Reviews with content warning for Murder - Balada șerpilor și a păsărilor cântătoare

Suzanne Collins has succeeded in painting a convincing and disturbing portrait of young Coriolanus Snow - deeply suspicious, self-absorbed, conniving and undoubtedly dangerous from the beginning. The tale of Lucy-Grey Baird is woven neatly into the Hunger Games universe, leading us back to the first building block of the second revolution and the girl who prompted the games to become increasingly horrifying spectacles.

I am always sceptical of prequels in an era where they are often used largely as cash-grabs which compromise quality to capitalise on fandom culture, but Collins pleasantly surprised me with a demonstration of her craft that succeeded in reinstating my Hunger Games brainrot.

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fairymoo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ladywhiskers's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The best example of an unreliable narrator I've read recently.

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literalhedgehog's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Susanne Collins is a genius.
I was captivated, this book sucked me in the same way the rest of the series did. I also LOVE the fact that I Hated the main character. It’s a hard balance, writing a first person pov from the antagonist of another series- it’s their point of view so you have to have them make sense of the actions they are taking, but I feel like that puts the main character at a risk of being likable. Not the case here! I understood Snow, and saw his motives. But I also saw all the places he could have done better and didn’t! It’s part of the reason I was able to finish the ebook version of this novel but not the audiobook one- with the audiobook I was TOO in his head.

I really want to discuss some of the symbols I caught at the end- the compass and the poem!!!! Omg just, is this a book for the youths, yes. But is it a literary art form??? VERY MUCH SO.

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serenephedra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A really enjoyable read and a great precurser to the beloved Hunger Games series. Unfortunately, the main action finishes half-way through the book and I found myself having to power through the rest of it as I was losing interest.

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