Review -- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Genre: Young adult dystopian, futuristic

Rating: 4.5 stars

Trigger warning: violence

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Synopsis: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the much anticipated prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, focusing on the series' most vile character, Coriolanus Snow, as he navigates the role of mentor for the District 12 female tribute during the 10th Hunger Games. The Snow family was once highly revered in Capitol society, but has fallen in status since the end of the war against the rebels. Snow must deal with being draw to his tribute in personal ways while also attempting to win for the glory of his family.

Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an excellent character-driven story from the world of Panem, shedding light on the early iterations of the Hunger Games, including its origin story as an entity as well as those of numerous facets of the games, including the ability to bet on tributes and provide them with gifts in the arena. As someone who values worldbuilding above many other qualities in a story, I enjoyed learning more about the origins of certain songs from the later stories as well as hearing familiar surnames and other references throughout the book. I am not a huge fan of large chunks of lyrics in a book, however, and I felt myself drawn to flip through some of the pages I felt like I knew wouldn't be as important to the story. I did however appreciate that the District 12 female tribute, Lucy Gray, was not at all like Katniss. If anything, she was the anti-Katniss. A performer, one for a show. It was interesting to see a different side of the residents of District 12 through her and her livelihood in the district. I also enjoyed learning about different locations in the Capitol and how the original arena was set up. Also the zoo?! What the heck?

If you are looking for a concrete explanation of why Snow turned out the way he is or what happened between him and Tigris, you won't find that here (what I was hoping for). Snow's incomplete - in my opinion - origin story was also not the Hunger Games prequel story that I would have chosen for this book. However, I won't judge this book solely on what I wanted it to be, but rather based on the story that was given. As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the story that was told and I only dropping half of a star due to wanting more about why Snow truly is the way he is. We see glaring hints at his ambition at almost any cost but I was waiting for that true breaking point. I never felt sorry for Snow, though, so I'm appreciative of the way the author wrote the story especially in regards to that initial concern. Collins is the MASTER at having a seemingly normal chapter go on for fifteen pages and then in the final line of the chapter the world seems to literally end. Over. And over. Again.

What you will find is an interesting dialogue on the nature of humankind - are we wild? Can we control our actions or do we need a "Capitol" to control us? Do we need to be reminded of our past? Or is the past really just recurring as our present? How far is too far?