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A review by bookforthought
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I hadn't planned on reading this when it first came out, as I'm generally skeptical about prequels. Then, after a Hunger Games re-read this year as part of a reading challenge, I got curious and thought to check this out - thanks in no small part to the fact that Santino Fontana narrated the audiobook. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes isn't a fantastic book, but it is entertaining and introspective, and just generally much better than I expected it to be. It was really interesting to follow Snow's point of view in his youth, to see how he might grow up to become the ruthless president we all love to hate. One thing that actually had surprised me on my HG re-read was how I remembered him being so much more present than he truly was, a sure sign of a memorable villain who permeated the trilogy without actually appearing for very long at all. So, it was fascinating for me to spend more time with him.
Coriolanus Snow isn't likeable - at all - and as a character isn't terribly complex either, driven as he is solely by a desire to succeed and restore his family's former glory, power and - above all - money. He is extremely self-centred makes some terrible choices; following his reasonings is truly unpleasant but I liked that this isn't an attempt at rehabilitation. At no point in the book is it suggested that we should somehow excuse his behaviour: the best we readers can hope to do is to understand it, but there is no salvation in sight.
I was particularly worried about the romance, but again I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is little space for doubt in the relationship between Snow and Lucy Gray: what he claims to be love is only further desire for power, a wish to control and possess a free spirit.
As with the original trilogy, none of the themes touched upon here are particularly subtle - and this extremely toxic behaviour is no exception - but as this is essentially aimed at a younger audience I won't count it against the book. It was also much more introspective than I anticipated, with several reflections veering more towards philosophical musings on human nature and social contracts. Again, not particularly deep and sometimes slightly too on-the-nose (I fully expected certain characters to start quoting The Leviathan at some point) but still a pleasant addition to the universe. I can fully see why some readers who loved the original trilogy might have been disappointed by this one, as the action is very limited and the time spent in the arena was - for me at least - probably the most boring part.
The secondary characters are fairly weak here. As far as Capitol inhabitants go, there are just too many characters who seem to have no distinctive traits whatsoever. By the halfway mark I still couldn't tell the difference between the different mentors - nor the tributes to be honest. The ones who do get some more space for development are fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, archetypes more than fully fledged characters in their own right. Lucy Gray and Sejanus particularly could have benefited from further development, and I was sorry not to see them gain some of the complexity their characters could have had.
There are multiple elements connecting back to the original trilogy which serve to further understanding (I particularly enjoyed unveiling hints to the origins of Snow's instant hatred of Katniss) or add context to the world, although at times they seemed just a tad too many - fan-service more than real development. The world also isn't particularly built upon in this book, so I expect that if anyone were to approach this universe starting here they would probably have trouble orienting themselves.
Where the book really had issues for me though was in the pacing, which feels all over the place. It started strong, then slowed down considerably, then rushed back at the end... I basically had whiplash. There were also too many repetitions, which really didn't help and made the narrative drag a lot. As far as the audio narration goes, I enjoyed Santino Fontana's interpretation, but really can't understand why they had him recite the song lyrics instead of actually singing them. Having the lyrics just there interrupted the flow and was - again - deeply repetitive most of the time, while having the actual music would have really helped to lend them more emotion, as it had in the HG audios narrated by Tatiana Maslany. I'm truly baffled as to why one would hire a singer to narrate a book featuring multiple songs and not make him sing... Anyway, that's just my opinion!
Overall, this was better than I expected it to be but still had a lot of issues. I am still glad I read it though, and I will look forward to reading the next book when it releases!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes isn't a fantastic book, but it is entertaining and introspective, and just generally much better than I expected it to be. It was really interesting to follow Snow's point of view in his youth, to see how he might grow up to become the ruthless president we all love to hate. One thing that actually had surprised me on my HG re-read was how I remembered him being so much more present than he truly was, a sure sign of a memorable villain who permeated the trilogy without actually appearing for very long at all. So, it was fascinating for me to spend more time with him.
Coriolanus Snow isn't likeable - at all - and as a character isn't terribly complex either, driven as he is solely by a desire to succeed and restore his family's former glory, power and - above all - money. He is extremely self-centred makes some terrible choices; following his reasonings is truly unpleasant but I liked that this isn't an attempt at rehabilitation. At no point in the book is it suggested that we should somehow excuse his behaviour: the best we readers can hope to do is to understand it, but there is no salvation in sight.
I was particularly worried about the romance, but again I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is little space for doubt in the relationship between Snow and Lucy Gray: what he claims to be love is only further desire for power, a wish to control and possess a free spirit.
As with the original trilogy, none of the themes touched upon here are particularly subtle - and this extremely toxic behaviour is no exception - but as this is essentially aimed at a younger audience I won't count it against the book. It was also much more introspective than I anticipated, with several reflections veering more towards philosophical musings on human nature and social contracts. Again, not particularly deep and sometimes slightly too on-the-nose (I fully expected certain characters to start quoting The Leviathan at some point) but still a pleasant addition to the universe. I can fully see why some readers who loved the original trilogy might have been disappointed by this one, as the action is very limited and the time spent in the arena was - for me at least - probably the most boring part.
The secondary characters are fairly weak here. As far as Capitol inhabitants go, there are just too many characters who seem to have no distinctive traits whatsoever. By the halfway mark I still couldn't tell the difference between the different mentors - nor the tributes to be honest. The ones who do get some more space for development are fairly stereotypical and one-dimensional, archetypes more than fully fledged characters in their own right. Lucy Gray and Sejanus particularly could have benefited from further development, and I was sorry not to see them gain some of the complexity their characters could have had.
There are multiple elements connecting back to the original trilogy which serve to further understanding (I particularly enjoyed unveiling hints to the origins of Snow's instant hatred of Katniss) or add context to the world, although at times they seemed just a tad too many - fan-service more than real development. The world also isn't particularly built upon in this book, so I expect that if anyone were to approach this universe starting here they would probably have trouble orienting themselves.
Where the book really had issues for me though was in the pacing, which feels all over the place. It started strong, then slowed down considerably, then rushed back at the end... I basically had whiplash. There were also too many repetitions, which really didn't help and made the narrative drag a lot. As far as the audio narration goes, I enjoyed Santino Fontana's interpretation, but really can't understand why they had him recite the song lyrics instead of actually singing them. Having the lyrics just there interrupted the flow and was - again - deeply repetitive most of the time, while having the actual music would have really helped to lend them more emotion, as it had in the HG audios narrated by Tatiana Maslany. I'm truly baffled as to why one would hire a singer to narrate a book featuring multiple songs and not make him sing... Anyway, that's just my opinion!
Overall, this was better than I expected it to be but still had a lot of issues. I am still glad I read it though, and I will look forward to reading the next book when it releases!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Sexual assault