Synopsis:

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 favour 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:

When this book came out I really wasn’t interested in it even though I adore The Hunger Games. I wasn’t interested in a book about President Snow, especially when getting to witness Finnick’s games should have been the story. 

However, saying this, I did really enjoy The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It’s so interesting to watch Snow slowly become the evil conniving man we all hate. The handling of his character development was done perfectly and of course it was, I’d expect nothing less from Suzanne Collins. 

One thing I will say about this book is that it was a little too long. Once the games were over I did lose interest in the story. I didn’t care much for the aftermath and I actually don’t like how it ended. It seemed very abrupt and this isn’t a huge spoiler, but skip ahead just in case. I thought this book was going to end with Snow becoming president. I was actually more interested in that than what actually happened at the end. 

I adore Lucy Gray. She’s such a fun character and I loved the small ways that she was like Katniss. Well obviously it’s the other way round but this is a prequel. The mention of katniss (the plant) and how Lucy Gray sang/penned the songs Katniss sings in her own story was actually pretty genius. It really makes you understand Snow’s dislike of her. Lucy Gray walked so Katniss could run.

The tension of The Games was palpable. This is impressive considering you don’t get to witness them firsthand as the entire book is from Snow’s perspective. I actually think this made them more exciting as this was nearer the beginning of The Games and it wasn’t really an action-packed spectacle like we’ve seen in Katniss’ games.

I’ll be honest and say the only reason why I got around to reading this is because I want to watch the film. If the film didn’t look good I don’t know if I would have gotten around to this. But I’m glad I did. It was very good, just a little slow at times.

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