The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) (The Hunger Games)

What this book is: A book in the form of a character sketch for the development of both President Snow, and The Hunger Games. What this book is not: Fully immersive into the different districts, a full accounting of President Snow's rise to power. Whilst I love The Hunger Games, and a fan of YA/NA dystopia, I was a bit disappointed in BoSaS. Told completely from Coriolanus Snow's point of view, it centres around the period shortly after the great war - when both he and the Hunger Games were in the process of change and development. There was a noticeable attempt to conjoin this prequel to its subsequent time-delayed sequels, with often repeat callbacks to songs, names and references which are so blunt it feels like they have just been jammed in to 'lay the foundations' for The Hunger Games trilogy. It felt clumsy, grating, and quite superficial - with very little character development or depth - in fact, the most action happens in the last 20 or so pages, and feels entirely rushed at the end - and abruptly breaks off - making me wonder if Collins is planning another prequel-sequel - which would leave Coriolanus's teenage years behind and examine his development of the 30s-60's. It provides no content or understanding of the next three books in the series, which was a major disappointment. I had read expecting there to be some reference perhaps towards the end. This is a standalone book. This is still an excellent book for understanding the structure of The Hunger Games in it's early development, but ironically, it lacks the charm and depth of any of the other three books in the series.

Most prequels I’ve read are pretty annoying because they’re not really prequels at all, more like continuations of the original story from before rather than after the main timeline. This isn’t one of those. It’s set 64 years before the first Hunger Games story in a Panem that’s barely recovered from the rebellion. The Capitol is precariously balanced at a place where the Old Order and the New Money are seesawing for control. In some ways it reminded me of the Atlanta in Gone with The Wind where the same thing was happening. The Capitol characters have surnames familiar to reader of the original trilogy Heavensbee, Crane and of course Snow. Good story perhaps aimed at a slightly older readership and well worth a look.

This is such a difficult novel to review, despite the fact that I actually enjoyed reading it, as I don't think that it is what a lot of fans were expecting. The Hunger Games Trilogy featured fast-paced violence and a strong female protagonist. Due to the focus on Coriolanus Snow, this prequel has an entirely different feel. It is a much slower novel, focusing more on the world-building and philosophy that would eventually shape Snow into the tyrannical president of Panem. The world-building of this novel is captivating. It is set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games and only 10 years after the war. Due to this, we see Capitol in a very different light. The city is still war-torn and rife with poverty. The Hunger Games exists, but is a primal shade of what it would later become. Everyone bares scars of what happened in the conflict and would rather forget what happened. I personally found it interesting to see Panem in such a state, especially as Snow and his class gradually began to shape The Hunger Games into something closer to what fans will recognise. Yet, I did sometimes think that the novel was too heavy-handed with its call-backs. While some of the minor changes, such as the introduction of sponsors and betting to the Hunger Games, were nice little nods, other things were less subtle. This was particularly obvious in the final section of the story, in which Coriolanus witnesses the origin of The Hanging Tree song and gains an irrational hatred of Mockingjays. Yeah, that is certainly on the nose. In terms of pacing, I do think that this book has the potential to divide fans. Due to its focus on Coriolanus, it is no where near as fast-paced as the other books. After all, Coryo is a stage removed from proceedings. He is not in the arena fighting - he is watching from the safety of the mentors' box. What this did give the time for was more of a character study. We followed Coriolanus in his daily life within the Capitol as he attended school and mentored Lucy Gray. This allowed readers to see Panem from the other side - a world that is far different from the empoverished life of Katniss Everdeen. Yet, at times, the novel could be incredibly slow. While I was utterly captivated by the first two-thirds of the novel, the section after the climax of the 10th Hunger Games did start to lose me a little. Coriolanus's time in District 12 was surprisingly uneventful for the most part. While things did pick up again over the last 40 pages, for the most it seemed to be a bit of a come down after the excitement of the Games. In terms of character, the novel was also perhaps a little varied. As a character study of Coriolanus Snow, it was spectacular. Coryo is a fantastically complex character. His empoverished upbringing and desire to protect his family could have made him incredibly sympathetic, but this was of...

All the negative rep I saw around this book at first, with people calling it Snow's redemption arc, made me put this book on the backburner for quite some time. But, in cleaning my house and deciding I needed something new to listen to, I decided it was time to give this a go. Thank goodness I did. Collins does it again, pulling us into the world of Panem but before Katniss, before the Nightlock, before the bombs and second revolution. She pulls us into a different time period where the story never feels redundant of the main series and I would not call this a redemption arc, but rather an insight to the workings of a villains brain. And what workings they are. We see where more ideas came from, little snippets that ring familiar truths to the main series, and a cast of new characters that I loved. Not long after I started listening, I forgot I was cleaning and sat and listened like it was a movie. It kept me spellbound and waiting for the next thing. Since listening, I made both my parents and my sister listen to it. They all informed me they couldn't get enough and they have all listened to it twice now (as have I, if I'm being honest.) I would say that, if you love the world of Panem, if you want a story where your hero isn't necessarily ever the hero, this is the book you need to read.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes As most readers already know, this prequel explores Coriolanus's life when he was a teenager. The opening chapters reveal that he was also chosen to be a mentor for Lucy Gray who was from the despised district 12. But what she lacks in fighting skills she makes up for being a charismatic performer. Lucy Gray learned how to work a situation to her advantage. In the beginning the tributes did not enjoy Capitol luxuries but were kept in cages and barely fed. It’s a stark contrast to the future hunger games when tributes were met with an extravagant welcome and dined on rich foods. The problem was that watching too much brutality turned the Capitol away from the Games. Snow's addition to the Hunger Games of costumes, interviews, and the underdog tributes made the propaganda go down easy. This should be a cautionary tale. A lot of readers are not getting the point the author is trying to make. In the opening of this book there's a quote by Hobbes: “Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre; and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man.” — Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651 Coriolanus's first "lesson" to be molded into the future oppressor was during the Hunger Games; when he was forced to go in the arena to get out Sejanus, one of the mentors, who was not supposed to be in there. While at the hospital getting stitches, the head gamekeeper, Dr. Gaul, asked if Coriolanus understood what he was supposed to learn. “Without the threat of death, it wouldn’t have been much of a lesson,” said Dr. Gaul. “What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are. A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state.” “I think I wouldn’t have beaten anyone to death if you hadn’t stuck me in that arena!” he retorted. “You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else. It’s a lot to take in all at once, but it’s essential that you make an effort to answer that question. Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need. Later on, I hope you can reflect and be honest with yourself about what you learned tonight.” A very similar thought process was also stated by the Joker in The Dark Night: “To them, you’re just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. Th...