I can see why so many people have issues with this book. After adoring The Hunger Games trilogy, I decided to jump into this one unsure of what to expect. I knew it was about Snow and his backstory, which frankly I don’t care about. He’s an awful person, but I did like the way we see that awfulness in him from page one. I appreciated the way Collins didn’t give him some large tragic backstory to make us feel sad for him. I hate him even more after reading this.

This is not a fun book to read, though it does shed light on how the games started and the inner workings of The Capitol. I also liked the nods and connections to the main trilogy we got,

especially the mockingjays, the katniss plant, the shack by the lake, and the hanging tree song

. We know now that Snow knew a lot about District 12 and the life that Katniss lived before her fated reaping.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this adapts.