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

4.0

I guess not everyone loves this instalment, or they find it lacking in the thrill and action of the Hunger Games trilogy, but I actually found it a really interesting examination of how cruel, powerful people get to where they are and the decisions that lead up to such a hardening of the heart. To me, it was a perfect and very plausible and nearly understandable ascension to "evil" that felt a bit like the frog in the ever-warming pot on the stove, where before you know it you're reading the narrative of a perfectly cruel and merciless, power-hungry man who started out as a reasonably sympathetic teenage boy caring for his family and crushing on a new girl.