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dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book really surprised me. it was amazing. I loved watching snows descent into tyrany and enjoyed that it focused on him at a younger age. even the ending didn't feel rushed, though the possinly killing of Lucy gray did feel a little forced. truly an amazing book. adds a lot of depth to the hunger games world and president snow and the hunger games themselves. it does a great job of humanizing him while also reminding us definitely that he is a villain
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War
Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
This is the first book that made me cry this year, so it gets bonus points just for that.
Coriolanus' internal justification for his actions starts almost acceptable and spirals into truly psychotic - or maybe sociopathic is more correct. An insight into intense radicalisation that you can't help but keep reading.
Some say there are pacing issues, and maybe that's true, but I like to believe this was intentional to reflect the story. Everything happening in quick succession leading up to the games, the slowing down indistrict 12, almost the calm before the storm , and the way the end speeds up as the rest of this man's sanity unravels and he seemingly loses the plot entirely .
Go into this as spoiler free as you can - I think it will hit different if you don't know certain events are going to happen.
Coriolanus' internal justification for his actions starts almost acceptable and spirals into truly psychotic - or maybe sociopathic is more correct. An insight into intense radicalisation that you can't help but keep reading.
Some say there are pacing issues, and maybe that's true, but I like to believe this was intentional to reflect the story. Everything happening in quick succession leading up to the games, the slowing down in
Go into this as spoiler free as you can - I think it will hit different if you don't know certain events are going to happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Cannibalism, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical trauma
Minor: Confinement, Torture, Vomit
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, War
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Slavery, Torture
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not as bad as I expected as per some of the reviews.
A prequel for The Hunger Games seems unnecessary. It’s a solid trilogy that I consider to be a modern classic. A must read series. As for “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” it’s not necessary to the series but not a bad supplemental read, either. It’s just not great.
A prequel for The Hunger Games seems unnecessary. It’s a solid trilogy that I consider to be a modern classic. A must read series. As for “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” it’s not necessary to the series but not a bad supplemental read, either. It’s just not great.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely a fantastic edition to the Hunger Games world building. This is basically a villain origin story for President Snow. I think Susan Collins does a very good job at portraying how people are a product of their environment whilst simultaneously reminding the reader that every person has a story and that is what makes a society. Having the books coming from Snows perspective is also a fantastic choice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hadn't planned on reading this when it first came out, as I'm generally skeptical about prequels. Then, after a Hunger Games re-read this year as part of a reading challenge, I got curious and thought to check this out - thanks in no small part to the fact that Santino Fontana narrated the audiobook. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes isn't a fantastic book, but it is entertaining and introspective, and just generally much better than I expected it to be. It was really interesting to follow Snow's point of view in his youth, to see how he might grow up to become the ruthless president we all love to hate. One thing that actually had surprised me on my HG re-read was how I remembered him being so much more present than he truly was, a sure sign of a memorable villain who permeated the trilogy without actually appearing for very long at all. So, it was fascinating for me to spend more time with him.
Coriolanus Snow isn't likeable - at all - and as a character isn't terribly complex either, driven as he is solely by a desire to succeed and restore his family's former glory, power and - above all - money. He is extremely self-centred makes some terrible choices; following his reasonings is truly unpleasant but I liked that this isn't an attempt at rehabilitation. At no point in the book is it suggested that we should somehow excuse his behaviour: the best we readers can hope to do is to understand it, but there is no salvation in sight.
I was particularly worried about the romance, but again I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is little space for doubt in the relationship between Snow and Lucy Gray: what he claims to be love is only further desire for power, a wish to control and possess a free spirit.
As with the original trilogy, none of the themes touched upon here are particularly subtle - and this extremely toxic behaviour is no exception - but as this is essentially aimed at a younger audience I won't count it against the book. It was also much more introspective than I anticipated, with several reflections veering more towards philosophical musings on human nature and social contracts. Again, not particularly deep and sometimes slightly too on-the-nose (I fully expected certain characters to start quoting The Leviathan at some point) but still a pleasant addition to the universe. I can fully see why some readers who loved the original trilogy might have been disappointed by this one, as the action is very limited and the time spent in the arena was - for me at least - probably the most boring part.
The secondary characters are fairly weak here. As far as Capitol inhabitants go, there are just too many characters who seem to have no distinctive traits whatsoever. By the halfway mark I still couldn't tell the difference between the different mentors - nor the tributes to be honest. The ones who do get some more space for development are fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, archetypes more than fully fledged characters in their own right. Lucy Gray and Sejanus particularly could have benefited from further development, and I was sorry not to see them gain some of the complexity their characters could have had.
There are multiple elements connecting back to the original trilogy which serve to further understanding (I particularly enjoyed unveiling hints to the origins of Snow's instant hatred of Katniss) or add context to the world, although at times they seemed just a tad too many - fan-service more than real development. The world also isn't particularly built upon in this book, so I expect that if anyone were to approach this universe starting here they would probably have trouble orienting themselves.
Where the book really had issues for me though was in the pacing, which feels all over the place. It started strong, then slowed down considerably, then rushed back at the end... I basically had whiplash. There were also too many repetitions, which really didn't help and made the narrative drag a lot. As far as the audio narration goes, I enjoyed Santino Fontana's interpretation, but really can't understand why they had him recite the song lyrics instead of actually singing them. Having the lyrics just there interrupted the flow and was - again - deeply repetitive most of the time, while having the actual music would have really helped to lend them more emotion, as it had in the HG audios narrated by Tatiana Maslany. I'm truly baffled as to why one would hire a singer to narrate a book featuring multiple songs and not make him sing... Anyway, that's just my opinion!
Overall, this was better than I expected it to be but still had a lot of issues. I am still glad I read it though, and I will look forward to reading the next book when it releases!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes isn't a fantastic book, but it is entertaining and introspective, and just generally much better than I expected it to be. It was really interesting to follow Snow's point of view in his youth, to see how he might grow up to become the ruthless president we all love to hate. One thing that actually had surprised me on my HG re-read was how I remembered him being so much more present than he truly was, a sure sign of a memorable villain who permeated the trilogy without actually appearing for very long at all. So, it was fascinating for me to spend more time with him.
Coriolanus Snow isn't likeable - at all - and as a character isn't terribly complex either, driven as he is solely by a desire to succeed and restore his family's former glory, power and - above all - money. He is extremely self-centred makes some terrible choices; following his reasonings is truly unpleasant but I liked that this isn't an attempt at rehabilitation. At no point in the book is it suggested that we should somehow excuse his behaviour: the best we readers can hope to do is to understand it, but there is no salvation in sight.
I was particularly worried about the romance, but again I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is little space for doubt in the relationship between Snow and Lucy Gray: what he claims to be love is only further desire for power, a wish to control and possess a free spirit.
As with the original trilogy, none of the themes touched upon here are particularly subtle - and this extremely toxic behaviour is no exception - but as this is essentially aimed at a younger audience I won't count it against the book. It was also much more introspective than I anticipated, with several reflections veering more towards philosophical musings on human nature and social contracts. Again, not particularly deep and sometimes slightly too on-the-nose (I fully expected certain characters to start quoting The Leviathan at some point) but still a pleasant addition to the universe. I can fully see why some readers who loved the original trilogy might have been disappointed by this one, as the action is very limited and the time spent in the arena was - for me at least - probably the most boring part.
The secondary characters are fairly weak here. As far as Capitol inhabitants go, there are just too many characters who seem to have no distinctive traits whatsoever. By the halfway mark I still couldn't tell the difference between the different mentors - nor the tributes to be honest. The ones who do get some more space for development are fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, archetypes more than fully fledged characters in their own right. Lucy Gray and Sejanus particularly could have benefited from further development, and I was sorry not to see them gain some of the complexity their characters could have had.
There are multiple elements connecting back to the original trilogy which serve to further understanding (I particularly enjoyed unveiling hints to the origins of Snow's instant hatred of Katniss) or add context to the world, although at times they seemed just a tad too many - fan-service more than real development. The world also isn't particularly built upon in this book, so I expect that if anyone were to approach this universe starting here they would probably have trouble orienting themselves.
Where the book really had issues for me though was in the pacing, which feels all over the place. It started strong, then slowed down considerably, then rushed back at the end... I basically had whiplash. There were also too many repetitions, which really didn't help and made the narrative drag a lot. As far as the audio narration goes, I enjoyed Santino Fontana's interpretation, but really can't understand why they had him recite the song lyrics instead of actually singing them. Having the lyrics just there interrupted the flow and was - again - deeply repetitive most of the time, while having the actual music would have really helped to lend them more emotion, as it had in the HG audios narrated by Tatiana Maslany. I'm truly baffled as to why one would hire a singer to narrate a book featuring multiple songs and not make him sing... Anyway, that's just my opinion!
Overall, this was better than I expected it to be but still had a lot of issues. I am still glad I read it though, and I will look forward to reading the next book when it releases!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Sexual assault
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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
reading this book is having to deal with this fascist thinking the most casually out of pocket controlling insanity and then doing one selfless thing maybe once every ten chapters if you were lucky. completely infuriating in all the right ways and better than i thought after i’d refused to read it for years
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, War
Minor: Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism