User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
For all of their faults,
The Hunger Games books a decade ago became a pop culture phenomenon. The brutal premise in a YA book, the surly heroine with a backbone of steel, the motifs of manipulation vs truth, the moral ambiguity, the pain of survival, the lasting impact of trauma — yeah, I loved it shamelessly, warts and all .
And then Collins writes a prequel about President Snow. Yeah, *that* Snow.
The Emperor Palpatine of that universe (I’m a bit shaky on Star Wars stuff, but I think I got that one right). The absolutely abhorrent embodiment of all evil, keen on sending children to death while oppressing the crap out of the country. So why?
Is it a villain origin/redemption story? We do tend to like redemption of villains, the origin stories that explain the eventual slide into darkness. Darth Vader. Joker. Severus Snape. Wicked Witch of the West. So is this book here to show us the tragic slide into villainy, the horror of the circumstances and the Games that eats away at you and taints you until there is not much left? Or is this just a case of innate sociopathy, an early glimpse of the soul that thrives on cruelty?
I think this book will alienate quite a few of Hunger Games fans. You see, it was easy to root for Katniss pitted against the ridiculous brutality of her world. She spoke to you, the girl who volunteered, the girl who defied her own self-preservation instinct to stand up for what’s right. But
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes makes it impossible to root for its protagonist because he is the ultimate antagonist, because we know what he will become.
You don’t root for young Hitler to find love and success, after all.Coriolanus Snow cannot be redeemed. But he can be understood, to a point, and that’s what Collins did well here
(or so my sleep-deprived brain after late night bleary-eyed reading believes). I like that Snow is not a born sociopath. He is bright but unlikeable, ambitious, resentful, conceited and very entitled, with capacity for manipulation and ruthlessness. He is slippery like the titular snakes. But
he has some humanity in him - capacity for friendship, capacity for love, capacity to care and even a degree of sacrifice.
The problem is the choices that he decides to make - the choices fueled by his over-developed self-preservation instinct which is by definition selfish. The problem is that you don’t need to be a born stone-cold tyrant — you can choose to become one when you choose yourself above all, when you make the corrupt system work for you instead of choosing to fight it.
He chooses complicity — and that’s what shapes him into what he will become by the time 64 years later when Katniss Everdeen volunteers to become District 12 tribute in the horrific televised spectacle of Hunger Games.
Snow decides to remain a predator so that he wouldn’t become prey.
“So he added a paragraph about his deep relief on winning the war, and the grim satisfaction of seeing the Capitol’s enemies, who’d treated him so cruelly, who’d cost his family so much, brought to their knees. Hobbled. Impotent. Unable to hurt him anymore. He’d loved the unfamiliar sense of safety that their defeat had brought. The security that could only come with power. The ability to control things. Yes, that was what he’d loved best of all.”
This is a story of the formation of a tyrant - but the one who understands what makes others rebel, and that, as we know, makes him even more dangerous. No surprise he is behind the whole concept of Hunger Games as a mandatory sickening voyeristic pageantry spectacle.
“We control it,” he said quietly. “If the war’s impossible to end, then we have to control it indefinitely. Just as we do now. With the Peacekeepers occupying the districts, with strict laws, and with reminders of who’s in charge, like the Hunger Games. In any scenario, it’s preferable to have the upper hand, to be the victor rather than the defeated.”
It’s not a love story, despite the superficial resemblance to it. Snow wants Lucy, wants to possess her, wants her to be his — and wants it only
as far as it suits his comfort. Don’t think that it ends up being a desperate turn to villainy after the loss of a loved one — that would be too cheap.
“His girl. His. Here in the Capitol, it was a given that Lucy Gray belonged to him, as if she’d had no life before her name was called out at the reaping. Even that sanctimonious Sejanus believed she was something he could trade for. If that wasn’t ownership, what was? With her song, Lucy Gray had repudiated all that by featuring a life that had nothing to do with him, and a great deal to do with someone else. Someone she referred to as “lover,” no less. And while he had no claim on her heart — he barely knew the girl! — he didn’t like the idea of anyone else having it either. Although the song had been a clear success, he felt somehow betrayed by it. Even humiliated.”
No, there is no redemption for Coriolanus Snow.
There is only understanding which at least for me led to even more repulsion. Because he saw a path that Katniss eventually took — and instead forged his own, the easier one, the one of cruel overcompensation for almost not taking it.
——————
Yes, I can see how it will alienate some long-standing fans.
But I am glad I read it. Even if I couldn’t root for anyone.
Now I can reread
The Hunger Games trilogy with new eyes, understanding the underpinnings of that horror show better.
3.5 stars. “He knew this would be easier if he wasn’t such an exceptional person. The best and the brightest humanity had to offer.”
Rating: really liked it
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DNF @ p.101 Me going on a date with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Me: So what do you like to do for fun?
TBoSaS: Cabbage soup.
Me: Uh huh.
TBoSaS: Roman names.
Me: Uh huh. *signalling desperately to the waiter for a glass of wine* Those aren't really hobbies you know.
TBoSaS: Hobbies?
Me: You know, things that give your life meaning.
TBoSaS: Oh.
Me: Yeah.
TBoSaS: Does hating on the poors and being surprised that they have feelings count?
Me: This date is over.
So, nobody was looking forward to THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES more than I was and if they say they are, they are
liars. Even though a prequel with Coriolanus Snow seemed a bit like a cash grab, I was still willing to put down a "soul of my firstborn" down payment to get my grabby little hands on a copy of this book because I love a good villain origin story.
Keyword: good.
I think the problem here is that it feels so impersonal and boring. The first three books were all narrated in first person and had tautly written action scenes so everything felt very in the moment and urgent. We see the Capitol from Katniss's eyes as this glittering bacchanalia of conspicuous consumption while she and her people are literally starving and she is horrified that she has to compete to the death for the entertainment of these awful people who don't care whether she lives or dies as long as she puts on a good show. Children, for these people, are just another commodity.
Here, it doesn't really work. We already know that the Capitol looks down on the other districts. Seeing Coriolanus bitch and moan about being in genteel poverty while in the same breath whining about how his mentoring Tribute is from the grodiest district doesn't really add anything new to the narrative. And it doesn't help that Lucy Gray is a manic pixie dreamgirl who literally arrives on stage in a frilly ruffled dress, singing stupid songs that take up waaaaay too much of the page count.
And if I heard Coriolanus talk about his fecking cabbage soup
one more time.
I can't. I just can't. RIP my untarnished memories of the original series, because this bloated 500-page mess crapped all over it. I think the author would have been better off writing about the first Hunger Games, or one of the games that took place in extreme conditions (like the arctic one), or maybe about a more sympathetic character, like Haymitch or Finnick. I would LOVE to read about Haymitch or Finnick's competitions in the Games and seeing how they got to be the fucked up and jaded individuals that they were in the books. That is the kind of subtle darkness that I expected from the series. I wish it had panned out with this one, but I was mostly just really, really bored.
Date over. And I hope you know, you're paying for that wine, TBoSaS.
1 star
Rating: really liked it
I feel absolutely drained by this book.
Because I was such a big fan of The Hunger Games trilogy, I was determined to finish The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but doing so took a LOT out of me. What a chore this book was! I now understand the disappointed and outraged reviews of others who read it first, but what I don't understand is how those people were still able to blast through this in a day or two. You guys are far tougher readers than I am.
I have to confess that I was initially enthusiastic about this book being told from Coriolanus Snow's perspective. I know it put some people off, but one of the few things I love more than a good villain is a good villain origin story. No, I didn't expect to sympathise with him, but could I understand how he'd gotten so messed up and evil? Well, maybe.
But... I don't think it works. For so many reasons, but a major one for me is that this book is so boring. So meandering, unfocused, dry. There's a lack of urgency and emotion. A lack of any connection with the characters outside of Snow, who is so self-serving and self-pitying that I couldn't even have fun hating him. I could not understand what we were reading for. I had no real questions that needed answering. This book added nothing to the Panem universe.
And the "romance" was just downright unpleasant.
The plot takes us back to the 10th Hunger Games, where Coriolanus Snow is assigned as the mentor to the district 12 candidate, Lucy Gray (whose songs are the one shining light in this novel). Coriolanus sees this as an opportunity to shake himself free of the hardships of the past and improve his social status. Lucy's potential victory becomes deeply-entwined with Coriolanus's own, and their relationship is a discomfiting mix of romantic feelings and him using her to achieve his own means.
But, still, while this is unpleasant, I don't think I am half as bothered by it as I am by how utterly dull the story is. I'm not so refined as to be above some trashy drama, but that's the thing: it's not dramatic. It's lifeless and cold. 90% of the plot exists inside Snow's head. He tells us about the supposed hardships he has had to endure, but we never really feel them. And something about his perspective makes every other character he encounters seem dull also.
A few others noted that this book picks up at the end, which is possibly the only thing that carried me through. It does, but I can also say it was far too little and far too late for me. I think the only good thing about my lack of connection with this book is that I can safely say I don't even consider this part of the same universe as the original trilogy. I can now go forget about it.
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Rating: really liked it
Only last 20 pages of this book managed to stir my interest. So, is this 1 or 2 stars? If I hate read the rest of it? Okay, I'll be generous. 1.5 stars it is, but there is no way I am rounding this up.
The problem with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is that it doesn't know what it wants to be until the very, very end. It meanders here and there, bloated, unfocused, wordy, boring, misguided, treading the same water on and on and on, to the point of tedium. Just to get to the climax where Snow needs to decide if he wants to be good and poor and in love or bad and successful. I kept waiting for some grand twist or revelation to happen. What I got was a tiny splash of excitement after 500 of uninspired blah.
There are failures of every type in this novel. Snow's evolution is convoluted, drawn out, poorly paced, and entirely too much time is spent on lingering on his sob stories of poverty, school demerits and cabbage soup. His inner world is neither explained well nor is it interesting. This is not a successful villain origin tale. You will never convince me that it is. Too many new characters are introduced, but none of them are memorable. There is not one person of Haymitch's caliber, or Cinna’s, or Effie's. There is an attempt to show the dawn and messiness of the early Hunger Games, with all the gore and DYI-horror, but it's diluted by the wrong perspective, weird Capitol apologia and a BIG BAD, super-boring first game maker villain. There is a romance that it totally unbelievable and an incomprehensible joke.
I literally spent 99% of this book with this expression on my face. (I wish I were exaggerating.) None of what was happening made any sense, especially the romance (gag).
I do believe there is a decent story somewhere in this mess of bloated mediocrity, a story that should have been told by Lucy maybe? But as is, this is a massive failure of execution. The pacing is off, the themes are muddled, there is no passion, there is no urgency, there is no heart, there are no stakes. There is, of course, Lucy who was badly underserved. And her songs (too many?). Two potential positives totally wasted on this travesty of a novel.
I am not touching this book ever again, and I am going to try to forget it ever existed.
A heartbreaking fiasco.
____________
Not sure I liked this excerpt or the idea of redeeming a monster. Still, hope dies last...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/w...
____________
Never expected this one to happen...
Rating: really liked it
- i did
truly find the nods to the original trilogy fun. finally finding out the origin of the hanging tree song, why snow despised katniss so much from the get-go, how certain features of the games were implemented, etc. was really interesting. that being said, i've seen a number of reviews say that this read like fan fiction, and i honestly kind of agree. the way that every single loose end from the original story was tied up felt a lot like fan service to me, and while as a fan of the original trilogy i gladly ate that shit up, i don't think any of it was a needed addition to the overall world.
- snow's character felt like an afterthought in his own book?? I was surprised by what a passive protagonist he was for the majority of the story, and he lacked the detail and nuance that would have made this a compelling character study. while i liked that we got to see how easily he was able to manipulate others from the start, his overall transition from the little, privileged weasel of the first two parts to the actual villain in part three was entirely abrupt and unsatisfying.
- the pacing of this was also wonky as heck. the first 450 pages were moving at the pace of a snail (that's a fact, not a complaint. i enjoyed the slower bits more) compared with the breakneck pace of the final 60 pages, i got whiplash.
- the ending (no spoilers) but while i thought snow's portion wrapped up way too quickly just as he was getting interesting, there was enough left hanging with *cough* other characters *cough* that i truly wouldn't be surprised if we got a sequel to this story, and idk how i feel about that.
not sure what else to say....basically, unpacking more of panem's history was an ambitious idea on collins' part, and i think it could have been done well (maybe as part of a collection of novellas?) but, this book was just far too long and failed to strike a good balance between snow's story and the exposition of the early games.
Rating: really liked it
a lot of people are not going to like this book. it’s weirder and maybe a little...goofier? than the original hunger games. it’s also much more philosophical - almost part novel part contemplation on nature vs nurture and the base instincts of humanity. and it is not a villain origin story like you’ve read before. if you’ve come here looking for a story like the joker where you leave sympathetic to the villain and understanding what moment pushed them to being evil? well, you’ll likely be very disappointed. but if you, like me, have grown frustrated with the narrative that destructive and horrible white men are just victims of society? you might love this one like i do. honestly, i think with this work suzanne is subverting and critiquing the entire narrative of the “villain origin.” house of cards could be a much better comparison to this novel than any villain origin story you’ve watched or read before.
biggest complaint and what kept this from 5 stars for me: the pacing is a little off. about 75% in, the novel seems to lose a lot of it’s bite and just sort of meanders (until the end, which is definitely explosive).
watch my reading vlog for the ballad of songbirds and snakes: https://youtu.be/hROVNIlYVWY
Rating: really liked it
I really enjoyed the first half of the book and looked forward to how Snow's villain origin story would be pulled off. I was invested in his conflicted feelings about the Games and possessive affections towards his love interest - this set up a really interesting (and juicy!) dynamic, because there's a lot of potential to create a tragic, dramatic, and poignant story there. Unfortunately, the last third of the book bumped my rating down to 3 stars, as I felt very underwhelmed by the outcome and execution. The character development was so rushed at the end; rather than a gradual and nuanced transition to "evil", Snow flip-flopped way too many times for arbitrary reasons. The last third of the book also became extremely heavy-handed with all the mockingjay metaphors and the constant singing to basically sum up the entire story. And if you're going to turn to the dark side so quickly and unrealistically for the sake of canon, at least give us a dramatic showdown for entertainment! This prequel really did have potential, but the last act did not stick to its landing.
Rating: really liked it
*the perfect portrait of me, who waited for something meaningful to happen in this book till the end*
sooooooo moral of the story: Snow was just going through late confusing raunchy Puberty all in all from the beginning I was in the
oh and using the excuse "slow build/burn" for a book that has poor writing and plot is getting old, boy hoooooo boy the writing was BAD Ms. Collins!
the developing was BAD Ms. Collins!
And SO.MANY.CHARACTERS.AND.THEIR.NAMES.MY.GOSH.
*during reading*
*me waiting for something meaningful to happen in this book*
Rating: really liked it
Listen, I hate President Snow as much as the next person.
But SNOW. FUCKING. LANDS. ON. TOP.
This is actually brilliant. Like genius. Critical, and scathing and thought provoking.
Sprinkled with moments where your jaw just quietly drops in shock and pain but you can't do anything except keep on reading.
This book is hypnotic. It had an unputdownable quality I'm still unable to quite put my finger on.
Hats off, this is how you prequel.
The only reason I took off a star was because of the rushed ending. I would've easily read 200 or 300 pages more if it meant the ending was handled as beautifully as the rest of the book was.
Rating: really liked it
I went into this one being VERY SKEPTICAL and for the most part I enjoyed it. I still didn't really feel like we delved in too deep on how President Snow became the corrupt person he is in the hunger games trilogy, but we definitely saw a different layer to his character through this story. I found the first portion of the story to be the most engaging bit and the later half I found a bit underwhelming. In a lot of ways it felt like the story was being dragged out, but I was also still engaged with what was happening, it was just not very strong plot wise in the later half. I can't say it really added anything to this world, but I wasn't mad at it to be honest. XD
Rating: really liked it
It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for me it certainly was. If you’re someone who knows the original books super well, then I think you’ll get the most enjoyment out of it. There’s so many references and nods to the original books that made me so excited! I also thought Snow’s perspective was super interesting to be in and it gave us loads of information about the world of Panem. We learned so much in this book! Overall, I super enjoyed it and I flew through it because I simply couldn’t stop turning the pages.
Rating: really liked it
*whispers softly*: fuck
*whispers louder*: this book releases tomorrow and if I see any of you posting even the mildest spoilers in your status updates you'll have a safe place in hell that looks exactly like the 74th Hunger Games
*yawns*: 60% in and I can't make myself care so I'll just finish this some other time...or not
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Rating: really liked it
Am I the
only one excited to read more of Snow's brilliantly manipulative ways and dive into his past and (hopefully) rise to power? I mean, poisonsssssss *
snake hissing*
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I have a vital, life-changing question:
why does this book have 14,680 ratings when IT'S NOT EVEN OUT YET!?UPDATE: it's out so you guys can finally have an excuse for RATING BOOKS YOU HAVEN'T READ.
Rating: really liked it
So apparently this is about President Snow...
“A teen born to privilege but searching for something more, a far cry from the man we know he will become. Here he’s friendly. He’s charming. For now he’s a hero.”
Really?
Rating: really liked it
When you patiently wait for this book too long and you find out this book's plot is about: President Snow's early times:
