I personally didn’t like this as much as the series, but we get a glimpse of why Snow was that way. We see where the affinity with poison, roses, and honesty stemmed from. This story doesn't intend to make you sympathize with Snow, but just to give you his origin.  But I don't know what's the point. We don't even see Snow get really despicable/gutter here

Still, I wanted to actually witness the rift between Tigris and him and the social climbing. We don't get that, so we can only fill in those pieces on our own. 

 The romance with Lucy was kind of just there. Despite starting off with an obvious power imbalance, I thought the love would've been more intense. 

The Hunger Games are more morbid than ever. You really feel the depravity of the game maker and the general feeling of griminess. Also, Dr. Gaul was a sadistic psycho, and I liked Sejanus more than I thought I would. This isn't a book I would ever reread, but it was okay.