and Collins does leave her as a very passive character for much of the time - which is in keeping with the theme but at the same time didn't make for an incredibly satisfying story (at least IMO anyway). Also the epilogue is just awful - a nasty tacked on thing to try and wrap up loose ends.
It's worth a look and I did find it a lot better than Catching Fire. I won't be surprised if it does well during the awards season either.
I got a copy of The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, which I started today. Although I was told that it was better than her Mortal Instruments trilogy, there's been a couple of historical errors within the opening 4 chapters that really made me wince (particularly a casual reference to divorce, which no self-respecting Victorian would ever joke about because of the scandal surrounding such a thing). Also the dialogue doesn't quite ring true for the period and her teen protagonists all sound like 30-something refugees from Friends, which just grates.
But hey ho. I will read on in the hope that it improves.
MM