“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.”
A review of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a villain origin story for The Hunger Games villain, President Snow.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy and a peek into Coriolanus Snows backstory. Prequels can be tricky, they have to live up to a series that so many already love, and it is easy to fail to deliver a backstory that will leave its fans satisfied and connected to the original books.
One particular thing about villain origin stories are that usually you end up with a sort of redemption story - something that explains what made villain who they are and why they act the way they do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Sometimes, you just want a character that wants the world to burn, without a whole lot of explanations to why. With that in mind, I was not sure what to expect with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The first wave of reviews back in 2020 when it was published were not too good, a lot of my fellow bookstagram reviewers seemed quite disappointed with it, and some even called it a boring story.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised with this book! I found The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to be a better read than expected and it had elements that I truly enjoyed, that being it said, it is not the best read I had in 2023. Nevertheless, it is a book I will recommend.
May the odds be ever in your favour
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit and outmanoeuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates out now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute...and must weight his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
Going back to the 10th Hunger Games and getting a perspective on the year that came to change the games forever, was really great. I was invested in this storyline - as it foreshadows what becomes the Hunger Games as we know them. Call it a morbid fascination if you will, but I wanted to know how they originally started out and how we ended up with this insane spectacle that we have in the 74th Hunger Games.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes delivers on that. Not only in its humble beginnings of the games and how the tributes are treated - but also through the tasks the mentors are given. How to make more people watch these horrible games? Cue some interesting philosophical questions being raised by the students who are tasked to mentor the tributes. What is enough punishment for a war? What is a human life worth? And what is societies responsibility for its people? Is it right? To put children in an arena and force them to kill each other?
With what right does the Capitol do this?
With what right?
And then the question that kept popping back up in my mind as I read the book; What happens when you strip away everything, what are you left with then?
It is fascinating to watch characters deal and not deal with these questions, how some seem to be persuaded into believing this is the right path, while other fight against it - trying to point out the wrongness (and madness) about it to everyone around them. And then you have, characters like Dr. Gaul, who thrives in this chaos, enjoys watching and studying not only the tributes but her own students as they battle with themselves and each other throughout the book.
Dr. Gaul was one of my favourite characters. Watching her do her thing was both scary and disturbing, but also intriguing. She knows what to say to Coriolanus, what questions to raise, how to lean back and watch her little experiments blow up and take notes and move on to the next one. On the red carpet a journalist referred to Dr. Gaul as deliciously evil and I cannot forget that statement.
Deliciously evil.
It just describes her madness to a t.
Coriolanus Snow, is not a character you are supposed to like. By now, we know how he ends up - as the evil president of Panem. Katniss nemesis. There is an underlying expectation here that “Corio”, will not be a nice person or someone you would root for. This was my favourite part throughout the book, feeling my dislike for him growing and growing by each page.
In my opinion, Collins did this in a clever way. There are aspects of his childhood you could sympathise with, after all, war leaves scars, it would’ve been naive to not expect these things to affect how a person turns out. Nevertheless, none of these things redeem him for his actions, instead we see how he develops more and more to the Snow we know in the future.
There are emotions, compassion and even love, he does care for those close to him, but even that is only to a certain degree. An aspect that becomes clear in his way of thinking throughout the plot. Collins gave him some humanity and to me, I liked that he was not evil through and through - because, who really is? Nobody is just one thing. We are made up of so many different things, some of them shine stronger than others. His entitlement, selfishness and narcissisms grows in a steady pace and it came to shape him as a truly dislikable main character. Kudos to Collins for doing that so well it left a bad taste in my mouth!
Another part that I truly liked, was watching his interactions with his cousin Tigris Snow. She who made sure he had something proper to wear to the Academy, she who sacrificed herself so she could help him and then her family get out of the troubles they were in. Tigris, who rooted for him until the very end. Until she saw something or someone else in him. To me, that particular scene is what remains strongest in my memory of this book. The realisation of that tiny hope, that he would turn out differently, is finally wiped out.
Overall, I found it fascinating to view the discussions about life, what are human beings and what kind of government does one deserve? I wish we could have gotten more on that topic. Personally I do believe I would have enjoyed watching Snow under Dr. Gauls guidance - if only to see where these discussions led. These topics were also raised in the characters that surrounded Snow, both Sejanus, Lucy and the rest - all had moments of where he was offered and given different perspectives. He could have chosen a different path, it was right there. Right in front of him.
But alas, this is, after all a villains origin story - and there was never a happy ending coming with this book.
“You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else. It's a lot to take in all at once, but it's essential that you make
an effort to answer that question.
Who are human beings?"
"Its the things we love the most that destroy us."
A quote that always stood out to me with The Hunger Games was this one. It always left me wondering who hurt you? The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gives an answer to it, sort of, but I am not too happy with it.
Lucy Gray was a fascinating character, I loved her freedom, her survival instinct, her mystery - it is a good character. A memorable one. How she kept being a mystery to Snow in the aftermath of the games. How she was so close, but still just out of his reach. How she used her lyrics to give small snippets of her life, her feelings and thoughts - and to still be the mysterious tribute from District 12. A mocking jay.
“You can’t take my sass.
You can’t take my talking.
You can kiss my ass
And then keep on walking.”
In a way they mirrored each other. Lucy Gray and Snow are survivalists in their own right. So alike in many ways - but where their paths separate were in the choices they made, their moral compasses and who they were at the very core - despite all the horrible things they went through.
What fell through was in my opinion, was the relationship between Snow and Gray, it felt flat. It had what could have become a truly gut punching love story, it had the right dynamic, but it never got there. At least not to me. By the time the ending came, I was not left with an answer to - what did this relationship or Lucy truly destroy in Snow?
His possessiveness and jealousy or his entitlement. For sure, all of those traits got a punch, but did it move me as a reader? No. Not even close. I do believe this is partially due to the uneven pace throughout the book, some parts were really slow, others we just blasted through, and towards the end, it all happened rather quickly - and this is where I would’ve loved a much more slower pace to really get under my skin. I do not doubt that they were in love, but the book lacked that essential piece of the puzzle to make it real to me as a reader.
This is were I was let down by the book, the rest of the plot I enjoyed. It was good, entertaining, interesting, deeper than expected and a good villain origin story. I particularly enjoyed Dr. Gaul (yes, I enjoyed this insane creepy lady with snakes and no boundaries), and her role in his education, the games, the philosophy - all of it.
Besides Dr. Gaul, Lucy Gray really stood out to me. I still have a lot of questions about her and about certain aspects of the book. The ending, was an open ending, I think I can say that without spoiling anything. Normally I hate endings like that, but this one left me wondering and imagining - and I love it. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a good prequel to an even better YA series, The Hunger Games still stand strong years later. I might actually want to do a reread, after finishing this one, just to see it under a bigger context.
Until next time,
happy reading! ✨
“Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.”
I have not read the book yet but we did watch the movie as a family over the holidays. I enjoyed it but felt the ending could have been better as the movie portrayal of his emotional state was a bit abrubt. My son, who has read the book, said the written story is a much smoother transition and does a better job of explaining Snow's mental state. I am looking forward to reading the book. Thanks for the review.