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A review by leksikality
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
slow-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? It's complicated
1.0
There is so much wrong with this book it's difficult to know where to start.
The thing about recon prequels is that most of the time they're stories that just don't need to be told. This is no exception.
It's obvious that Collins doesn't know what to do with this character or this plot. There are incredibly long passages of so much inaction that even the characters complain that nothing is happening.
As far as the characters go, there's no consistency at all, and one even just flat-out turns into a totally different person without any lead up.
If such insight into Cloriolanus' youth was an absolute necessity, it should've be satisfied as a short story rather than a very ponderous and unsteady novel.
As a side note, the Covey and all it's members are really lazy stereotypes of groups of people perpetually stuck with those stereotypes. There was a bit of that in the original trilogy - this sort of patronising, voyeuristic romanticism about District 12 - that devolves into total caricature. Coming from the region District 13 is based on, it's the caricature we always get assigned and it is such an offensive attitude to take.
The final nail in the coffin is the reader. For a book that revolves around music, they could have at least found a reader with some musicality to their voice.
All in all, it turned out to be a bit worse than I expected it to be.
The thing about recon prequels is that most of the time they're stories that just don't need to be told. This is no exception.
It's obvious that Collins doesn't know what to do with this character or this plot. There are incredibly long passages of so much inaction that even the characters complain that nothing is happening.
As far as the characters go, there's no consistency at all, and one even just flat-out turns into a totally different person without any lead up.
If such insight into Cloriolanus' youth was an absolute necessity, it should've be satisfied as a short story rather than a very ponderous and unsteady novel.
As a side note, the Covey and all it's members are really lazy stereotypes of groups of people perpetually stuck with those stereotypes. There was a bit of that in the original trilogy - this sort of patronising, voyeuristic romanticism about District 12 - that devolves into total caricature. Coming from the region District 13 is based on, it's the caricature we always get assigned and it is such an offensive attitude to take.
The final nail in the coffin is the reader. For a book that revolves around music, they could have at least found a reader with some musicality to their voice.
All in all, it turned out to be a bit worse than I expected it to be.