Reviews - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

68.3k reviews for:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Suzanne Collins

3.9 AVERAGE

kat_dunk's review against another edition

3.0

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this a lot, but the last third of the book was a slog!

Honestly, I sort of wish that the book had been written from Lucy Gray’s POV! Coriolanus was such a little bitch throughout the book (which makes sense since he turns into the Big Bad) and I was constantly rolling my eyes at his inner dialogue.

Also, I didn’t really understand what Lucy Gray saw in him at all and I wish she had just been cleverly using him to get through the Hunger Games. I think it would have made more sense that way too, because if she had rejected him when he showed up in District 12 as a Peace Keeper, I feel like it would help explain his turn from whiny bitch to a true monster.

It was interesting to see how the Hunger Games evolved over time, from cattle cars and cages and the busted old arena to the high-tech, fancy treatment that Katniss and Peeta experienced.

The audiobook was pretty good, but I was disappointed that the narrator just read all the songs instead of singing any of them. I know it would have been a big ask because there were so many songs, but also, the narrator is Santino Fontana, the guy who plays Prince Hans in Frozen! The dude can sing!

alexmckay's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense medium-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: No

ilovejumpingspiders's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

tracytaylor's review against another edition

4.25

emotional mysterious 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

Suzanne Collins you’ve done it again

misterythemermaid's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

loveerinnicole's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wehume's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really like a good back story, and I thought "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was a good back story, and cleverly interweaved with the original Hunger Games trilogy. I though Collins did an excellent job illustrating what the Hunger Games was 64 years before the ones that Katniss participated in and how the new games were a far cry from the originals. Another thing that I appreciated was the character development present in this novel. I rarely trust any character portrayed as completely good or completely evil, as President Snow is in the first three books. I thought that Collins did a nice job adding some layers to Corialanus Snow and the person he was before becoming the brutal president figure that we are familiar with. I, at times, even felt sympathy for the position he was in. If you like the Hunger Games trilogy, I think you will like it even more after reading this book. Highly recommended.