{Review} Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (The Hunger Games #0.5) by Suzanne Collins

Page count:  439

Published on: May 9, 2020

Published by: Scholastic Press

Genres: YA dystopia, science fiction

Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads 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 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.

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Hey, guys!

When Ballad was first announced, I was really excited to dive back into the world of the Hunger Games, but really, I was just ecstatic to read more from Suzanne Collins. Her books and style are just so well done and give me so much nostalgia for a simpler time. When I first read the Hunger Games series, I was in middle school and the class that I was in was so much fun. I've never had a classroom dynamic like that since. Additionally, Collins' Underland Chronicles are just freaking fantastic. I definitely want to do a reread soon because they are flawless. Read them.

Surprisingly, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was genuinely a good read and didn't disappoint. I'm not saying that because it was a nostalgic experience, I'm really impressed with how this book was written. 

There are a lot of readers who were just not happy with how this book was laid out and I can see how their reading experience would lead them to their conclusions. However, I fully believe that everyone reads differently. When I started this book I was purely looking to have my questions answered when it comes to how Snow became so freaking evil, how the Capitol became what it was, and how the war went down initially.  

Snow is obviously malevolent and the bad guy in the original trilogy. There was no way that Collins could escape the actual terror that Snow inflicted upon so many people. But -- hear me out. Reading how his villain origin story developed was deliciously fascinating. When I read this book, I found myself really connecting with Snow. His thought processes were flawed, but his grappling feelings about good, evil, morality, justice, etc. were so fascinating. He seems to be a fairly morally gray character at first, but he really dives deep into his flawed, greedy perspective as the novel develops. It's just so interesting to me! To me, Ballad is fascinating because it's a character study, an examination of how a great nation can fall into evil and greed, and how hardship can cause a nation to be incredibly divided and brainwashed into separatist ideals. 

This book wasn't perfect. There were moments where I felt like things were drawn out too far and the pacing would lag. The romance? -- Shouldn't have happened. However, I enjoyed the dynamic between the two, but I really wish that the book had been broken up between Lucy Gray and Snow's perspective in a sort of dual perspective execution. I feel like it would have really added a sense of complexity to the whole situation. While Lucy Gray was incredibly mysterious and smart, I really wanted a peek into her mind. I have so many questions about her intentions and character development. I would have loved to get a glimpse of her experience in the arena. The parts about the development of the Games and the behind the scenes parts of the Games were interesting, but it grew kind of tiresome and bleh because we weren't in the thick of the action.     

Though the last 40% of the book was a bit slow and the stakes were supposed to be high, but you knew they were pretty low considering you knew Snow would eventually become what he is. But, I still enjoyed so many of the smaller elements. There were so many lovely references to the original trilogy and even more hints toward how Katniss's world became so bleak. I really enjoyed the stepping stones that Collins laid out that led you to discover how so many practices, laws, etc. came to be -- especially in the Capitol and District 12. 

Overall, I really liked this book. It made me incredibly emotional and the analysis that I did while reading this book made me really nostalgic for the original trilogy, really overwhelmed and sad for the world we are in today (because there were so many elements that were far too relevant, and it just made me have even more questions. I would have loved to have a sort of anthology with the history of Panem, the history of the games, and the influence that each of the Games had on Panem's overall culture and way of life. I love Suzanne Collins and I cannot wait to read more from her. 

I definitely encourage you to check this out if you're interested. It's a pretty polarizing read, but I think a lot of HG lovers will find things to take from it.

If you're interested to read my thoughts on the Hunger Games trilogy (2015-reread), I have a full series review up on my blog. If you're interested in reading my thoughts or following a reading vlog where I discuss the books with what I've learned from my last 4 years of college, let me know! I'd love to reread, annotate, and analyze these books. 

Happy reading,

Olivia

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