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

dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

We go into this story knowing Snow is morally corrupt and capable of great evil from the previous hunger games. Making him our protagonist is a twisted choice for collins and gives the reader a long struggle of battling between sympathizing with him and fearing what path leads him to evil tyranny. But it’s a very on-brand type of somehow enjoyable mental torture written by someone clever enough and sick enough to think of the hunger games to begin with. I was engaged during the whole book and the ending was just as interesting yet frustrating. The death (or lack there of) of Lucy Gray Baird perfectly parallel to the ghost story ballad by which she was named, Leaves the reader frustrated to not know what happened to her, but one cannot deny the sick clever use a foreshadowing in the song. Overall, this book felt like watching a very selfish young Snow grasp to any power and fortune he could; all while getting extremely lucky despite what many would see as him being deserving of bad karma. (Betraying him only friend of course) It makes me glad that his karma came baring the name Katniss, the very thing his lover left to retrieve before he betrayed her too. The reader of the audiobook was drab BUT he encapsulated the boring, morally sick, Snow boy whose only personality was clinging to a family legacy and stollen power. And since most of the story was from his perspective and within his personal thoughts, I found the way he read was fitting. 
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