** spoiler alert ** 
 I personally enjoyed these better than most of the other contemporary fantasy out there (much better written than Harry Potter or Percy Jackson), but it's hard to end a series that has gotten so deep into philosophical questions about just war and pacifism with something that is both realistic and hopeful. On the one hand, it's great that Luxa and Riprod have made a start. But it's deeply disturbing to end with a 12 year old going through PTSD and no hope for his emotional well-being. I get why Collins chose to end things this way, but it really wasn't as satisfying, and I'm pretty sure it will upset my son. I want hope. In Unfortunate Events, the kids' PTSD isn't played up so much, and they have each other. Even though Gregor has his family and the kindly neighbor, he is cut off from those who went through the worst of it with him. In Narnia, there is a clear good and evil, and good wins out in the end. I get that in real life, it's not that clear-cut, and I appreciate that Collins stuck with the nuance. But this is not a happy ending, and I want books to have happy endings. 
 And romance between 12 year olds is just not believable. Sure, they've been through a ton together, but I just can't take it seriously for another 3 or 4 years. I wish the series had been more spread out to have a year pass with each book in that respect. Collins wants to shock us that a 12 year old has been turned into a killing machine, but the romance side of the story (as gentle as it is) just doesn't fit her timeline. 
 Plot-wise, I was so invested in the story that I definitely stayed up late to finish, but on its own, this book is really a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. For those reasons, my least favorite installment of a good series.