I'm not sure what I expected from this book, going in. What I got was one half a villain's rise to power, one half the story of the Hunger Games becoming the cynical entertainment-based phenomenon they have turned into by the time of the main trilogy. That second part was a lot more engaging to read than the first. It's not that I expected the future President Snow to be sympathetic, exactly, but I guess I would have appreciated it if he was a bit less annoying. Honestly, as an aging tyrant he became far more charismatic than his teenage self was.

The war-ravaged Capitol and the gradual integration of the Hunger Games, still seen as the bloody legacy of war they were intended be, however, were quite interesting to read about, as was the character of Lucy Gray.

For the most part, though, this book was considerably less engrossing than the original trilogy. Something about it just felt like a fanfic—and not in a good way. I have, in fact, read my share of Hunger Games fanfiction that left a considerably more lasting impression. Also, as many other reviewers have noticed, the pacing was just all over the place. It dragged for the bigger part of the book—there were entire chapters where nothing much seemed to be happening; then in the final 10-20% everything suddenly moved so fast, things were getting hard to keep track of.