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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Part 3 was really slow but overall this was a great villain origin story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, War
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Snow doesn’t like things he’s not in control of, That’s the only explanation for his actions. Great book
Honestly, it was boring. 50% of the book just describes food.
3.5 stars. Definitely doesn’t read like the original trilogy, this is a much slower story. Interesting to read about Snow’s origin, but it dragged a little. Certainly there were some Easter eggs for fans of the original trilogy that served as fun foreshadowing. Good read, I probably won’t revisit it the way I do the other three.
There's some good ideas in here and Snow is a better choice for a spinoff character than I initially assumed. But the good stuff is weighed down by an inconsistent character arc and an underbaked central relationship, and the book does itself no favors with frequent nods to the main trilogy.
Snow's story is ostensibly about control and given a better treatment could have been an interesting exploration of the fuzzy line between the rule of law and outright tyranny. In practice, however, it's mostly just charting Snow's trajectory into his familiar Hunger Games form with a few pit stops along the way to make some friends and perhaps betray them. Suzanne Collins also delivers a lot of the big character moments quite late, resulting in one or two chapters that are so head-spinning they scarcely make sense.
The plot itself centers Snow's mentor-ship of tribute Lucy Gray from District 12, the district that all Hunger Games stories are contractually required to revolve around. Lucy is a serviceable character and their dynamic has enough plot-driven complications to keep it interesting but it at times feels aimless and eventually gets caught in the gyre of Collins' twisty late chapters. The end result is a quick read that will probably get the job done for serious Hunger Games fans and completionists, and is the book equivalent of empty calories for anyone else.
Rating: 2.5 stars
Snow's story is ostensibly about control and given a better treatment could have been an interesting exploration of the fuzzy line between the rule of law and outright tyranny. In practice, however, it's mostly just charting Snow's trajectory into his familiar Hunger Games form with a few pit stops along the way to make some friends and perhaps betray them. Suzanne Collins also delivers a lot of the big character moments quite late, resulting in one or two chapters that are so head-spinning they scarcely make sense.
The plot itself centers Snow's mentor-ship of tribute Lucy Gray from District 12, the district that all Hunger Games stories are contractually required to revolve around. Lucy is a serviceable character and their dynamic has enough plot-driven complications to keep it interesting but it at times feels aimless and eventually gets caught in the gyre of Collins' twisty late chapters. The end result is a quick read that will probably get the job done for serious Hunger Games fans and completionists, and is the book equivalent of empty calories for anyone else.
Rating: 2.5 stars
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really struggled with this one. Not sure if I didn’t find the story engaging because I’ve already watched the movie or because I felt don’t love rooting for a true villain, but I really had to push to finish this one.
But I never once felt bad for Snow throughout the books. I saw him go through some tough situations but he would immediately talk poorly about other people or be so whiny that I would just roll my eyes before I could feel empathy for him.
Because I reread the Hunger Games series so recently, the contrast was very stark between Snow and Katniss. They actually had some overlap in their experiences due to the war but obviously went totally different directions. I mean everything Snow did was only focused on himself and self preservation. In fact, I honestly don’t quite believe he loved Lucy Gray. In the book, it never felt real having recently read the love between Katniss and Peeta.
It was super interesting to learn more about the backstory of the games though haha