Stella Jane

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was the most amazing book I have ever read. I am a huge fan of the original trilogy, and I am so glad that this book not only did justice to it, but in my opinion was superior to it. I was at first skeptical at the idea of Coriolanus Snow, the villain, being the main protagonist, but after reading the entire book, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I will say, there are about five pretty slow chapters, but the chapters after that COMPLETELY make up for it. Getting a peek into the mind of Coriolanus Snow was so interesting, especially to see how he articulated his thoughts and put them into words. The ending left me wanting more, and I hope one day we find out what happened to Lucy Gray. I do think the ending was extremely creative on Suzanne Collin's part, how she left it up to the reader to decide what happened to Lucy. I also love the fact that it implies at the end that Snow ends up marrying Livia Cardew, because that just adds so many more layers to the original trilogy. In the original trilogy, Plutarch Heavensbee's assitant is someone named Fulvia Cardew, meaning if Snow married Livia Cardew, Fulvia is most likely related to him in some way. Another thing I loved about this book is the amount of characters that are related to the original trilogy characters, it really adds world building and interest to the story. It really shows how the wealthiest families stay the wealthiest, and how hardly anyone else climbs up to their level. It gives an example of aristocracy, and how Coriolanus was pressured ot keep the wealthy Snow dynasty going. I also love how different this generation of Capitol people and children see the Hunger Games, how different it is from the Capitol people and children in the original trilogy. In the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, everyone sees the Hunger Games as a form of power over the districts. While in the original Trilogy, everyone sees it as a harmless form of entertainment. This story just had so many layers, and I cried especially when Sejanus was executed. Suzanne Collins did an amazing job with making you love this character, and then another amazing job with writing his death as painfully as possible. Lucy Gray's character was also so cleverly written, with how intelligent she was. Another fun detail in this novel is Coriolanus's hatred for mockingjays, obviously connecting back to Katniss Everdeen being the "mockingjay" for the revolution in the original trilogy. In conclusion, I would HIGHLY recommend this book!