Heela Mohsini

"Do you hear that, Coriolanus? It's the sound of Snow falling." WOW. This book is easily my new favourite book. It's honestly the most amazing book I've ever read. "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was a heart-pounding, breathtaking, gripping story from beginning to end. Morally gray characters, a captivating plot, beautiful writing, and the suspense was CRAZY in this book. The deep dive into human morals was very intriguing to read about. I could not put this book down. This book is superior to the original Hunger Games trilogy. To the people who are uncertain about reading a book starring Coriolanus Snow: trust me when I say that your views on him will change after reading this. Collins did brilliantly writing him. This is a beautiful ballad of a book, a breathtaking tale that dives into the trauma of war, the complexity of morals, tragedy, love, and most of all, the struggles of a young Coriolanus Snow as he tries to bring glory back to his family's name. His story, which unfolds as he mentors the District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games, is one I couldn't stop reading about. It was truly beautiful. Every word, every moment, was phrased so beautifully. This book is honestly magical. I felt so much more connected to Snow's story than to Katniss's. *Some spoilers in this review!* Snow was very relatable in his struggles, in his decisions. He was not cruel from the start. He was charming, friendly, ambitious, and a high honors student. Chosen to be a mentor in the 10th Hunger Games, he was the last hope for his family's falling lineage. When it was revealed that he would mentor the District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, he was initially doubtful, but went to meet her early. Their relationship grows and blossoms, and Snow finds himself falling for her. He does everything in his power to help her survive in the Games, even breaking rules to ensure her safety from Dr. Gaul's snakes. He gave up almost everything for Lucy Gray. It is only later on when Snow's true ambitions begin to show more clearly. Dr. Gaul encouraged his inner need for power and control throughout the book, and in some of Snow's inner dialogue, we can see hints of his ambition for power and glory. His morals grew more and more twisted as the story progresses. Collins wrote his character shift absolutely beautifully. It was slow, gradual, building up tension as we read on. It was suspenseful. It was heart-pounding. And as Snow continued to let his ambition cloud his thoughts, the dark, psychotic parts of him started to show. What a beautifully written tale of tragedy, of a good-natured young man struggling to maintain his family's honor, only to give in to his dark inner ambitions. This book was emotionally moving, philosophical, captivating, poignant, morally gray, and chilling. Easily my favourite book. If I could rate this ten thousand stars, I would.

Hear me out, guys. Normally I love Wings of Fire, and I was hooked on the first series. It was great. The second series was good up until Darkness of Dragons, which I didn't like. Still, the second series was overall okay. The third series was great. Until this book. Every page, or at least every other page, you have Snowfall screaming in all caps. Literally. She rants about her problems, about how much she hates NightWings, and is constantly paranoid about dragons invading her kingdom. This is not only annoying and tiring, but plain repetitive, and only made me hate Snowfall even more. She has a personality made of concrete that is so boring and irritating, It took me ages to finish the book. She has zero interesting personality: absolutely the worst POV WoF has ever had. Honestly, in my opinion, this series started going downhill from the Poison Jungle: that book was boring too and I hated the plot. Another problem: characters. What the actual HECK is up with Lynx??? In Winter Turning, she was described to be hard-working, sensible, and smart. In this book, she's overly annoying and too-cheery. Seriously, every character in WoF is turning into a mini Kinkajou. WHERE did all her personality and character go??? This is getting stupid. Secondly: why the heck is Sky acting like a three year old when he's actually 8 years old (Peril's age)??? Why does every character turn into another Kinkajou?? I'm sick of this. No character development. All their past personalities get thrown in the dust and trampled on. Tsunami is starting to become really annoying as well. I LOVED her in the first series. She was amazing and my fav DoD. Now she's just another irritating character and her personality is gone. Okay. Moon. Plot device. Her sweet, shy, timid and awkward character is gone too. Now she's just a freaking plot device and acts bland and boring. No character. Just a perfect dragon with no flaws in the background. All her flaws are gone. What just happened, Tui? Moving on to the plot. Why was it so. slow.??? Nothing happened. Here's a recap: Pantala dragons come to Pyrrhia. They get sent to Sanctuary. Then a group of them is chosen to go back to Pantala to fight against the othermind and Wasp. That's it. NOTHING ELSE. Everything else was filler. Snowfall's visions. Thats it. Snowfall's visions only helped her develop and had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the plot. This annoys me so much since the book is absolutely nothing but watching Snowfall develop, and even the development is not that good. Honestly. No plot. I'm absolutely done with this. *puts book down* Another thing. WHY THE HECK ARE THE DRAGONS BECOMING LIKE HUMANS??? I've seen this problem since Legends: Darkstalker. In this book, they have ice cream. HOW. HOW IS MY QUESTION. Do they milk cows or something?? I find this disturbing. They have bathtubs. WHY THE HECK DO DRAGONS NEED BATHTUBS. They can just go for a dip in a lake or something if they need to wash. Why a bathtub. Why. I just don't understand anymore. Dragons are becoming humans. It's no longer a dragon book for me: just another version of humans. Done with this. It was SO MUCH better in the first series. Now, I'm not reading anymore. WoF is becoming humans, bad characters, and terrible plot. Honestly. (Oh, and was I talking in caps sometimes? Whoops, looks like I've pulled a Snowfall.) Seriously. WoF needs to pick up its slack or I'll give up on the series.