Review by marthadude - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

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marthadude 's review for:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

4.25

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Before reading, I really didn’t think this book was going to be necessary and I didn’t think Snow’s origin story would be worth telling. After reading I think this book is a great addition to the series even if it’s not required reading. It was interesting to see how the world of The Hunger Games evolved from this into the one we see during the main series.

I’m also glad Snow was not made into a sympathetic character. That was a concern of mine and, while Snow is interesting here, he is still incredibly deplorable. It’s also fun that even though he is cunning and great at manipulation, he’s actually pretty stupid at points.

There’s definitely more threads I would have liked to seen just from the original books. I also wouldn’t have been opposed to seeing more of Snow’s career as he ages and becomes more powerful but I guess there could be another sequel.

Content Warnings