The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating —> 4.5 Stars rounded^

Okay so— unpopular opinion time, I guess ?

Even though this absolutely broke my heart, I knew what was coming. A happy ending type of tale, this is not, my friends. This fact is something you must be prepared for, to enjoy this novel. As I read, anxiety increasingly built up in my heart & the knot in my chest became bigger & more tightly wound. The further on in the book that I was, the more a semi-good natured young man turned into something considerably more sinister.

A huge price one pays, indeed, for power...

Despite this, I thought that it was an absolutely brilliantly woven tale; It is the perfect story of man to monster for one Coriolanus Snow, a tyrant if there ever was one, that we all (well, most of us anyway— can’t speak for everyone) have loved to despise for a very long time.

My heart truly WAS shattered; I just didn’t expect this to hurt so very much. I really liked Coriolanus at one point, & almost felt badly for him. That changed considerably as the novel progressed. Although I must say, even when he was unlikeable, he was somehow, sometimes, still likeable?

My hopes for Snow to keep some humanity and goodness were squashed time & time again by my own remembrance of where things had to be heading. But that barely comes into play in my rating, because again... where else was there to go but down, morally, for Snow? The novel consistently kept me guessing though; Even as the novel was reaching its end, I truly had absolutely no clue how things would play out or what the path that Coriolanus was heading down looked like ATALL, to become the President Snow we are familiar with. He constantly was making choices that really could have multiple intentions behind, and it was just always ambiguous for me, until it was revealed that it wasn’t. There are still things at this moment that I do not know the real motivation behind.

It really says something that I kept pondering the outcome & hoping that goodness would in some way prevail come the end. Does he have any in him? That is for you to decide, once you reach the end. I don’t want to spoil things with my answer. Plus this tale truly leaves you wondering— I have been lost in thought ever since turning that very last page.

The only complaint I have is the lack of actual information on the thoughts of certain characters regarding Coriolanus’ choices, a certain character or two in particular, and what had become of them come the end of the book.

Overall— highly recommend, and I went into this thinking ‘ugh, why would I want to read about President Snow’? Turns out, I really, really did. Sure he’s a bit inherently unlikeable, lol, but I like morally grey characters. I was positively glued to it. I hope that you are as well. Another brilliant work from Collins!