The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)

lucy gray i love you

Easily the weakest book of the Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes an interesting premise yet fails to deliver. The story revolves around a young Coriolanus Snow slowly feeding into his ambition at the expense of compassion. A welcome change from the action packed original trilogy, as this book was definitely more psychological, however the slow spiral into cruelty and cheating felt rather forced. What seemed to be a strong bond between Coriolanus and Lucy Gray all of a sudden collapsed as Coriolanus was provided with an out, something that surprised me as there seemed to be a multitude of alternatives to how he could have handled the situation. The Hunger Games itself definitely gave off the vibe of raw and still within its early stages, an interesting insight into how the games started off, not with intricate arenas and grandeur. The setting and early establishment of the games is what carried this book for me. I found it very interesting to see how early tributes were treated in comparison to the likes of Katniss in the original trilogy. It was more so the relationships that took away from the immersion. Coriolanus and Tigris were very close, and that somehow deteriorated, the same goes for Coriolanus and Lucy Gray. In essence, the early Capitol proved to be a deeply flawed society, struggling to gain viewership for an event that few wanted to witness, slowly improving on the spectacle year on year, something that really intrigued me. This intrigue faltered however with the characters, bland and evil for evils sake.

A full book would’ve been nice.

A fascinating look into the deeply cruel mind of the future President Snow. Lucy Gray and Sejanus gave me hope for humanity before everything came crashing down. I loved this glance into the Gamemaker’s side of the Games and the excuses people use to terrorize others. I’m planning to reread it right after I finish writing this. :)

Scary but very interesting

i’m here, i’m there, i’m everywhere but you can’t catch me now

Really enjoyed this book! The character development was very well done and somewhat unexpected. Can’t wait to watch the movie now.

Awesome! The development of Snow over the course of the story is both sympathetic and chilling, and the story is extremely well written. I read many books, but this is one of those few I would come back to time and again.

It was good but hated the ending. Should of had more explanation

Complex characters and plot twists. Makes you think of nurture vs. nature