Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

First off, I would like to state that I wrote a letter to Susanne Collins in 2009/2010 about writing another book, so I’m going to be delulu and say I inspired this book 13 years later haha.

Wow, what a crazy backstory for Snow.

I can’t believe that Snows family was directly responsible for the start of the hunger games/the development of what the hunger games became. For him to have the experience of how horrid the games were, by being placed inside of them, and he still threw kids in there time and time again shows how truely horrid he is. Also him to fall in love with his victor and still have the ruthlessness to kill her even though she had survived that traumatic event just shows how he never cared for anyone but himself.

Do not read this book if you think it’ll be a light read. It is not.

Content Warnings

shellind75's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

ashwatever98's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A fascinating look into Snow’s journey to being the tyrant we know from the original trilogy, the red flags were there from the beginning. I am choosing to believe

that Lucy Gray survived and escaped into the woods and doesn’t just live on through her songs.

The pacing was a little off sometimes but overall exciting and gripping. Suzanne Collins is a genius.

Content Warnings

lasunflower's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I watched the movie first and watched a few analyses before reading the book too.

Bc of this, I didn't go into it blindly. To me especially, it is less of a prequel but an analysis of themes of nature and control, nature and nurture, and the nature of humanity. All this is done through the setting of Panem, the Hunger Games and Snow. A lot to think about on those themes for sure.

That being said, it was interesting how Collins built upon the lore of the Hunger Games, answering questions such as why it was made, who made it and who developed it. She is a great and thoughtful writer and did this very well. And she weaved it into the preexisting trilogy if the book so well. So well in fact you are like oh so that's why Snow reacted this way or that way with the 74th Hunger Games: it's like the prequel already existed! Now I want to re-read them all.

Perhaps a detailed analysis coming soon?

Content Warnings