The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins Narrator: Santino Fontana
Series: The Hunger Games #0
Published by Scholastic Audio on 2020-05-19
Length: 16 hours and 16 minutes
Reviewing Audiobook from Audible
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2023 Audiobook Challenge, 2023 Backlist Reader Challenge
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Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price.
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 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.
I put off reading this one for a really long time until I finally caved because I want to see the movie 😅 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins is a prequel to her hit series The Hunger Games which features Coriolanus Snow at the same age as Katniss and opens on the day of the reaping for the 10th annual Hunger Games. I did not want to like or understand President Snow. He was callous and unnecessarily cruel to the tributes and Districts in The Hunger Games trilogy. Yet somehow, this book, his story, needed to be told.
Coriolanus is an 18 year old boy who becomes a man in the course of this book. His backstory is tragic like most children of war. He was a small child when he lost first his mother and then his father to the war between the Capital and the Districts. He has few memories from before the war, but what he does remember is colored through rose-tinted glasses. His family is a prominent member of society and a force to be reckoned with….before the war. Now, it is just Coriolanus, his cousin Tigris, and his grandmother. They live in poverty, barely making ends meet, and hoping that Coriolanus can complete his final year at the academy and go to university. All of their hopes hinge on this happening.
But it is time for the Hunger Games, and the new director is under pressure to make the Games popular. The first step is involving mentors from the academy and assigning them to tributes. Coriolanus is assigned District 12’s Lucy Gray. Lucy is a rebel from the first time we see her before she even reaches the tribute stage. She reminds the reader a lot of Katniss, and I’m not sure that was a coincidence. From her rebellious streak to singing on national television to her stunt during the games, it’s hard not to understand Coriolanus’s fascination with his tribute and his determination to see her survive.
However, this story isn’t about Lucy Gray. It’s about Coriolanus and how he becomes the pathetic man we all loathe. And, oh man, does Collins deliver! She answers all the questions we’ve had about Snow: his obsession with Katniss, his reaction to the song “The Hanging Tree,” and his roses. This is the story of a scared boy that grew up starving and poor who becomes a proud man so scared of losing his power that he becomes a tyrant and dictator.
Overall, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes exceeded my expectations. I didn’t love it, but I don’t think we’re supposed to. This is a dark story, the origin of a villain. It will not leave you with a happy feeling or a feeling of hope. It is ominous and overshadows Katniss’s story. Honestly, when I finished this one, I immediately reread The Hunger Games and loved it even more than I already do. If you are a fan of the series, like morally grey villains, or are looking for a YA dystopia, I highly recommend it.
About Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins has had a successful and prolific career writing for children's television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. Collins made her mark in children's literature with the New York Times bestselling five-book series for middle-grade readers The Underland Chronicles, which has received numerous accolades in both the United States and abroad. In the award-winning The Hunger Games trilogy, Collins continues to explore the effects of war and violence on those coming of age. Collins lives with her family in Connecticut.
I haven’t read any of this series but this sounds sad. It reminds of some old white men today (and in the past) who will do and say anything to keep their power. They don’t care who they hurt.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Radiant Heat by Sarah-Jane Collins @sarahjanemaree @BerkleyPub
That’s exactly what it is. I think the author does such a good job of conveying all the reasons behind what he does, but how there is always a better choice that he doesn’t choose.