The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Book Review

Major Spoilers are included in this book review. Please read with caution.

On August 1, 2020, I read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’—the newest The Hunger Games prequel novel—first chapter. Then I took a week-long break from the novel to finish up on My Hero Academia manga books, but I resumed reading the novel on August 9, 2020 and finished on August 14, 2020.

I would also highly recommend reading the original trilogy before diving into this prequel. Making the connections and seeing the differences on how the Games are run will be easier to spot through this method. The links to my book reviews are here (The Hunger Games), here (Catching Fire), and here (Mockingjay).

As the real-world plunges further into 2020 chaos—the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, murder hornets, presidential election, Black Lives Matter Movement, and police brutality, etc.—escaping into a fictional apocalypse was strangely comforting.

Of course, Suzanne Collins’ latest The Hunger Games novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is a story centered around President Coriolanus Snow, the main antagonist of the original trilogy, and how he became the awful man he is in the original trilogy. He is around eighteen-years-old and has become a mentor for District 12’s female tribute, Lucy Gray. However, this novel is also an origin story for The Hunger Games themselves and how they’ve evolved.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes starts with the 10th Hunger Games, 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself for tribute in District 12. While the Games still featured 24 tributes—a boy and girl from the 12 Districts who rebelled against The Capitol—who fought each other to the death as punishment, the setting was a plain old sports arena. Unlike Suzanne Collins’ earlier—and fantastic settings—like the endless wilderness or the clock-structured stadium in Catching Fire, there wasn’t much creativity behind the Games, but that was part of the narrative.

As a result of the straight-forward gladiator-like sports event, the lack of stakes in it for the audience, and outright not finding the Hunger Games entertaining, not many people watched them. At this point in the novel’s timeline, the Districts weren’t forced into watching yet.

The mentor idea—where previous victors became mentors for the current tributes—was created to liven the Games. The major difference was students from The Academy—a high school for the Capitol’s elite children—were the chosen first to become mentors and not the previous victors. The idea to sponsor and send items—in addition to placing bets—were also in the rough draft phase. To keep The Hunger Games going had personal stakes for Coriolanus Snow and his family though, who had lost everything—money, influence, and reputation—during the war between The Capitol and the Districts.

Suzanne Collins’ writing is vastly different from the original trilogy. The first obvious change is the POV. The third-person for Coriolanus was a great creative decision, keeping us separated enough not to garner sympathy for his cruel actions later on. The downside to this POV was that Collins’ sacrificed the adrenaline, heart-pumping survival aspect.

However, watching Coriolanus and his fellow classmates watch the Games and participate—sending their tributes food and water to survive—showed how “go with the flow” they are with the oppressive system being formed. The only character opposed to The Hunger Games was Sejanus Plinth, a compelling character who moved from District 2 to The Capitol.

Overall, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a thought-provoking read that adds more depth to the original trilogy while also giving us more context on why President Snow was the person he was. I had a good time reading it alongside the original trilogy reread. I would highly recommend the novel for those who loved the first three The Hunger Games novels.

Thanks for reading my book review, everyone! May the odds be ever in your favor! Also, Snow always lands on top.