Jessica PingThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
by: Suzanne Collins
Review by Jessica Ping – June 9, 2020
*Spoiler Free Content Ahead – While details and quotes are shared, no resolution material will be included in this review beyond my own opinions. Spoilers for the original series ARE included.
**Disclosure: There are affiliate links in the following article, meaning that, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using the links, I will receive a small commission.
Hi, my name is Jessica Ping-Wild and I am a total Hunger Games fanatic.
It all started on Spring Break of my final year of middle school. I picked up the first book and in under a week, I had read through the whole series twice. TWICE.
Obsession doesn’t even begin to cover it really. I was in love with these books and constantly wanted to devour more content from Panem. Attending every midnight showing and keeping up to date through blogs was all well and good, but I wanted the real stuff from the source herself.
I wanted a prequel.
More specifically, I wanted a prequel about Haymitch’s experience in the arena, but I suppose I’ll settle for President Snow 😉
It’s been over 8 years, and I still felt that familiar fluttering in my chest when I saw Suzanne Collins’s announcement last fall. In the months and weeks leading up to the book’s release, I apparently couldn’t stop gushing about my excitement.
Honestly, it must have been bad because my husband went out of his way to order it for me so I could have it as soon as it was released. 😬😬😬
If you liked the original series, but have been hesitant to pick up this new installment, keep reading to hear why it’s worth it!
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)
Welcome to the 10th Hunger Games! If you’re looking for a trip down memory lane, this is the perfect read for you. You’ll constantly be referred back to old character names and parallels from the original series. But, let me be the first to warn you, this Hunger Games looks nothing like the one we lived through alongside Katniss and Peeta.
This one is much, much darker, but still holds onto just the right amount of flirtation and rebellion.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Coriolanus Snow, the eventual president of Panem, is in his final semester of high school. His family, or what’s left of it, is broke, meaning that he cannot afford to attend University in the fall without a scholarship.
Hiding these financial woes from the rest of society, Snow still attends the Academy — the most prestigious institution for secondary education in the nation.
Each year, the Academy gives away a handful of highly prized University scholarships to the best students in the graduating class. That said, merit alone will not guarantee anyone money this year.
Instead, 24 eligible seniors will serve as mentors for the participants of the 10th Hunger Games. How they fulfill these duties determines whether or not they will receive a scholarship. While their tributes don’t necessarily have to win it all, it is assumed that longevity in the arena gives the mentors a higher chance at glory and a free education, something that is of the utmost importance to young Mr. Snow.
Up until this point, the Hunger Games were strictly used as a punishment for the districts. While the competition was televised, viewing was not mandatory and all of the showmanship you remember from the original series has not yet been set up. This year, however, the Head Gamemaker, Dr. Gaul, wants to make the Games a full out production.
Therefore, the mentors are not only in charge of preparing their tributes for the arena, they must now create a spectacle worthy of Capitol eyes, and funding.
Broken into three parts, this prequel features new insights on the “Dark Days,” or the initial rebellion that led to the creation of the Hunger Games, children fighting for their lives, an inside look at how Coriolanus Snow became the perfect antagonist, and an epic love story.
Interested? Keep reading to see more specific details on what this book got right, what it didn’t, and what we can learn from it moving forward.
WHERE IT EXCELS
The absurdity level is kept in check
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is not The Cursed Child of the Harry Potter Series. You’re not going to suddenly have to accept something completely outrageous as canon. I suppose that’s one benefit to writing a prequel; the universe remains untouched.
The wordplay is witty
Collins is clever. Her syntax creates a fun space that bridges the gap between this novel and the original series, even at one point using the katniss plant to ground readers and remind them of the truth that has yet to chronologically unfold.
The power of the music
Music is important in the original series, but not like it is here.
Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12, is a more charismatic and flirtier version of Katniss Everdeen, and, like the Girl on Fire, she knows the power of a well-timed song.
Folk music acts as an important storyteller within the narrative, often foreshadowing what’s to come and alluding to possible connections between this book and the original series. The use of music as a mechanism of trust is one of my personal favorite thematic parallels.
Snow’s character development makes sense
He has a chip on his shoulder, but if you survived a war, starvation, violence, illness, and the death of your parents all before you were 10 years old, wouldn’t you have one too?
We never meet Mr. and Mrs. Snow. They’re both dead long before we are welcomed into the universe. Snow’s father was an important military official for the Capitol and his mother was said to love music. From this information alone, Collins is telling us which side of the morality spectrum they each were on.
Snow was influenced by each of them, but only really references moments he shared with his mother. Whenever he is stressed about his role in the Games, her memory is what comes to him.
The whole book bears witness to the internal struggle he faces. Does he follow the music his mother loved so dearly, or does he take on an authoritative role like his father? Obviously we know the answer already, but the journey there isn’t as clear as you might think.
WHERE IT FALLS SHORT
The bestial overkill
According to the Capitol’s citizens, people from the districts are dirty, uneducated, and uncivilized; ultimately placing them on equal footing with your average woodland creature.
When the tributes are brought in to the Capitol after the reaping ceremonies are complete, we are told they are being kept in the monkey house at the zoo. Somehow, I skipped over this detail the first time it was presented in the book and was utterly confused on the following page when it was mentioned again. But, no worries, it was brought up at least 15 more times throughout Part 1, so my confusion soon faded.
The references to the districts’ savagery are over the top. While it doesn’t ruin the book, it certainly made the first part a bit challenging to get through.
The love story feels forced
People may disagree heartily with me on this one, but thats okay! I said what I said.
Do I think there is an attraction? Yes.
Do I think lust is involved? Definitely.
Are they in love? Nope.
Until you read the book, I better leave it there for now.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Journal (Hunger Games)
RELEVANCE TO PRESENT DAY AMERICA
You may or may not know this about me, but I was an English major in college. So, basically, I live for text analysis and interpretation. That said, the following bit is just my personal take on my initial reading of the text. It’s not fully developed or fleshed out, but it does comprise some of the thoughts I had while reading the novel.
So…
This entire book is a conversation on privilege.
Snow is always alert and ready to question his peers’ privilege but fails completely to consider his own.
America, like the Capitol, is plagued by its own supposed superiority. In believing that we are on top of the world, we are missing vital opportunities for growth and repair. We have fooled ourselves into thinking that everything is perfect. The United States shouldn’t have to host a Hunger Games for us to realize our faults.
Additionally, putting Snow in a protagonist position provides a valuable look into his internal monologue. You go into this book knowing his weapon of choice is poison and that he has not just upheld the postwar Hunger Games ritual as president, but actively plays a part in ensuring they are as gruesome as possible.
He is famous for being a monster, and now we get to peek inside his head to see exactly what is going on up there. We are preconditioned to question him, but what may be surprising is how much you will question yourself. Would you behave and react differently if put into the same situation? Are you willing to defy your government and stand up for what you think is right? What are your limits?
Just like The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is more than just an entertaining and nostalgic read. It is a perfectly timed thought piece on our present condition that we should use to question our own shortcomings as individuals, but also how we move forward as a collective whole.
FAVORITE QUOTES
“Clerk Carmine brought Lucy Gray a plant he’d uprooted from the lake, with pointy leaves and small white flowers. ‘Hey, you found some katniss. Good work, CC.’ Coriolanus wondered if he meant it to be decorative, like the Grandma’m’s roses, but she immediately examined the roots from which small tubers hung. ‘Little too early yet.'”
“You’ve no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they’re not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn’t give you that right. Having more weapons doesn’t give you that right. Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.”
“The strain of being a full-fledged adult every day had grown tiresome.”
“‘The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings,’ she said.
‘The mockingjay?’ He laughed. ‘Really, I think you’re just making these things up.’
‘Not that one. A mockingjay’s a bona fide bird,’ she assured him.
‘And it sings in your show?’ he asked.
‘Not my show, sweetheart. Yours. The Capitol’s anyway.'”
“Snow lands on top”
READ IT YOURSELF
If you enjoyed this review, you’ll love the book.
CONNECT
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