The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Books | Fiction / General
3.8
(3.4K)
Suzanne Collins
Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price. It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 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 outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver 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 are 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 the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute . . . and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
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Author
Suzanne Collins
Pages
528
Publisher
Scholastic
Published Date
2020
ISBN
0702300179 9780702300172
Community ReviewsSee all
"Finished as of Oct. 5th 2024
A particularly interesting read as the Author does what she does best to spin a story on President Snow’s background. How he became to be so vile and selfish. So cruel.
I won’t lie, I didn’t truly understand how it tied to the first 3 until the end; when I had sat and thought about it. I believe the Author did a great job with this book. "
"Listened to the audiobook. The narrator has a likable voice to me and I felt he iterated the emotion, fear, shock, and anticipation in some of the chapters. Yeah, there were the parts where I didn’t care much for Lucy’s singing and her Coven. But I’m glad I was able to see the corruption that was taking place in Coriolanus’s mind from the beginning to the end where he’s rationalizing most of his logic or what needs to be done “for the greater good” in his perspective."
"What an incredible book!!! "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was such an interesting and fascinating read!!! It was wonderful to finally get some background history to build up the world we came to love with the first three books in the "Hunger Games" series. It was also mind-blowing to enter the young mind of the future President Snow and to follow his rise to power. I enjoyed every page of this book and was not expecting the twist at the very end! Be warned that young Coriolanus Snow will leave you speechless with his decisions and innermost thoughts! This book is definitely worth reading if you're a huge fan of the "Hunger Games" series!!! I would love to read any other books that are released that take place within the world of Panem!!!"
"On par with the original trilogy. I swear the Mandala effect has taken place because I swear his name was Cornelius. You wanted so badly for Coriolanus and Lucy Grey to be end game, but you knew it just wasn't ment to be. Great time ins with the original trilogy, it makes his fall at the end all the more brilliant, if not a little sadistic. We love a good villain origin story, but it made him seem more like a tragic character than an all out villain. 8/10"
"2.75 star. I found the plot very interesting since it was about how President Snow came to be. But since you were with him instead of the tributes it was as if we were outside the action and disconnected. The tributes always have much more to offer to the story. While Snow was under privileged he didn't have as much to lose. I would have preferred maybe more POV's.<br/><br/>The story did make me realize how Snow could have burned his way to the top. He was scary clever. But honestly his point of no return wasn't believable. Snow was pretty much a decent guy until about 30 min left of the audiobook. There was no gradual step for the turn it just happened.<br/><br/>I might be a little more harsh on this review because of the audiobook narrator Santino Fontana. He did a good job with the male voices but the female ones were very exaggerated. And the singing I wanted to pull my hair out. He just read it in a weird clipped tone.<br/><br/>I also couldn't get invested in the characters they were very underdeveloped. No one stood out to me. And not going to lie I did go into this thinking it would be action packed and rich like The Hunger Games so that added another layer of disappointment."
"A story that really brings The Hunger Games to life, I found myself rooting for someone I knew was a villain!! This story really captures the idea that bad people don’t really know that they’re bad…. Or maybe they just ignore it. "
M M
Maddie Matew
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