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A review by talethal
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Villain stories are complicated things - the author must enable their devoted readers to peak into the mind of a nefarious individual, appreciating their thoughts and moral compass, without justifying their short-comings/downright evil deeds. Collins has tiptoed this line between “explaining” and “excusing” fairly well, enabling the audience to feel for Snow without trying to force him into an ill-fitting redemption arc. There is LOTS of symbolism and thematic exploration, most of which is done very well!!
My main critiques:
a) *I’m going to be vague about this one but expand upon it in the “spoilers” section.* I’m not sure whether I found this annoying because it was poorly executed or because I just don’t have the mentality of a villain (at least, I don’t think I do), but there were many times when I felt as though the *evil* mentality was very forced. I don’t know how better to say this without actually giving an example.
b) It all wrapped up slightly too quickly for my liking - everything just dissolved suddenly without quite enough build-up.
a) For example, there were soooooo many times Coriolanus thought of Lucy Gray as “belonging” to him… was it actually too on the nose, or do I just see that this is dangerous logic?
ALSO; HOW CAN YOU CONTROL BIRDS WITH A REMOTE CONTROL IF THEY HAVE NO ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS OF ANY KIND?!? Yeah yeah, “genetic engineering”, sure… I’m unconvinced.
My main critiques:
a) *I’m going to be vague about this one but expand upon it in the “spoilers” section.* I’m not sure whether I found this annoying because it was poorly executed or because I just don’t have the mentality of a villain (at least, I don’t think I do), but there were many times when I felt as though the *evil* mentality was very forced. I don’t know how better to say this without actually giving an example.
b) It all wrapped up slightly too quickly for my liking - everything just dissolved suddenly without quite enough build-up.
ALSO; HOW CAN YOU CONTROL BIRDS WITH A REMOTE CONTROL IF THEY HAVE NO ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS OF ANY KIND?!? Yeah yeah, “genetic engineering”, sure… I’m unconvinced.