Review by hilareeads - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

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hilareeads 's review for:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

2.75

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I had high hopes for this one. I really wanted it to show us Snow's climb to his cold, malevolent, charming demeanor. What we got was a disjointed two-part book. He was really humanized in the beginning. I did want him to be with Lucy, and I did like him as a character. He was definitely already the charming part of himself. But, I didn't see any flashes of the power-hungry monster come through. We needed glimpses of that, little flits of that side of him, almost to the point where we go, wait, did we see that? As if we thought we saw a red flag, but then he composed himself, so we convinced ourselves we didn't (except we kept it tucked away in the back of our minds). Sure, he said some things to people that seemed elitist and a little pompous, but he never said or did anything that led us to believe he would turn into President Snow until the very end. Where was the slow descent into madness? Where was the dark side of him in the first 90% of the book? He was in love and a good guy for a majority of the story, and then all of a sudden he's trying to kill someone? It didn't really make sense. Obviously, it's still an enjoyable read, though. And obviously it made its mark!

Content Warnings