The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Summary:
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. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
This book was compelling, but difficult to categorize given the main character is Coriolanus Snow and most readers will know how he turns out in the main Hunger Games series. This novel is completely different than the others in the universe and is much more contemplative about instincts and human nature. There is a lot of ambiguity in the story as well, which I think some people will hate as it doesn’t wrap everything up in a bow. Did we ever really get to know Lucy Gray? I’m not sure. Instead, we have a few odd dynamics that build up into terrible decisions that cannot be reversed. The ending did feel rushed to me (looking at reviews it seems like a lot of people agree with that), when the rest of the book was a little more reflective and meandering in its unwrapping of the history. One more oddity of the book was the timing of the release – the Hunger Games came out quite a long time ago so it’s a little hard to reset and swing back to that world.
Warning: Contains repeated violence
Rating: 4 stars!
Who should read it? Folks intrigued about more of the Hunger Games world.
Want to read the whole series? Prequel to the Hunger Games series by a few decades, but can be read as a standalone.