Book Review – The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Book Details
Genre: Dystopia
Series: The Hunger Games, #0
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 5/19/2020
Pages: 540

Goodreads Synopsis –

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

My Opinion –

A little background here before I get to my review of this book. I read the original Hunger Games trilogy and loved it! To be more specific I loved the first two and thought the third was good, but not great. I enjoyed all three movies and thought book three made a much better movie than book. I am sure I was not alone in my surprise when I learned that a prequel was on its way. I was initially excited and yet had my reservations. What intrigued me most about this book was that it was about Coriolanus Snow. I thought it could be fun to get inside his head and see what makes him tick!

While I read the original series, this time around I decided to listen to it. This alone gave me a much different experience. I was extremely excited to learn more about Coriolanus Snow. I wanted to learn where he came from, what he was like in his younger years, and what made him so jaded?

Now for the big question – did this book live up to the original series? I ended up enjoying this book, but not loving it. My hunch is that the audio format helped to lift this story and gave it a bit more life. I found it very interesting to learn more about the capital, its people, and the games from the POV of the mentors. I thought Coriolanus Snow was a very interesting character and I enjoyed learning his backstory and how he helped to shape the games.

Do I think you should read this book? I do! While, in my opinion, it is more insightful than entertaining, compared to the original trilogy, it is still a good read.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

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