Oh god there are too many good things to say about this book. I just sat there in a stupor after I finished it, turning everything over in my head and reliving all the emotions this book had wrung out of me -- the shock, the sadness, the sorrowful triumph. And that latter is what makes this book so special, I think. It's real -- it's not a happy ending you'd expect from a book that's categorized (erroneously, I think) as part of the young adult genre.The ending flows organically from the events that come before it. Katniss going on with her life as she did before the first Hunger Games would be impossible considering everything that's happened to her and everything she has done. Katniss sailing on after the war and becoming the heroine of the Capital and all the Districts, going on to be a leader of the districts? Not possible, either. The one thing that Katniss wants is independence, and going into politics would chain her down further to the districts and all the people who would view her as a tool to be used. What happens in the end is the only way it could turn out for her happy--bittersweet and startlingly mature, yes, but happy nonetheless--ending.
I liked the uncertainty of this book. I liked the agony of not knowing who was going to live and who was going to die (oh god I'm still so sad), of who Katniss was going to end up with (YAY! It was touch and go for a moment there, but the ending couldn't have been sweeter and more right), of what Katniss was going to do next. Most of the time with YA books, you can pretty much predict how things are going to go, but every turn of the page came with new revelations and possibilities.
Reading this book was a rollercoaster of emotions and reactions, and even though the second time around might lessen the impact with knowing, I would definitely go for another ride. Think I'm going to go read all three books again.