Darth Vader. Severus Snape. Wicked Witch of the West. So is this book here to show us the tragic slide into villainy, the horror of the circumstances and the Games that eats away at you and taints you until there is not much left?
Or is this just a case of innate sociopathy, an early glimpse of the soul that thrives on cruelty? I think this book will alienate quite a few of Hunger Games fans. You see, it was easy to root for Katniss pitted against the ridiculous brutality of her world. But The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes makes it impossible to root for its protagonist because he is the ultimate antagonist, because we know what he will become.
Coriolanus Snow cannot be redeemed. I like that Snow is not a born sociopath. He is bright but unlikeable, ambitious, resentful, conceited and very entitled, with capacity for manipulation and ruthlessness. He is slippery like the titular snakes. But he has some humanity in him - capacity for friendship, capacity for love, capacity to care and even a degree of sacrifice. The problem is the choices that he decides to make - the choices fueled by his over-developed self-preservation instinct which is by definition selfish.
Unable to hurt him anymore. The security that could only come with power. The ability to control things. No surprise he is behind the whole concept of Hunger Games as a mandatory sickening voyeristic pageantry spectacle. Just as we do now. Snow wants Lucy, wants to possess her, wants her to be his — and wants it only as far as it suits his comfort.
Even that sanctimonious Sejanus believed she was something he could trade for. With her song, Lucy Gray had repudiated all that by featuring a life that had nothing to do with him, and a great deal to do with someone else. And while he had no claim on her heart — he barely knew the girl!
Although the song had been a clear success, he felt somehow betrayed by it. Even humiliated. There is only understanding which at least for me led to even more repulsion. Because he saw a path that Katniss eventually took — and instead forged his own, the easier one, the one of cruel overcompensation for almost not taking it. But I am glad I read it. Now I can reread The Hunger Games trilogy with new eyes, understanding the underpinnings of that horror show better.
The best and the brightest humanity had to offer. View all 85 comments. Me: So what do you like to do for fun? TBoSaS: Cabbage soup. Me: Uh huh. TBoSaS: Roman names. TBoSaS: Hobbies? Me: You know, things that give your life meaning. TBoSaS: Oh. Me: Yeah. TBoSaS: Does hating on the poors and being surprised that they have feelings count? Me: This date is over. Even though a prequel with Coriolanus Snow seemed a bit like a cash grab, I was still willing to put down a "soul of my firstborn" down payment to get my grabby little hands on a copy of this book because I love a good villain origin story.
Keyword: good. I think the problem here is that it feels so impersonal and boring. The first three books were all narrated in first person and had tautly written action scenes so everything felt very in the moment and urgent. We see the Capitol from Katniss's eyes as this glittering bacchanalia of conspicuous consumption while she and her people are literally starving and she is horrified that she has to compete to the death for the entertainment of these awful people who don't care whether she lives or dies as long as she puts on a good show.
Children, for these people, are just another commodity. Here, it doesn't really work. We already know that the Capitol looks down on the other districts. Seeing Coriolanus bitch and moan about being in genteel poverty while in the same breath whining about how his mentoring Tribute is from the grodiest district doesn't really add anything new to the narrative.
And it doesn't help that Lucy Gray is a manic pixie dreamgirl who literally arrives on stage in a frilly ruffled dress, singing stupid songs that take up waaaaay too much of the page count. And if I heard Coriolanus talk about his fecking cabbage soup one more time. I can't. I just can't. RIP my untarnished memories of the original series, because this bloated page mess crapped all over it. I think the author would have been better off writing about the first Hunger Games, or one of the games that took place in extreme conditions like the arctic one , or maybe about a more sympathetic character, like Haymitch or Finnick.
I would LOVE to read about Haymitch or Finnick's competitions in the Games and seeing how they got to be the fucked up and jaded individuals that they were in the books. That is the kind of subtle darkness that I expected from the series.
I wish it had panned out with this one, but I was mostly just really, really bored. Date over. View all comments. I feel absolutely drained by this book. What a chore this book was! I now understand the disappointed and outraged reviews of others who read it first, but what I don't understand is how those people were still able to blast through this in a day or two.
You guys are far tougher readers than I am. I have to confess that I was initially enthusi I feel absolutely drained by this book. I have to confess that I was initially enthusiastic about this book being told from Coriolanus Snow's perspective.
I know it put some people off, but one of the few things I love more than a good villain is a good villain origin story. No, I didn't expect to sympathise with him, but could I understand how he'd gotten so messed up and evil? Well, maybe. I don't think it works. For so many reasons, but a major one for me is that this book is so boring. So meandering, unfocused, dry. There's a lack of urgency and emotion. A lack of any connection with the characters outside of Snow, who is so self-serving and self-pitying that I couldn't even have fun hating him.
I could not understand what we were reading for. I had no real questions that needed answering. This book added nothing to the Panem universe. And the "romance" was just downright unpleasant. The plot takes us back to the 10th Hunger Games, where Coriolanus Snow is assigned as the mentor to the district 12 candidate, Lucy Gray whose songs are the one shining light in this novel.
Coriolanus sees this as an opportunity to shake himself free of the hardships of the past and improve his social status. Lucy's potential victory becomes deeply-entwined with Coriolanus's own, and their relationship is a discomfiting mix of romantic feelings and him using her to achieve his own means. But, still, while this is unpleasant, I don't think I am half as bothered by it as I am by how utterly dull the story is.
I'm not so refined as to be above some trashy drama, but that's the thing: it's not dramatic. It's lifeless and cold.
He tells us about the supposed hardships he has had to endure, but we never really feel them. And something about his perspective makes every other character he encounters seem dull also. A few others noted that this book picks up at the end, which is possibly the only thing that carried me through. It does, but I can also say it was far too little and far too late for me.
I think the only good thing about my lack of connection with this book is that I can safely say I don't even consider this part of the same universe as the original trilogy. I can now go forget about it. Facebook Instagram Shelves: , i-am-so-over-you , ya , why-the-hype , ppb , dystopias-post-apocalyptic.
Only last 20 pages of this book managed to stir my interest. So, is this 1 or 2 stars? If I hate read the rest of it? Okay, I'll be generous. The problem with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is that it doesn't know what it wants to be until the very, very end. It meanders here and there, bloated, unfocused, wordy, boring, misguided, treading the same water on and on and on, to the point of tedium.
Just to get to the climax where Snow Only last 20 pages of this book managed to stir my interest. Just to get to the climax where Snow needs to decide if he wants to be good and poor and in love or bad and successful. I kept waiting for some grand twist or revelation to happen. What I got was a tiny splash of excitement after of uninspired blah. There are failures of every type in this novel.
Snow's evolution is convoluted, drawn out, poorly paced, and entirely too much time is spent on lingering on his sob stories of poverty, school demerits and cabbage soup. His inner world is neither explained well nor is it interesting. This is not a successful villain origin tale. You will never convince me that it is. Too many new characters are introduced, but none of them are memorable. There is an attempt to show the dawn and messiness of the early Hunger Games, with all the gore and DYI-horror, but it's diluted by the wrong perspective, weird Capitol apologia and a BIG BAD, super-boring first game maker villain.
There is a romance that it totally unbelievable and an incomprehensible joke. I wish I were exaggerating. None of what was happening made any sense, especially the romance gag. I do believe there is a decent story somewhere in this mess of bloated mediocrity, a story that should have been told by Lucy maybe? But as is, this is a massive failure of execution.
The pacing is off, the themes are muddled, there is no passion, there is no urgency, there is no heart, there are no stakes. There is, of course, Lucy who was badly underserved. And her songs too many?
Two potential positives totally wasted on this travesty of a novel. I am not touching this book ever again, and I am going to try to forget it ever existed. A heartbreaking fiasco. Still, hope dies last I was surprised by what a passive protagonist he was for the majority of the story, and he lacked the detail and nuance that would have made this a compelling character study. View all 33 comments. May 20, monica kim rated it really liked it Shelves: releases.
View all 60 comments. I really enjoyed the first half of the book and looked forward to how Snow's villain origin story would be pulled off. I was invested in his conflicted feelings about the Games and possessive affections towards his love interest - this set up a really interesting and juicy!
Unfortunately, the last third of the book bumped my rating down to 3 stars, as I felt very underwhelmed by the outcome and I really enjoyed the first half of the book and looked forward to how Snow's villain origin story would be pulled off.
Unfortunately, the last third of the book bumped my rating down to 3 stars, as I felt very underwhelmed by the outcome and execution.
The character development was so rushed at the end; rather than a gradual and nuanced transition to "evil", Snow flip-flopped way too many times for arbitrary reasons. The last third of the book also became extremely heavy-handed with all the mockingjay metaphors and the constant singing to basically sum up the entire story.
And if you're going to turn to the dark side so quickly and unrealistically for the sake of canon, at least give us a dramatic showdown for entertainment!
This prequel really did have potential, but the last act did not stick to its landing. View all 15 comments. Jun 17, Cardan Greenbriar rated it it was ok Shelves: super-curious , desperately-want-to-read , grabby-hands , panicking , will-die-if-not-given. And SO. Listen, I hate President Snow as much as the next person.
But SNOW. This is actually brilliant. Like genius. Critical, and scathing and thought provoking. Sprinkled with moments where your jaw just quietly drops in shock and pain but you can't do anything except keep on reading.
This book is hypnotic. It had an unputdownable quality I'm still unable to quite put my finger on. Hats off, this is how you prequel. The only reason I took off a star was because of the rushed ending. I would've easily read or pages more if it meant the ending was handled as beautifully as the rest of the book was. View all 43 comments. Dec 19, Jesse JesseTheReader added it. I still didn't really feel like we delved in too deep on how President Snow became the corrupt person he is in the hunger games trilogy, but we definitely saw a different layer to his character through this story.
I found the first portion of the story to be the most engaging bit and the later half I found a bit underwhelming. In a lot of ways it felt like the story was being dragged out, but I was also still engaged with what was happening, it was just not very strong plot wise in the later half.
I can't say it really added anything to this world, but I wasn't mad at it to be honest. View all 22 comments. We learned so much in this book! View all 49 comments. Jun 17, Kai marked it as on-hold. View all 98 comments. Jun 17, Maryam Rz. Am I the only one excited to read more of Snow's brilliantly manipulative ways and dive into his past and hopefully rise to power? So apparently this is about President Snow View all 94 comments. Jan 25, Nilufer Ozmekik is currently reading it.
When you patiently wait for this book too long and you find out this book's plot is about: President Snow's early times: When you patiently wait for this book too long and you find out this book's plot is about: President Snow's early times View all 29 comments.
Jun 17, Chelsea Humphrey rated it it was ok Shelves: bookstagram-made-me-do-it. View all 56 comments. View all 40 comments. Jun 24, NReads marked it as to-read. I really really really don't care about Snow's life. View all 65 comments. Jun 17, Teodora marked it as to-read Shelves: on-app , sf , dystopia , ya , releases.
I feel an old obsession coming back to life View all 10 comments. Let me know what you think! He is one of the Snows - a once mighty house in the Capitol but now is on the edge of desolation. He's desperate to preserve the image of his family and find a way to A new BookTube Video is Up all about whether you should buy, borrow or burn YA books! He's desperate to preserve the image of his family and find a way to claw his way back to the top.
Then, the unthinkable happens. Coriolanus's graduation is now tied to the Hunger Games. You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else. He's been given the girl from District 12 Lucy Gray to mentor and must find a way to bring her to the top. Despite her being wholly and completely below him after all, she'd district Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.
But there's darkness within Snow, a darkness that he's willing to embrace to get what he wants. And no one - not the Capitol, not his friends, not even Lucy Gray - better stand in his way. Snow lands on top Wow. Guys, gals, people of all genders - wow. So many prequels feel like completely and utterly unnecessary additions to the lore I think it worked really well. It added to and expanded the Hunger Games series - giving some much needed insights to the origins of the Hunger Games.
It was MB to watch these cruel humans design new muttations and calmly discuss the best way to wring out emotions and participation from the outer districts. I also hated and loved Snow. Like completely and utterly terrible. And yet, I was glued to him. I never truly emphasized with him cause, hello, he was appalling but he was riveting to watch and provided such an interesting perspective.
There were a few loose ends that I wished were tied up in the end but overall, I really enjoyed this return to the Hunger Games - and am crossing my fingers for more! May 22, Merphy Napier rated it it was ok Shelves: two-stars , dystopian. Here it is: view spoiler [ Snow was so sure that Lucy Grey was his gal. They start to run away together, and then very quickly, he suddenly doesn't like rouging it and his attitude toward her changes abruptly, then conveniently finds exactly what he needs in order to go back to the capital and not be convicted, and - oh.
Now he's shooting at her.. That turned around fast. Oh, and now he's back in the capital and has an internship with Dr Gaul And fast. The ending was so so fast. I felt like I got whiplash from that one eighty. Oh, and we don't actually know if Lucy Grey is dead. I personally didn't really feel Snow's story needed to be told. I appreciated the extra world building and history this book provides and how cool it is to see the capital and The Games in such an early and unpolished stage.
But I didn't feel getting Snow's backstory actually added anything to the series or his character. But, I'm feeling pretty confident we're gonna be getting more from him. I'm happy for those who loved this book, I can see why people would enjoy it. But I was pretty disappointed.
View all 27 comments. I've been avoiding all theories and predictions until I did my reread of THG. But since this is coming out tomorrow I'd like to leave my own theory here.
I think it will be nice to be able to look back and see if it was correct maybe? I have not read any excerpts bc I like things to be a bit of a surprise and come up with my own crazy predictions] So I think we can all agree that I've been avoiding all theories and predictions until I did my reread of THG. I have not read any excerpts bc I like things to be a bit of a surprise and come up with my own crazy predictions] So I think we can all agree that Snow is probably the snake.
What if viewers could bet on tributes, to give them a rooting interest? What if they could sponsor their tribute of choice? But it takes much longer to understand why the Games exist in the first place. The original Hunger Games trilogy was part action series, part political allegory. In those books, the government forced children to kill each other with spectacle because that is what we do in real life to our children, under our present government.
Collins came up with the idea for the series while flipping back and forth between Iraq War footage and episodes of a reality TV talent show. The series became a motif during the Ferguson protests against the police shooting of year-old Michael Brown. American culture is full of the spectacular and televised killing of teenagers, and all Collins really did in her dystopia was dial the ages down a couple of years.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes digs a little deeper. Gaul, the menacing Head Gamemaker who keeps popping up out of nowhere to torture an animal, say something sinister, and disappear again. Gaul believes the Games are necessary to keep order in place and to prevent human beings from devolving into an animalistic state of nature. She takes a special interest in teaching Coriolanus exactly why that control is necessary, and why she believes the Games are essential to it.
Were they really going to be asked to sympathize with a fictional fascist? Would Collins try to justify all the atrocities we knew he was going to commit by giving him a tragic past, Anakin Skywalker style? But nothing of the sort happens in this book.
Coriolanus is a player from the beginning, analyzing every person he meets for their value to his prospects and then either abandoning them or relentlessly buttering them up. The rest of them he considers to be little better than animals. And as Coriolanus begins to grow gradually more and more fond of Lucy Gray, Collins leaves us little space to imagine that his interest in her is in any way based on a belief in her inherent human worth.
All of this calculation and coldness makes Coriolanus a tricky protagonist. Mostly, she does that by giving Coriolanus a sense of humor. Coriolanus, gamely thumbs-upping the camera, thinks dark thoughts. But while Coriolanus can be compelling, he never resolves into the kind of iconic survive-at-all-costs protagonist that Katniss was. And in general, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes lacks the relentless urgency of the original trilogy.
But on a storytelling level, it means we never feel the adrenaline jolt of our narrator battling for her life against insurmountable odds. So who has it right?
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