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A review by dumbidiotenergy
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
oh, where to begin...
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the Hunger Games series. it follows Coriolanus Snow as a teenager before he rises to the position of Panem's president. we see Coriolanus mentor a girl from District 12, Lucy Gray. Coriolanus has to balance maintaining his family's status with Lucy Gray's survival, yet he finds this task more and more difficult as tensions rise and trouble stirs.
this book did not need to be written. I have never seen something so clearly meant to prey on nostalgia and an already successful series that has failed so horribly. why Collins decided to make this book from Snow's point of view, i'll never understand. the stakes feel so low when we already know it's all going to work out for him in the end, that he's going to become a terrible person. it's like Collins is trying to imbue him with sympathetic characteristics just to throw those characteristics out of the window in the final stretch of the book, and besides, i could never fully empathize with Snow knowing what i do from the original trilogy.
let me get my nitpicks out of the way first. firstly, the title of this book is so ridiculous. the characters' names are somehow even more ridiculous, somehow surpassing the already ridiculous names in the original trilogy.firstly, the title of this book is so ridiculous. the characters' names are somehow even more ridiculous, somehow surpassing the already ridiculous names in the original trilogy. there are also way too many characters, too many names floating around-- and it seems like Collins knows this, because she kills half of them off in weird, random mishaps. why she designed the book this way, i have no clue. she gave each tribute a mentor, totalling in FOURTY EIGHT characters to keep track of, and even when she was clearly telling the reader "hey, don't worry about this one they don't matter" it still added to the confusion.
speaking of those random characters' deaths, there was an appalling amount of death! and not in a good way! there was unbelievable, avoidable, senseless death that served no purpose except to narrow down the cast of characters. and each death was treated without any tact; every scene, even the most violent and sad ones, happens so quickly that the reader cannot sit with it and feel it. Collins' scenes in general are often swiftly paced, and this is an asset in the original trilogy because it's rife with action content; yet in this novel it is a detriment because there is simply not enough action to warrant the speed, so the reader is left reading pages of fluff and circulatory internal monologue from the world's least interesting character, young Coriolanus Snow. the emotional moments fall completely flat because, for some reason, it seems like Collins cares more about us reading Snow quarrel with himself than CHILDREN DYING.
with that, let's get into the characters! Snow is analytical, terrible, and entirely uninteresting. his "friend" Sejanus Plinth is way more enthralling and it is clearly a sort of Jesse Pinkman-to-Walter White dynamic but without the finesse of Vince Gilligan. Lucy Gray is alright, i guess, but all she ever does is sing. i felt that her character was so empty that when i finally realized there was going to be a Snow and Lucy Gray romance i laughed out loud. i don't know why Collins felt the need for a romantic subplot, but um, it's certainly... there. the pair have absolutely zero chemistry and i prayed one of them would die so i would stop having to read about them.
it seems like star-crossed lovers, starvation, and self-congratulatory callbacks are all Collins has in here repertoire in Ballad. she attempts at humor via Lucky Flickerman in the middle of the novel and fails horribly. she adds absolutely nothing new to her already stellar original trilogy and instead has made me personally infuriated and with a newly tainted view of the series.
trauma is the most interesting part of the Hunger Games original trilogy. we see how trauma informs every single one of the characters' decisions, how it scars them, changes them. in Ballad trauma is written with such a fumbling hand that it feels like none exists at all. SpoilerLucy Gray seems unphased after leaving the arena and Snow seems unbothered by the blood on his hands. none of it makes any sense.
in general, this novel was one of the least engaging books i have had the displeasure to read in recent years. i cannot overstate how miserable that makes me, as someone who harbors a deep love for the Hunger Games original trilogy. sigh.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the Hunger Games series. it follows Coriolanus Snow as a teenager before he rises to the position of Panem's president. we see Coriolanus mentor a girl from District 12, Lucy Gray. Coriolanus has to balance maintaining his family's status with Lucy Gray's survival, yet he finds this task more and more difficult as tensions rise and trouble stirs.
this book did not need to be written. I have never seen something so clearly meant to prey on nostalgia and an already successful series that has failed so horribly. why Collins decided to make this book from Snow's point of view, i'll never understand. the stakes feel so low when we already know it's all going to work out for him in the end, that he's going to become a terrible person. it's like Collins is trying to imbue him with sympathetic characteristics just to throw those characteristics out of the window in the final stretch of the book, and besides, i could never fully empathize with Snow knowing what i do from the original trilogy.
let me get my nitpicks out of the way first. firstly, the title of this book is so ridiculous. the characters' names are somehow even more ridiculous, somehow surpassing the already ridiculous names in the original trilogy.firstly, the title of this book is so ridiculous. the characters' names are somehow even more ridiculous, somehow surpassing the already ridiculous names in the original trilogy. there are also way too many characters, too many names floating around-- and it seems like Collins knows this, because she kills half of them off in weird, random mishaps. why she designed the book this way, i have no clue. she gave each tribute a mentor, totalling in FOURTY EIGHT characters to keep track of, and even when she was clearly telling the reader "hey, don't worry about this one they don't matter" it still added to the confusion.
speaking of those random characters' deaths, there was an appalling amount of death! and not in a good way! there was unbelievable, avoidable, senseless death that served no purpose except to narrow down the cast of characters. and each death was treated without any tact; every scene, even the most violent and sad ones, happens so quickly that the reader cannot sit with it and feel it. Collins' scenes in general are often swiftly paced, and this is an asset in the original trilogy because it's rife with action content; yet in this novel it is a detriment because there is simply not enough action to warrant the speed, so the reader is left reading pages of fluff and circulatory internal monologue from the world's least interesting character, young Coriolanus Snow. the emotional moments fall completely flat because, for some reason, it seems like Collins cares more about us reading Snow quarrel with himself than CHILDREN DYING.
with that, let's get into the characters! Snow is analytical, terrible, and entirely uninteresting. his "friend" Sejanus Plinth is way more enthralling and it is clearly a sort of Jesse Pinkman-to-Walter White dynamic but without the finesse of Vince Gilligan. Lucy Gray is alright, i guess, but all she ever does is sing. i felt that her character was so empty that when i finally realized there was going to be a Snow and Lucy Gray romance i laughed out loud. i don't know why Collins felt the need for a romantic subplot, but um, it's certainly... there. the pair have absolutely zero chemistry and i prayed one of them would die so i would stop having to read about them.
it seems like star-crossed lovers, starvation, and self-congratulatory callbacks are all Collins has in here repertoire in Ballad. she attempts at humor via Lucky Flickerman in the middle of the novel and fails horribly. she adds absolutely nothing new to her already stellar original trilogy and instead has made me personally infuriated and with a newly tainted view of the series.
trauma is the most interesting part of the Hunger Games original trilogy. we see how trauma informs every single one of the characters' decisions, how it scars them, changes them. in Ballad trauma is written with such a fumbling hand that it feels like none exists at all. SpoilerLucy Gray seems unphased after leaving the arena and Snow seems unbothered by the blood on his hands. none of it makes any sense.
in general, this novel was one of the least engaging books i have had the displeasure to read in recent years. i cannot overstate how miserable that makes me, as someone who harbors a deep love for the Hunger Games original trilogy. sigh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death