Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Since this book was announced, I have been fan-girling like a madwoman. When the synopsis was released and it was to be from a young Coriolanus Snow, I was hooked. President Snow is one of my favorite villians and to learn how he became so evil was great. A lot of people are throwing this book under the bus because they feel that Suzanne Collins should leave well enough alone and that she is trying to humanize President Snow. I went into it wanting to know his back story and the very beginning of the Hunger Games.

When this book landed on my doorstep at 6PM on release day, I geeked out and then I had to read the first paragraph and I shut the book with my mouth dropped not expecting the future president of Panem to be poor and his cousin to be the famous Tigris who hid the star squad in her cellar during the rebel invasion during Mockingjay.

We learn that he mentors the District 12 girl tribute during the 10th Hunger Games. Her name is Lucy Gray Baird and we learn that she was part of a traveling family and got stuck in District 12 after the war ended.

All of the connections to the original trilogy were amazing and some were just gut wrenching. The songs that Katniss sings are the ones that Lucy Gray created and how some of the aspects from the games such as the betting, victor's village, the tesserae were all thought up by Coriolanus Snow.

In a way, I do feel that Suzanna Collins did humanize him in a way because when we read the book, we have to say his first name or his nickname. We can't refer to him as President Snow or the young President Snow because he does not have that title yet. Do we call him by his full first name or by his last name. I would not refer to him by his nickname Coryo.

I loved this book and give it a 5 out of 5, but I really hope there is a companion to this one where Snow is continuing on his poisoning streak and to see the changes for the 11th Hunger Games and to just read about a young Mags. I can only cross my fingers and hope that the movie adaptation for this installment is just as great as the previous movies.