The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

2.5

Honestly this book was just OK. I didn't feel connected to the characters in any way and I was bored throughout the book. It felt rushed and didn't bring any new world building for me personally. I am glad I read it since I have a little background/context for some things Snow did but I could have gone without it.

President Snow reminds me of [a:Elmore Leonard 12940 Elmore Leonard https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1240015224p2/12940.jpg]'s bad guys. He gives you the kind of detail into their inner workings that although you may not like them, you do understand their reasonings. Since I'm not fond of him, it's hard to get enthusiastic about his biography. And I'm more sensitive to negativity and gruesomeness now, than I most likely was when I read the series.

I felt like a lot of people about this book going into it: I did not want to read Snow's hard childhood sob story, designed to have the reader sympathize with the poor misunderstood villain.

Coriolanus Snow, son of a once rich and influential family that was left penniless by the war, is not an awful evil person, but he is also not a nice person turned bad by his circumstances. He is a self-absorbed, selfish boy too focused on his own problems to consider the feelings and lives of the people around him. He has small inklings of guilt but is ultimately too comfortable to do anything about it. This makes him a very realistic and gripping character and I enjoyed witnessing his personality subtly change over the course of the story a lot.

The book is not for everyone though. The actual games (usually my favorite part) were underwhelming to me, watching them from the outside through Snow is just not as gripping.
The book is also paced very oddly, and I had a hard time actually investing myself in the story, the plot mostly just sort of chugs along with very little tension.

I didn't hate it; I think Snow is characterized very well and getting to know more about the origins of the hunger games was cool but didn't enjoy it very much either.

DNF at 18%.

This is just not it and my reason will not be what you think it is.
You could assume I have an issue with the concept of humanising President Snow. And here I am, about to say the wild stuff; I had no issue with young Snow. He is actually the only tolerable character, plus his Nice Boy classmate. I can't stand the female characters Susan Collins writes. Lucy is a freaking Manic Pixie Dream Girl, with annoying quirky antics. Katniss was the “she doesn't know she is literally amazing” and now we get this??
I'm probably way too old for this. No matter how bloody it gets, how brutal, this is still a teenage romance and I am so done with perfect quicky girls singing songs on television.

Personally I'm unsure on what to think.

The ending was so rushed and nonsensical. I thought it was a big let down. Also, in general, somethings worked better without a backstory. This book revealed too much about some of the backstory in The Hunger Games and it wasn't necessary and removed some of the interesting parts of it. For example, we didn't have to learn about the origins of ‘The Hanging Tree'. A bit too on the nose. Speaking of which, the ire Snow had with Mockingbirds unnecessarily was mad - way toooo much. Its just a fucking bird. It felt uncharacteristic.

However, I didn't hate read this as I thought I might considering everyone else's opinion. So.... Theres that. Hunger Games is still a fave tho.

Snow lands on top.

This book is during some parts almost ‘boring'
There's no glamour or grand entrance. There is just a city broken by a war and whose hunger games are really not that big yet.
Snow, just eighteen here, and his classmates are assigned to be mentors to the tributes and from the start its clear these are not the hunger games like we know them.
Tributes are dead before they even get to the arena. Tributes are locked away in a zoo and no one to care about them. No one is actually watching the games and classmates talk about how the bad the games are actually, a lot.
But while Snow agrees, it's clear he actually thinks the games are fine. He likes control, wants it, most importantly: needs it and the hunger games give control to the capitol. Make it so, chaos will never ensue. And when chaos does break out: snow doesn't like it one bit. He doesn't like the mockingjays (who are mocking nature by his own words) and basically he doesn't like things he can't understand and in the end: he leaves them.
He takes control, make it so he is the one in control. Killed his friend. Left his lover (who left him? betrayed him? where did she go? where is she now?)
This book is philosophical and rhetorical about the means of war, violence and control. It's a lot about control. The creator of the hunger games confesses he hated the idea and had wanted to rip it, but by means out of his control his idea was put to action.
A lot of the action is near the end of the book and the first 300 pages can be a bit boring or less interesting if you're more into action packed books but if you enjoy character studies and lore it's a very interesting books and gives you another view onto the hunger games.

The Hunger Games is possibly one of my favorite franchises/series to exist. I remember when I was in the seventh grade (nearly a decade ago!) beginning the trilogy. I remember watching Catching Fire in the movies with my best friend and watching Mocking Jay part 1 with my dad. Good times :)

This prequel has me slightly over the fence. The beginning felt slow, the romance towards the end felt unnecessary and stretched out. The middle, once the Games start, is what I found to be the most influential part. Actual commentary as the Hunger Games should be. I shed tears over most of the tributes and also for best boy Sejanus when he was hanged. Cory on the other hand can choke. But I already felt that way when I finished Mockingjay when I was in 8th grade and this prequel supports those feelings.

Lucy Gray was meh and so was the Dean. Dr. Gaul was kinda cool in a mad scientist way and side character Festus is also best boy along with Sejanus. Cory having his own little Hunger Games moment towards the end with his love was exhilarating and provided a parallel to Katniss and Peeta. I also enjoyed the little “Easter eggs” that hint towards the trilogy, they made me happy.


For my last remark I have to say that the book was too long and certain scenes and moments could've been left out or shortened and reading the last 100 pages was difficult as I felt the romance drag out the book, but nevertheless I enjoyed the book.


Also: would've preferred a book on the first rebellion, life before Panem, how Panem came to be, or even a book on Haymitch's Quarter Quell! Way more interesting than Snow >:(

Wow, this book was SO hard to get into! I had to FORCE myself just to read 10 pages every night and, I can't lie, I finally just gave up and read some spoilers. And I'm pretty happy I did because the ending was altogether disappointing as well.

There were some things I liked about the book, like having it told from Coriolanus' point o fview. When we were first introduced to him, I was generally surprised that he seemed like such a “nice” guy and I was intrigued to see his fall from grace into villainy. However, all of this just seemed to get lost in his generally muddled thoughts and just left me confused. He is presented as this super smart, logical-to-the-point-of-cold guy (as we see him later in the Hunger games series) yet, his thoughts come across as meandering and pointless.

I wish I could have loved this, but I couldn't even finish it.

One never quite knows what to expect when returning to a universe a few years removed. Additionally, writing about someone we know in a fashion is a special challenge. In my opinion, Collins rises to the task.

I was guessing throughout the book, enjoying the new directions the story goes. It feels strange to have any positive or empathetic feelings the known protagonist in the future, which is a complement to the storytelling.

The forces and influences that push and pull at us work to shape our views and the choices we make, steering our direction. Sometimes people find themselves envious of what another has while the other wishes for the life of the other. The wrestling match in our souls as we struggle to find our ways in this life are quite dramatic. I see this played out in this book. Knowing the reality of this struggle helps us see and understand those influences.

Dit moet wel 5 sterren krijgen! Het was zo goed! Er zijn zoveel dingen van de Hungergames die in dit boek duidelijk worden. Hoe de spelen is ontstaan, het lied van district 12, de zangvogels en nog veel meer. Alles is zo goed doordacht en uitgewerkt, echt niet normaal.
Het onderdeel dat hij in dienst ging vond ik eerst maar niks, maar uiteindelijk leer je de reden waarom hij daar (echt) heengaat en het is zo goed. Ik het begin kon ik me ook niet voorstellen hoe Snow kon worden zoals hij in de hungergames triologie is, want hij was zo anders hier. Maar aan het eind van het boek kan ik me voorstellen hoe hij tot de Snow is gevormd zoals we hem allemaal kennen

I am taking some time to think about this book after finishing it write something more thoughtful about it. For now, I will say the book is good but doesn't live up to my expectations mainly because of pacing during the beginning of Parts 2 and 3. In these sections, it felt like there wasn't much purpose to the plot.

Understanding that I am not to ever like Coriolanus Snow, I went into this book open-minded otherwise. Getting a glimpse into his twisted brain and the events that contributed to his rise to power and drive to do what he did in the main portion of the series. As much as I hate and loathe Snow, it was fascinating to learn of his background and get insight into the background and development of the Games. Worth a read!

This is a hard book to rate, I really loved the hunger games as teen, and remember them fondly, this one wasn't as good. I really like the idea of learning the history of Panem and how the hunger games came to be and what not but I think following the guy who would become president Snow is a confusing choice, we all know who he is so it not really a surprise the things he does. Plus some of the stuff that I was excited to learn about ended up just feeling like fan service instead of thoughtful plot. Gets a 3.75 from me.

Just like my experience with the Hunger Games trilogy, I was only fascinated with the parts involving the Game in this book. The final 30% of the book dragged a bit but overall, it was another page-turner. I even found myself rooting for President Snow at times despite his manipulative nature. Everyone thinks they are the “good man” in their own story.

while i do not think this was as good as the other books in THG trilogy, it definitely added to the world! it's so interesting to see snow just as a normal person. it wasn't exactly the villain origin story i was expecting, but i do think it's a realistic one. this book didn't validate his action in THG trilogy at all thankfully, but it definitely shows how power and notoriety were his biggest goals. sorry to break it to u snow, but when the dust settled at the end of mockingjay snow did NOT end up on top :/

This book was slow for me. I think it was hard for me to get into because I was prepared the whole time for Snow to be terrible and for it not to work out with Lucy Gray. I loved Tigris and Dr. Gaul. I realized that I had actually gotten into the book and Coryo's mind when I was almost relieved that Sejanus was caught. He was stressing me out. I liked that we got to see Snow's step into poisoning and I loved that it made so much sense why he hated Katniss so much. Everything that she was reminded him of Lucy Gray. He knew Lucy had left him when she went out to pick katniss bulbs, Katniss sings the song Lucy Gray wrote about Billy Taupe, Katniss is the plucky longshot girl tribute from district 12 who gets everyone's attention and love, and her symbol is the mockingjay bird that he hates. I watched the movie right after finishing the book and I loved the casting. Lucy Gray was perfect. Some of the changes they made for the movie pissed me off though. Book Snow thought he was doing the right thing the entire time and that spoke to how he became the evil character in the trilogy. Movie Snow was making evil decisions from the get and it changed how his character came across completely. I was mostly pissed about the erasure of Ma and Clemmie. Other things like ending the games with the snake scene and having cameras in the tunnels was fine. Having Lucky played by Jason Schwartzman was the best decision they made by far. I hated book Lucky. Overall, I don't feel like this book was necessary, but I'm not mad about reading it.

I don't know if it is the state of the world, or the unlikeable protagonist, but I did not enjoy this book like I did the original trilogy. It was pretty well written, albeit wayyyy longer than needed and oddly paced, but terribly depressing. Insight into Snow? I guess, but not compelling enough to merit an entire (long) novel. Overall it feels like an attempt to milk the popularity of the series for one last time, which I suppose it achieved.