Many people have been talking about how Effie’s presence was related to why she stuck with him all those years, considering District 12 was seen as the worst one to work for. It illustrates how she knew Haymitch before he was an alcoholic, hence why she states in Mockingjay, “I liked you better sober.” It shows how their history started.

I can't believe how attached to all the characters that I knew for a fact were going to die.

2 things I’ve learned from the last two books
The reapings are rigged
The rebellion was there are along, they just needed the right person

maybe it's because I was pulling an all nighter reading, but the poisonous gumdrops caught me completely off guard. of course, I knew she was going to die, but I still got lulled into a false sense of security, that we have a few more precious moments with her. I actually thought she was going to die in custody, initially. so when I saw her come out onto the meadow, I let my guard down. (I also had quite a few more pages in my text document left, which added to my sense of security)
so yeah, it completely caught me off guard, once again showing Snows cruelty in full glory to literally have Haymitch feed her the poison that did her in.

When we learned Haymitch's birthday was Reaping Day, a HAPPY thought was that the first July 4th after the rebellion was the FIRST birthday in his life where no children had to be sacrificed to the Capitol 😭. I hope he got to savor that birthday. And Louella's body double was such a CHILLING concept.

“When I’m pure like a dove, when I’ve learned how to love” UGHHH

This book actually made me take a step back and realize just how INSANELY LUCKY Katniss was, as weird as that sounds. Like, I'm so used to the first book by now that I never realized just how many things had to fall into place for Katiniss to pull off what she did in the 74th Hunger Games and bring about Snow and the Capitol's downfall. A perfect storm: (For some of these, I'm gonna include movie-only scenes)

A tribute with just the right skills: Katniss' age, skills with the bow, abrasive personality, and her singing.

A unique Reaping to get people's attention: Volunteering to save Prim. Noble, gripping and didn't meet the Capitol's criteria for censorship like the mess that was Haymitch's.

The right district partner: Peeta's talent with the crowds and his genuine love for Katniss. Perfect chemistry and duo.

A good escort: I think it's safe to say Effie was LEAGUES above the likes of Drucilla.

The right mentor: Haymitch was a broken man and drunken mess, but especially knowing what we know now is that he was the perfect person for the job.

The right stylist: Especially after that absolute joke that was Magno Stift, Cinna was an absolute godsend. Not only did he actually care about the tributes under his care, he was an absolute genius with fashion. Which leads to...

A perfect first impression: Katniss and Peeta made one hell of a first impression with their flaming outfits during the parade. Just enough of a flare to get the Capitol's notice, but not overt enough to get censored like Haymitch's.

The "right/incompetent" Head Gamemaker: It CANNOT be understated just how critical a role Seneca Crane played in the outcome of the Games. As Snow said himself “If the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, had had any brains, he’d have blown you to dust right then. But he had an unfortunate sentimental streak. So here you are.” Seneca wasn't a rebel, but he let quite a few of Katniss' actions slip through: giving her a score of 11 for the apple stunt, going to to Haymitch for advice, taking the bait of Haymitch's advice, implementing the rule change to let both tributes from the same district survive, and most importantly backing down from Katniss' berry stunt and letting both Katniss and Peeta live.

Good interviews: Katniss wasn't the best with interviews, but she did well enough with her flaming dress, and Peeta perfectly complimented her with his showmanship and creating the "starcrossed lovers" narrative.

The perfect narrative: The "Star-crossed lovers of District 12" was the PERFECT narrative. Unlike the Newcomers in Haymitch's games, the Capitol didn't censor this narrative because... why would they? A pair of love-struck teens doesn't have a message of district unity, or give off any signs of defiance or rebellion. It's just a sappy love-story, which the capitol citizens loved and ate up, thus endearing both Katniss and Peeta to them, as well as letting the same district rule pass through. The subtle foundation for a trap.

The right arena: The arena for the 74th Games was PERFECT for Katniss' skill sets, just like the forests she hunted in in 12. She wouldn't have fared well at all in an arena like Wiress' or Haymitch's. And quite frankly, it's an insane miracle that mutts only showed up ONCE during the entire games, unless you count the fireballs.

Pure luck and the right chain of events in the Games: All the preparation and slip-ups wouldn't have mattered if Katniss or Peeta hadn't survived the bloodbath or both made it to the end, or if events had gone even just a bit differently. Peeta teaming up with the Careers and then saving her from the Careers, Rue and Katniss' teamup, her subsequent death and Katniss singing to her, Katniss being able to find Peeta just in time to save him from the infection in his leg, and it was her connection with Rue that led to Katniss surviving the feast and being spared by Thresh, and then their surviving the mutts and Cato.

Snow slipping up: Especially after reading the newest book, it's surprising how much Snow let slide in the 74th Games. The apple stunt was a huge red flag, which Snow didn't seem to do much about besides talking with Seneca. His biggest mistake was approving Seneca's suggestion of the rule change. Plus not stepping in and stopping Seneca from sparing Katniss and Peeta at the end of the games. Honestly, it's a little surprising that Snow didn't repeat the same tactic from the 50th Games of sending a horde of mutts genetically targeted to kill a specific tribute like he did with Ampert and Maysilee. Like I said before, the 74th Games had a surprising lack of mutts.

It really was the perfect storm of the right people at the right time alongside the right chain of events and slipups that made the 74th Games possible. If ANY of these things had gone differently: Gale getting reaped instead of Peeta, getting an incompetent stylist, Snow not approving the rule change, Katniss or Peeta not surviving to the end, Seneca not buckling and killing Katniss and Peeta instead. If literally a single thing changed, Katniss would've failed just like Haymitch did, and the Hunger Games would've continued. It was the perfect storm that shot the lighting bolt that ignited the girl on fire.

The parallels with Katniss include that, not only were neither of their names drawn as the reason for becoming tribute, but both became tributes as a direct result of immediately and instinctively protecting someone they loved.

I feel like we should also talk a little bit about the symbolism in the striker.
It produces sparks, so that stuff is catching fire. Similarly to Haymitch mentoring Katniss and helping her to "catch fire" in the Rebellion.

It feels like Suzanne Collins listens to her fans in a way other authors don't. A lot of fans wanted a story about Haymitch, and I feel like the pacing problems of Songbirds were fixed in this book. This was a superior addition to the series, better than Songbirds and Snakes, and it was worth waiting in line to get

Epilogue made me cry. First time a book has done that to me

I think this one is tied with Catching Fire it was soooo good. Never had a book make me cry like that before 😭 poor Haymitch man

This was truly the Rogue One of the Hunger Games universe

19:42 It's also extremely interesting what Suzanne Collins is doing here. I personally always thought, that the scenes Katniss and Peeta were seeing was the truth. Why? Because we saw it through Katniss' eyes, and she believed it. But there actually was soo much more than the force field. Suzanne Collins showed us, that propaganda works even with third parties (in this case the reader). Because we read Katniss' story and she narrated it and was so convinced that this was the truth - and even said that the thing with the force field was the rebellious act - I and many other people believed this... not questioning, that the thing might already be highly censored.
Reading the actual plot with the exploding water tank and the generator, though, let me realize that I was falling for the propaganda as well, even if I am just the reader.
In the real world this means, that even if a person that you really trust tells you something he/she is really convinced about, there is no guarantee that that person wasn't tricked in the first place.

I also loved the little throwbacks to Lucy Gray as well! I loved how Haymitch pieced together that it was Snow who fell in love with the unknown female victor from District 12. I also starting tearing up when I saw all three covey girls (Lenore Dove, Maude Ivory, and Lucy Gray) buried in a line together

Haymitch pointing out the Katniss plant actually nade sense to me, he grew up with Burdock in the woods around 12 and we know how much Burdock knows about plants, Katniss was probably one of the only plants in the arena Haymitch recognised

Recency bias says this is my favorite but realistically, tied with Catching Fire for me. So dark and tragic, but beautifully done. Also, Maysilee has become one of my favorite characters in the series. Her arc was very well done in my opinion

I do agree that Effie might have just been for the fans but I don’t think that her being there was bad I like how Suzanne showed us where Effie and haymitch first met and how they developed there “friendship”

I didn't mind so much about knowing the ending. I get what you mean about "Okay, come on, let's get there." But also, for me, it's about HOW we got to the destination, not necessarily the destination itself, so I was on board.

A Plutarch book would be good. In so many ways he is the opposite of Snow. Even a bit like Sejanus, although much more calculated and patient.