The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

ok I know when this was announced I saw a big wave of backlash that was like, “A prequel about President Snow? Ugh so tired of these villain redemption arcs for white men” and like on one hand, yes for sure in general sick of that. On the other hand though it felt reductive to me to expect that Suzanne Collins would write that story when she's shown herself so capable of nuance.

Anyway I don't think this book in any way attempts to excuse the shitty adult human Coriolanus Snow became, even as it shows the culture and family that created him–it also shows other people who were raised in that same culture who chose to do better. Like if anyone actually reads this book and thinks “ugh another villain redemption story” I'm worried about them tbh.

Again I just love the worldbuilding of this series and how clearly well thought-out it is and how much you can extrapolate from the bits and pieces we get.

A few spoiler-y thoughts:- omg where is the TIGRIS book tho!! - the whole thing with the snakes was like...... contrived enough to make me squint but then IDK maybe from the start it was somehow an elaborate trap set by Dr. Gaul who was legit terrifying?- maybe those are my only thoughts, IDK I thought I had more

well bye I read this book all in one day because I couldn't put it down!!

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2023 re-read for the podcast
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-230-the-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes/

guess what, I loved this even more when I re-read it and I am now upgrading it from 4 to 5 stars because of things I appreciated more when I re-read and knew what was to come