My friend decided to read the books on a trip he took, and lent them to me afterwards. Burned through all three in a day and a half.
Maybe I'll change my opinion later, but I was not impressed with the way the story concluded. THG itself was extremely well done, the conspiracy plot in CF was drawn out a bit but I generally liked it, and I thought Mockingjay was passable up until the end, but from the moment where the parachutes drop on the children and Primrose gets blown away in the trap, the whole thing just puts a sour taste in my mouth. Not just the fact that that happens, but all the subsequent bits. Katniss is understandably unhinged for months, and after her chat with Snow, I doubt anyone was surprised that she kills Coin, but that seems like the only minorly bright spot in the last 30 pages unless you count the return of Buttercup.
I suppose for such a tragic character, and one that took such a pivotal role in the rebellion, there wasn't really any other place for Katniss in that world afterwards anyway, so her quiet life in the ruins of 12 and the subsequent rebuilding around her is at least a sort of happily ever after. But she's tormented her entire life by nightmares, her eventual husband is occasionally unstable from his reprogramming as well, and I'm not sure it's really much of a future even if it's not entirely far off from what likely would have been her and Gale's future if Prim's name had never been pulled at the reaping.
Still, my biggest peeve I suppose is with the fact that with all the hardships, all the torment, all the horrors that Katniss endures, the ONE thing that she cared about, the ONE thing she tried to do, is robbed from her at the end. Killing Prim seemed so needless and wasteful, and while there's something to be said for literary devices, I suppose, I thought I was reading for entertainment, not for literary enrichment. I like to say that I hate how every movie, every book, etc. always turns out happily ever after, and I get after a fashion I get what I want here, but I would have much rather seen our heroine die in the end and be rewarded for it than for it turn out the way it did. Maybe I'll change my mind after I've had a chance to let it stew in my head for a few months or even years, but my initial reaction is that I feel betrayed. I think Collins tried a little too hard to introduce too much twist at the end of the third book for her own good. The first book twists worked well, the second were meh but obviously setting up a sequel, but the finale was just not what I was looking forward to.
I probably wouldn't care so much, and certainly not to write about it, but I really did like the series up until that point. I'm not a very accomplished reader, but the only other time I've had a feeling that somewhat resembled this was when I finished Goodkind's Sword of Truth (or more accurately when I tried to read his fanfic follow-up.) This was just total nosedive for me, so I'm more intensely disappointed than I am angry or bitter.