Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Name: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Series: The Hunger Games #0
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Audio
Format: Audiobook
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Not a trope – but this is the ‘villain’s backstory’ I suppose! And Games & Trials, The Underdog
Spice Rating: None

Rating: (Actual Rating 3.75)

Synopsis: Goodreads
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Review:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel novel to The Hunger Games. I will try to keep the spoilers of the rest of the series to a minimum and hide anything major! I picked up TBoSaS because I wanted to read the newest prequel novel – Sunrise on the Reaping. However, as April was a month of Kindle Unlimited books, I really didn’t want to buy any other books if it wasn’t a preorder. Which meant the only way I could read TBoSaS was to listen to the audiobook that I had gotten on audible at the time of release.

I used to be a big fan of audio books – they would help me wake up on my commute to work back when my commute ranged from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the job I was doing. However, when I moved to my latest job (and more so when I started driving) my commute to work is usually 10 – 20 minutes at most which meant I stopped listening to audiobooks. And as a result I have fallen out of love with them… I worry, that is partially why I didn’t love it as much as I could have. So let’s talk about that, and the book of course!

I do not like President Snow from The Hunger Games books (though to be honest, it has been a long time since I read them!) and so that is probably why I didn’t want to read his prequel when it first released. That being said, I am a sucker for a story that makes the villain seem more likeable. And when you start the book you are immediately informed about Snow’s less than ideal situation as he prepares to be a mentor for The Tenth Hunger Games. Meaning… he is instantly that little bit more likeable. Though he’s a Snow, so take that with a pinch of salt.

Now I thought this was going to be a ‘see he’s not so bad’ kind of book, and so when it was revealed that he was mentoring someone in The Tenth Hunger Games, I thought we were going to really learn to love Snow… However, Collins decided that this was not just an explanation for why Snow is the way he is… was… whatever. But instead, it was going to be a Villain Origin Story. I am surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. We already knew Snow was morally grey and despite that the path this book took still caught me off guard and shocked me. I loved that Collin’s was able to do that – write nothing surprising for that character and yet still completely shock me.

Lucy Gray, the one Snow would be mentoring, was a brilliant character. Although I can’t remember if she was ever mentioned in The Hunger Games as a past character, I still really liked her. Lucy Gray is a performer and a singer, and so she pulled my heart out on a few occassions… spoilers in the hidden section. Not only that, but she was showing to not only be badass but also HUMAN! It was truly hard not to like, and cheer for her.

Lucy Gray sings a lot during TBoSaS and a number of them really pulled on my heart strings. We had ‘The Hanging Tree’ which caught me off guard enough. But then she sings the song that Katniss sang to Rue as she was dying in the games!! And if I wasn’t listening to it at work, it would have been enough to have me in tears in that moment. It is very cool that Collin’s was able to include a couple of easter eggs from the series!

Unfortunately despite the praise for the story, and nothing against the voice actor, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the audiobook. I wish I had at least read the ebook at the same time because there were a number of sections where I lost interest and got bored which meant it was hard to concentrate.

For now, I am still no fan of Snow’s (though his cousin I adore!) but I am glad that we got this origin story. Not only was it Snow’s origin story, but also an origin story to The Hunger Games as we knew them in The Hunger Games! I can’t deny though… that parts of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes definitely had me feeling awfully for Snow. That ending made it bloody hard to hate AND feel awful for Snow. It was very well written.

Collin’s is a damn good writer, and I’m really happy she returned to Panem to provide us with more stories! All in all, I am very glad that I finally got to read (or listen to) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I don’t think I will be choosing an audiobook in the near future. Perhaps it would be different if I ever find myself going on a long drive anywhere… And having finally gotten to this prequel now has me very excited to read Sunrise on the Reaping. Hopefully, if I decide to do a Hunger Games full read through in the future, I’ll grab this as an ebook / physical copy so that I can enjoy it in my usual way!

“It’s what the world does to them. I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.”

Reading With Tyler