A review by mmwiseheart
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

I really thought I’d hate this book because I knew it was about Snow. I generally don’t enjoy books about the villains of a story. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I really had a hard time putting it down to go to sleep at night. 

Right off the bat, there was a revelation that made connections from The Hunger Games trilogy that I didn’t see coming. And the book continued to surprise me throughout. I also appreciated the background on how the Hunger Games got started and evolved to what they eventually became. 

I do feel like this almost could have been two books. The third part seemed a bit disjointed from the first two parts. However, I still enjoyed the third part. It was a lot of insight into why Snow is the way he is and how he got to his position. It also painted a better picture of the transition from North America to Panem. I’d be interested to read a book about that, as well. 
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