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

Out of all the things in the Hunger Games universe, Suzanne Collins decided we needed a Snow childhood story? When there are so many more interesting characters like Haymitch? Ugh! I am still incredibly angry about this book and I’m glad I didn’t waste my money on it and borrowed it from the library.

Snow was awful. Granted, I already knew he was awful from the Hunger Games but this really solidified that this guy was a tool. There were so many things that were just awful about him. He’s snooty and condescending. He wants friendships so bad but then treats said friends like garbage. He looks down upon poor people and is all surprised that they have any sort of feelings. Snow is just a terrible character. If this was supposed to be some sort of character redemption for him, it failed miserably. It was also very much not needed.

What I did like about the book was the Hunger Games aspect. It was interesting to see how it came to be the spectacle it was during the Hunger Games trilogy. This book takes place during the tenth annual Hunger Games, where viewership is down so they are trying to come up with ways to make the Games more interesting. Because you know, killing kids isn’t interesting enough. While it was tragic to see children dying, just like it was during the Hunger Games trilogy, but I did like seeing the progression of how they changed the Games.

I mentioned above that Snow had a disdain for poor people. The whole theme of this book was about hating poor people. I am a poor person. I grew up poor so I know what it’s like to be poor. It sucks to be honest. The whole time I’m reading this book was just the overwhelming amount of disdain for those that are poor. It’s not like those people asked to be poor. War causes poverty and that’s what happened in this book along with other things. My blood was just fuming the whole time while I read this book.

Overall, we didn’t need this book. It wasn’t worth it and there were so much better characters to write about then Snow. It solidified my disdain for the man and even though this is some sort of redemption arc for him, it doesn’t change my feelings at all. If you are a huge Hunger Games fan like I am, I would highly suggest you skip this book because it’s not good.

Content Warnings

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Reviewed 26/04/24 (1st reread)

I'll say this for Suzanne Collins - the woman knows how to craft a page-turner.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (TBOSAS) was just immaculate. I decided to bump up my rating from my previous reading of this - 4.5 rather than 5 purely because our narrator, Coriolanus Snow was so despicable (beautifully written, though!).

I read this first in 2020 - the year it came out - and then again in 2024, after I saw the film adaptation. I'm glad I saw the movie first - for while the film is very well-made and incredibly gripping to watch, as an adaptation, it cannot hold a candle to the depth and detail of the original work.

This is understandable (and in my opinion, inevitable) when you are translating a work of literature to the screen, as each medium works differently to communicate its message to the audience - a film works by showing you what you need to know, whereas a novel tells you.

The strength of TBOSAS as a novel lies in its narrative voice - that of the aforementioned Coriolanus Snow. Coriolanus begins the novel as an impoverished student with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and vanity, and ends it as

a murderer who becomes the adopted heir (and unofficially, son) of a wealthy family whose real son's death Snow had a direct hand in causing

.

The characterisation was superb (I particularly loved Lysistrata), the crafting of suspense, tension, and plot masterful, the examination of the nature vs. nurture debate thought-provoking, and the callbacks to the original Hunger Games trilogy were cleverly inserted and not overdone.

Having read the book previously (and seen the film), I knew what was coming, and so at these points I would have to put the book down to mentally prepare myself before returning to it. The sense of dread was palpable, and the cliffhanger at the end of each chapter made it really hard not to keep reading - I can see why I raced through it in a day the first time.

TBOSAS was a chilling, suspenseful, and highly engrossing read.

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