Cover Judge

Cover Judge is a semi-weekly feature that spotlights the cover of a book (or books) on my wishlist. This week I have the cover of the highly anticipated final book in the Hunger Games trilogy.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Release: August 24, 2010 (Yes, I have the date memorized)

Synopsis: The synopsis has unfortunately not been released yet.

Cover: I'm quite torn about this cover. For one thing, I love the blue. However, I also think that the bird looks a bit too computer generated for my liking. The covers in this series have been very iconic, and I think it is wonderful that they have kept with it for the whole series. I respect their need to keep tradition, but I would've preferred if it was a bit less graphic-y looking. Here's what I will say though, I really like how they included the grid-like background once again. With both of the other covers the circle grids and the pin were the main part of the cover. In the first book it was backed simply by a black backdrop, dreary, bleak and hopeless. In the second, they mixed it up a bit, including the layout of the arena behind the pin and adding in a bright red background as tension increased. I really like that now, for the final book, the background color is a little more calm and hopeful and the mockingjay has finally broken from the pin, soaring free. This cover gets all of its points for symbolism.