ballad of songbirds and snakes review

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(as of Dec 23, 2024 02:34:16 UTC - Details)

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute...and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Reviewer: Mackenzie Higgins
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: "A Gripping Prequel with Heart, Intrigue, and Twists!" 🔥🦅
Review: "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is a brilliant and captivating prequel to The Hunger Games series. Suzanne Collins does a phenomenal job of expanding the world of Panem and exploring the backstory of one of the most iconic villains, Coriolanus Snow.Why I Loved It:Rich Storytelling: The world-building is fantastic, diving into the early days of the Hunger Games and the ruthless political climate of Panem. The intricate details and dark themes make this a compelling read.Complex Characters: Coriolanus Snow is an interesting and morally gray character in this prequel. Watching his transformation from a privileged student to a cunning and dangerous leader is fascinating.Themes of Power and Survival: This book explores the corrupting influence of power, ambition, and survival in a way that adds layers of depth to the world of The Hunger Games.Emotional and Thought-Provoking: The relationship between Snow and the tributes, particularly Lucy Gray, is complex and filled with emotional tension, making for a captivating and heartbreaking read.Perfect for Fans of the Original Series: If you loved The Hunger Games, this prequel is a must-read. It not only enriches the backstory but also provides a fresh perspective on the events that shape the world we know."The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is a thrilling and dark exploration of power, loyalty, and betrayal. Suzanne Collins' ability to draw readers in with complex characters and tense storytelling is unmatched. Highly recommend for fans of The Hunger Games and those who enjoy a gripping dystopian tale!

Reviewer: Anne Pruitt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: This is not a hero story
Review: 4.5 starsAmazon delivered my copy early, so I'm going to do a spoiler free review and then a spoilery one. Pardon if this winds up sounding like an English paper. I have thought so much on the morals and questions in this book that I feel like I should have read this in school.Note: I'm writing this review with the express belief that you, reader, have at least read the book description. Otherwise why are you reading this review?I want to start this off by saying two things. One, this is not a hero story. Snow is never once, in my opinion, shown to be a hero in this in what we modern folks would call a hero. He's no Luke Skywalker or redeemed villain. This isn't some sob backstory to explain "why the bad guy is bad." This is yet another set of layers to the onion that is Snow.Second, this book is dark. It's been a minute since I read the original trilogy, but I swear it wasn't quite as graphic as this book was. Cannibalism is mentioned, and it's shown/talked about that someone sawed the leg off a dead woman and ran off with it. One character is killed then hung on a hook and paraded. Another is also gruesomely displayed after their death. Several characters are dragged through processions to "prove a point," another character is hung from two large poles and left to basically die in the sun. Multiple accounts of vomiting/poison throughout, and a general unpleasantness at the lack of regard for human life.Non-spoilery review:This book makes you think. A lot. It makes you question things, and wonder if maybe Snow is right (he's not), but it's written in such a way that he's not a villain. Donald Sutherland in an interview made a great point in saying that Snow isn't a villain, he's just a ruthless man doing what he thinks is right to keep his home and country in one piece."He does it so well. And he doesn't think he's a bad person. He thinks it's the only way society can survive. And whether you think he's right or wrong, he doesn't think he's bad. He likes himself."This should be the mantra for this book. Snow is a conflicting, flawed human. In our society, he's evil, a sociopath or a psychopath. He's a murderer and a killer. He's a bad guy. In his world, he's one of the masses. He simply lives as he's been raised to, with a mentality that has been ingrained in him since the war between the Districts and the Capitol. He's simply more ruthless then most and has the guts to make what he considers the "hard decisions."Regardless of the other characters in this, they're all props to his story--which fits well with the Snow we know from The Hunger Games. Everyone is second stage to Snow and his life. This is his evolution from being a child to a man, to becoming the Snow we know and love/hate.I definitely don't think this book is for everyone. I'm sitting here with my mom breathing down my neck because she can't wait to read it, and I don't think she'll like it at all, and she's a diehard THG trilogy fan. Why? Because not everyone likes to read depressing books. There's no redemption in this. There's no saving someone from themselves. This is the fall, stumble, plummet into being a not great person and embracing it fully.So take that as you will. Full spoilers below about everything.P.s. This is a standalone.SPOILERS BELOWOkay, so, I was worried about this book when I read the first chapter sample and it got announced that Snow would be training the District 12 girl. I thought, oh crap, it's gonna be a cliche YA. It's gonna have a stupid romance that undercuts the whole plot and makes him a sap. And yeah, it did that, and up until the last 50 pages I was teetering on a 3-3.5 stars. And then oh boy, the end.Lucy Grey was a sweet girl, but she felt off since the beginning. I still can't fully put my finger on it, but her and Snow's relationship felt so wrong the entirety of the book. The red flags went up repeatedly every time he made comments about how she was his, and even so far as to say she was his property, and that's all kinds of wrong. And even though their romance was cute and fluffy, it felt bad, tainted. You knew something was going to happen. It always does in these villain backstories. Usually the whole reason the villain is bad is because the love interest gets brutally killed and then they're like whelp, guess I'll just be evil.Not in this book.Snow constantly struggles with morality and right and wrong throughout this. Should he turn in his friend to the Capitol because they're colluding with rebels and could tear down the (flawed) infrastructure? Or should he turn a blind eye and let his friend do his own thing? Is the Hunger Games wrong or good? Is it wrong to view the District people as second class humans? And so on. This book broaches the topic of racism in very broad terms with the whole District/Capitol thing. You've always known there was a divide between them, but in this, you really see how much the Capitol looks down on the Districts, and you can easily see how that morphs into such a hatred and distaste by the time Katniss first enters the Hunger Games.But I digress. Snow struggles with morality, but he's flawed and very, very imperfect. He rationalizes every death he takes as self-defense or some other reason when really he's just murdered someone because it's inconvenient for him. He kills (or at least removes her from the picture; it's ambiguous) Lucy Grey in the end because she's a loose end and too free. He does it. Not someone else, not some freak accident. He chooses to do it and, by the time it happens, you already know what direction he's headed in so it's not quite another nail in the coffin. It fully feels like him tying up loose ends so he can go do whatever he wants.All the nods to THG characters and names was cool. You also had a lot of The Great Gatsby vibes in the Old Money versus New Money mentality that a lot of the Capitol had with District people who gained a fortune and bought their way into the Capitol life. They're looked down upon by the old families and viewed as trash.You saw a lot of the evolution in the Hunger Games, and you can see how it begins to change and grow into what Katniss and Peeta suffered through. You see how it begins to change from a simple punishment to a sport and a holiday, with the growing encouragement that it should be a normal and good thing.You also see a side of the Capitol you most definitely did not see in the trilogy--suffering. A lot of the book shows Snow struggling with having been a small child living through the Dark Days and the war. He was 8 when the Capitol won, and even then it was hard. You learn about the hell the Capitol lived through as they were besieged by the Districts' army and forced to ration, starvation, and cannibalism. It's a hard picture, and it's so blatantly told. Collins didn't hold back any punches in this. I never felt like what was done was for shock and awe for the reader, but it was definitely that for the story, and it made sense. Regardless of the Capitol not being at war with the Districts anymore, the tensions were still so high that it makes sense for the Capitol to overreact in their retaliation of events. So when one mentor gets killed by her tribute, they shoot the tribute and parade her body around on a hook at the mentor's funeral. It's disgusting, debasing, and shows how much the Capitol views the Districts as nothing more than rodents or livestock.Anyway, I'll stop talking. Go read it yourself. It's a hard read, a heavy read, but it was very, very enjoyable.

Reviewer: Emgee
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Welcome Addition to "The Hunger Games" Canon
Review: Readers eager to return to the world of Panem, the setting of the original Hunger Games trilogy will no doubt be excited to read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel novel taking place sixty-four years prior to the original trilogy and following a young Coriolanus Snow long before he became the ruthless and tyrannical president.The Hunger Games are still in their infancy as Panem prepares for the tenth iteration. At this point, they are almost rudimentary in form: the arena is just that: an old sporting arena that features none of the technology or control that the Gamemakers have by the time Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute to save her sister. The mentorship program is just getting started as well: but instead of past winners, they are mentored by elite students from the Capitol’s Academy. Nor are the tributes treated to a a period of training and assessment: much more cruelly, they are housed in the Capitol Zoo as showpieces. And also seeing its first place in the Hunger Games are the sponsorships and betting, an idea of young Coriolanus Snow and his classmates as a way to re-engage Panem in the games.We also meet several characters who are likely ancestors of characters we came to know in the original trilogy: ancestors of Caesar Flickerman, Plutarch Heavensbee, and Seneca Crane, among others. We also learn the origin of Katniss’ “Hanging Tree” song from Mockingjay.But this is not simply a book of little Easter Eggs, though those certainly engage readers who like to look for those little tidbits. Most actually help put things in context and to develop the world. This is very much a story of its own of how Snow rose to power. Snow did not start out as pure evil: he started out as a young man who was seeing his family legacy slip away and his desperation to save it. It’s important to remember throughout the novel that despite who we know he will become, until the end, he is very much the protagonist of the novel. Flawed, yes, and definitely having at many times intentions of self-preservation, but at times, he even seems compassionate and sympathetic. But as the novel’s tagline tells us “power has its price.”In many ways, it seems Snow is fighting his own Hunger Games, his own battle for survival and that that may require him to do vicious things that he can justify in his mind in order to ensure that survival. Given the dystopia he lives in and the actions of some of those around him, he may not even be completely wrong: one wrong move could cost him his life. It’s only in the final pages where his true ruthless nature emerges and we begin to see who he will ultimately become.The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes adds a new chapter to The Hunger Games world and is a welcome addition.4.5/5

Reviewer: Vitória Pieretti
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Chegou MUITO rápido, antes do previsto. Muito bem embalado. O livro é muito lindo. Tudo certinho, maravilhoso!

Reviewer: Nicole Lane
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: It's just the kind of story that catches fire.Following the story of the tenth annual Hunger Games, sixty four years before Primrose Everdeen's name is pulled at the reaping, the history of the Games and of Panem itself is revealed.Coriolanus Snow is ambitious despite the tough times that have fallen upon his family. When it is revealed that students will become the first ever mentors in the Hunger Games, Coriolanus is humiliated by being placed as the mentor for the District 12 girl. But Coriolanus is ambitious, competitive, and smart. He's determined to have his tribute win at all costs. What he doesn't realize is how intertwined their lives will become.This book has single handedly revived my complete and total obsession of the Hunger Games. I need to re-read all of the series now because I had forgotten just HOW obsessed I was.I loved the origin story aspect of this. It was so profoundly interesting to see what the Hunger Games had been like before and to learn more about Snow's backstory!! I loved all of the interconnected aspects. Basically all of my Kindle highlights are references to future people or things ("Hey, you've found some Katniss" KILLED ME).I sincerely hope that Suzanne Collins continues writing because she is just an unbelievable story teller.1 like

Reviewer: Luna
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Honestamente me preocupaba que llegara maltratado, pero no, llego en perfectas condiciones, está hermoso. Si eres fan de los juegos del hambre tienes que leerlo, la historia es 100% recomendable.

Reviewer: Naomi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Loveee it

Reviewer: Soumi Bagchi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book answers so many questions from hunger games and still gives readers enough room to imagine and create their own stories..