Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication date: May 19, 2020

Barnes and Noble | IndieBound | Goodreads

Summary

The 10th annual Hunger Games are about to begin, and Coriolanus Snow gets to be one of the Games first mentors. As a new educational program at the Academy in the Capitol, him and his fellow classmates are going to coach the new tributes. Snow is excited; this is his chance to prove himself and restore his family’s glory.

At least, that’s what he thinks until he’s assigned the girl tribute from District 12. The District who never has a chance at winning the Games. In order to restore his family’s name, he must figure out what he’s willing to do in order to ensure that he–and his tribute–end up on top. His decisions might just change the future of the Games forever.

Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

This is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. So, no one is surprised that I basically read this entire book in a day, despite the fact that it’s 500 pages. While I was excited about this book, I was also a bit hesitant about it. A book about Snow? Did that mean we were going to get a redemption story for him? I can answer that question now: no. This in no way shape or form is a redemption story for Snow, meaning that there are parts of this book that are incredibly hard to read. But I guess the same is true for The Hunger Games, right?

At the heart, this is a novel about Snow’s life and rise to power. However, it’s also a lot about how Panem got to where it was in the original trilogy. In this book, the Capitol is still struggling after the war, desperately trying to figure out how to move forward. You can definitely feel the tension between the Districts and the Capitol growing, which isn’t helped by the Hunger Games. Collins writing is still on point, even if the subject matter isn’t something we’re all excited to read about.

Positives

The history in this novel is probably my favorite part. At this point, the Hunger Games are a far cry from the spectacle that they’ve become in Katniss’s time. The tributes are basically treated like prisoners (but not lavish prisoners like Katniss and the others). They’re starved, kept in cages, basically treated like animals. However, there are moments where we see some of the elements we’re familiar with start to creep in: gifts to the tributes in the arena, mentors, and television interviews.

While you could read this book before reading The Hunger Games, there are a lot of connections and references to the original books that you’d miss. As someone who is familiar with The Hunger Games, I can’t say whether or not some of the events would be difficult to follow. But there were parts that felt more rewarding because there were referencing things that happened in the original books. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind more historical Panem books like this. Give me a story about Haymitch, please!

Negatives

Snow is a terrible person. We saw this again and again in the original books, and we see it here too. Yes, his family is struggling after the war, not being able to find food and almost getting kicked out of their apartment (side note: there’s a main character in this book that we also see in Mockingjay who is a part of Snow’s family). It’s clear from his actions that Snow will do absolutely anything to restore his family’s name. Which means that some of these actions are difficult to read.

His narrative voice also wasn’t my favorite thing. One of my favorite things about The Hunger Games is Katniss’s snarky commentary. Her voice adds something to the story. For me, Snow’s voice felt flat a lot of the time, almost like he was trying to stay polished and proper. It fit his character, it just wasn’t something that I could connect to. There’s also a bit of a romance, which felt out of place for me in terms of his character. From what we know about him, it just didn’t feel like it fit with the story.

Overall Thoughts

I think I’ll be sticking to my original rating for this book. It’s cleverly written with a lot of Easter eggs for those that are familiar with the original books. Though it’s dark and Snow is a bit difficult to swallow, I’m happy with how this book contributes to the original universe. It’s an interesting look at motivations and how some power structures get put into place. Division! Division is key in making Panem the way that it is. I think there will be division on this book as more people read it, but I’m happy with the way it turned out.

4/5 stars