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librarianryan 's review for:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
by Suzanne Collins
It has been an interesting adventure to go back to Panem. This book does confirm that Panem used to be North America. When I first heard this was coming out I thought it was going to be about Mae, so I was a little hesitant to read about President Snow’s adolescence. I didn’t want the villain of the Hunger Games to be humanized. I like thinking of him as the villain. This book didn’t change my mind but it did give a bit of background.
Snow has always been a “person of the community”. His parents were elites before the war, and perished during the conflicts. Snow was left with his cousin Tigress and his Grandma’am. They live in “privileged poverty”. They still live in fancy apartments even though most of the furniture is gone, and so is anything of real value. Snow is living hand to mouth.
We start the story in what would be the equivalent of Snow's senior year of highschool. The 10th annual Hunger Games are about to take place and the capitol is trying to get more people interested and watching the blood and gore. They decide to pair each tribute with a member of the academy, and Snow is matched with the girl from 12, named Lucy Gray.
Snow needs a prize from school in order to attend University. This means he has to make a good showing with his tribute. But Lucy gets under his skin. She sings like an angel, and does not seem as menacing, or like someone out to destroy the capitol.
This story takes us many places. We get an idea of where the “dogs” from the first book originate, how the games became a real game instead of just a torture session, etc. We get to see a side of Snow that he wants to be, as well as the side that is actually who he is. This may seem contradictory, but read the book and you will understand.
Not all questions from the original trilogy are neatly tied up. There are still lots of questions like why is Snow purple, how does he become president, and even new questions about the new characters like “what happens to Dr. Gahl” and where did Lucy go?
Overall, I enjoyed my trip back to Panem, but I didn’t love it. I survived and have come back home. I’m glad I read it, but nothing would have changed in life if I had not read book 4.
Snow has always been a “person of the community”. His parents were elites before the war, and perished during the conflicts. Snow was left with his cousin Tigress and his Grandma’am. They live in “privileged poverty”. They still live in fancy apartments even though most of the furniture is gone, and so is anything of real value. Snow is living hand to mouth.
We start the story in what would be the equivalent of Snow's senior year of highschool. The 10th annual Hunger Games are about to take place and the capitol is trying to get more people interested and watching the blood and gore. They decide to pair each tribute with a member of the academy, and Snow is matched with the girl from 12, named Lucy Gray.
Snow needs a prize from school in order to attend University. This means he has to make a good showing with his tribute. But Lucy gets under his skin. She sings like an angel, and does not seem as menacing, or like someone out to destroy the capitol.
This story takes us many places. We get an idea of where the “dogs” from the first book originate, how the games became a real game instead of just a torture session, etc. We get to see a side of Snow that he wants to be, as well as the side that is actually who he is. This may seem contradictory, but read the book and you will understand.
Not all questions from the original trilogy are neatly tied up. There are still lots of questions like why is Snow purple, how does he become president, and even new questions about the new characters like “what happens to Dr. Gahl” and where did Lucy go?
Overall, I enjoyed my trip back to Panem, but I didn’t love it. I survived and have come back home. I’m glad I read it, but nothing would have changed in life if I had not read book 4.