Number of Pages: 528
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
The Good
I loved reading the original Hunger Games books and the hype carried over to The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes for sure. I haven’t seen the movie, so I started the book with nothing but the other books to compare it to (other than edits of Snow on Tiktok but I don’t think those really count lol). I had really high hopes for this book and it lived up to my expectations through the whole book.
Collins did a really good job at giving us a peek into Snow’s head and showing how the character we see in the original trilogy got his start. Originally, I was hesitant to read from Snow’s point of view instead of Lucy Grey’s but I feel as though the plot wouldn’t have been as good if it were. This book really made me have a deeper dislike for Snow and what he ends up doing which I honestly really liked about it. Before this book, President Snow was just the antagonist that wanted to keep his power. While that was good enough, knowing more about the “why’s” of his actions other than just being power hungry made him feel more realistic for me. Do bad guys always need a whole book explaining why they hate the people they do and want the power they have? No, but when the book is like this one, I won’t say no to it.
The Bad
There really isn’t anything I would have changed about this book. The chapters felt a little long, but I read this after finishing The Inheritance Games books which had really short chapters. Part of me would have made this book into two books that were around 300 pages but I don’t know if adding about 80 pages of plot would have really done anything for the story other than adding some filler. Two books that were shorter just seems like a waste, so I’m going to chalk it up to a me problem when it comes to the length of the books.
The Favorite (Quotes)
“It’s not over until the mockingbird sings.”
“That’s the sound of snow falling.”
“He knew this would be easier if he wasn’t such an exceptional person.”
“Well I hope the old you doesn't haunt the new you. We have enough ghosts between us.”
“Clever, devious, deadly girl.”
“Nature gone mad. Genes gone bad. Chaos.”