I was really hoping that something more along the lines of a good story would happen, and that Catching Fire was just an unfortunate filler book designed to inject a bunch of powerful characters from other districts. Instead, Mockingjay was just much further downhill: I think that the sequence of:

* long slow angsty first two thirds
* abortive high action chase sequence
* last minute plot turnaround that belied much of the foreshadowing for the chase sequence

indicates an author who:

* couldn't decide what to do with her plot once it became a civil war rather than just an individual's struggle.
* didn't set out a plan and pace for the book ahead of time, and instead changed her mind a couple times without rewriting anything to ensure consistency and flow.
* finally got sick of her character and half-heartedly gave the character a crummy end.

The redemption in the end didn't even make sense: voting for another Hunger Games and also having kids. I can't accept that this is the kind of book that was really meant to be so ambiguous. Also, there's no way Peeta should have forgiven Katniss for voting to have another Hunger Games -- that's inconsistent with his fundamental goodness, which Collins spent a lot of time preserving.

I still think the first book was beautifully imagined and detailed -- and if it set the author up for a sequel she couldn't deliver on, then she shouldn't have written the sequel (except for the obvious commercial incentives). My pet peeve is bad sequels to good books.

Love,
-K