Stephanie's Review of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)

by Suzanne Collins

Ambition will fuel him.

Competition will drive him.

But power has its price.
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth
annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 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 outmaneuvre 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
favour 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.

Three
books, four films and one WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON, The
Hunger Games changed the face of global YA.

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter

Who isn't reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins right now? I read it because it filled a prompt for my TBR Monopoly and I was very curious if lightning strikes twice. I'm sad to report that it didn't for me.

I was in love with this concept. It's 10 years after the end of the war and people are starting to heal....which means forgiving and if not necessarily forgetting. There are some in the Capital who cannot stand the thought of moving on. No one is interested in the games and the message that the Capital rules all is not being received in the Districts.

That's where Corolinus Snow and the rest of the seniors in his class step in. It's their job to mentor the tributes and make the 10th anniversary something to remember.

I thought the premise was great but man was this book is a lot of pages for what didn't seem like much of a story. If I had never read The Hunger Games and started this book first I would have given up. I think it's an interesting addition for fans but really could have been about 100 pages shorter. I really did like learning about the changes and everything that happened back then and I loved the new characters. It wasn't enough though.

I could have gone without reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins but with the audiobook that I borrowed from the library it only took 2 days so I'm happy with that. It was a very middle of the road experience for me.

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

by Suzanne Collins

Reviewed by Stephanie on Jun 2, 2020

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