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

You can say what you want about this book, snow or even the hunger games world over all, but we can all agree that "Snow lands on top" is such a cool phrase to have for your family name!

I like it, it's a bit slow sometimes and it isn't as action-y as the hunger games can be because we see the games from someone who is safe-point of view. I did like where this story went after the games and I like the ending and how we are never really meant to be sympathizing for Snow event though he as the main character time and time again tries to tell us his thought process and how he's actually doing the right thing even though we know that he is absolutely f-cked in the head.

I liked it! Not love it and i didn't fly though it like I did with the OG trilogy but.. I like it! :)

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jodean's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This is a book that knows what a prequel should do. There's too many unneeded pre- and sequels around lately and not enough original work, so I'd been skeptic
al of this one. But it's an exception.
I don't think anything can compare to the original trilogy, but this book makes me look at it all in a new light. It answers questions I didn't think to ask.
<Spoiler>Also, Sejanus deserved better and God I hope Lucy Gray made it somewhere better.

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jonssweater's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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erovelo's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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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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