The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Hi everyone! I just finished reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. This book is like a background to the character President Snow from the first three books. It can also be seen as some sort of prequel and explain how, why, and by who the Hunger Games were created. 

I did watch the movie before I read this book so this probably contributes to the reason why I thought this book was kind of boring. 

This book follows Coriolanus Snow, or more commonly known as President Snow, and his life as a student in the Capitol, a mentor in the Hunger Games to District 12 tribute Lucy Gray, and how his life changed afterwards. 

Snow mentored Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray was probably the most interesting part of this book. She does not consider herself to be from District 12. Instead, she calls herself Covey and considers herself part of that group which sort of migrates around Panem. Lucy Gray is a singer and part of a band made of members from the Covey. She sings a lot of songs throughout the book. In the movie, Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray, shows us the melody for some of the songs. There were many more in the book and I wish there was some sort of playlist so that I could know what all of the songs were supposed to sound like!

*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD* As I mentioned before, Lucy Gray is part of a group called the Covey. All the members of the Covey have their name created using the same rules. The first part is from a ballad and the second part is a color. Lucy Gray's name is special because her ballad actual includes her full name! Additionally, her ballad talks about a girl who disappears without a trace. Similar to how Lucy Gray disappeared in the end of the book: her and Snow were supposed to run away together but she wandered off saying she was going to pick katniss (a plant but coincidentally also the name of the protagonist in the first three books) but actually vanished without a trace. I thought this was such an interesting parallel between her ballad and what her ending was in the book!

As I mentioned before, this book was boring. This book did not do as good of a job of keeping the protagonists internal thoughts interesting as they did in the first book. Snow's thought felt very repetitive and it was hard to feel motivated to continue reading. Watching the movie before reading the book could have definitely contributed to thinking this book was boring, but I don't think it made that much of an impact.

Overall, this book was okay. I would give it a 6/10 mainly because the most interesting part was the beginning which included the actual Games. I know there is another book that just recently came out: Sunrise on the Reaping. This book follows Haymitch's Games. He was Katniss's mentor in her games. I might read that one next but I do have another book I've been wanting to read so we will see! 

-Sofia