The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Book Review and Mini Analysis

 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes By Suzanne Collins

2020

Sci-fi, Dystopian Fiction

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and while this review is late, I have all kinds of things to say about the book! While I don’t give away any major spoilers for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I do dive into some of the themes and concepts explored which could either spoil some aspects of the book, or guide you in your reading.

I first read The Hunger Games trilogy at least seven years ago, if not more. After a reading slump from the first couple months of quarantine in Canada, I gave the series a reread and fell in love with the books all over (hence why I put the trilogy and prequel on my best books on 2020 list.) Reading the trilogy after the OG hype died down and before TBOSAS(which is how I will be referring to the book because of its long title) hype began was a great way of reading the original trilogy critically. I think having read a lot more books and taken university English classes made me realize how much the series stands out in the way Collins explores society, war, and the difficulty in starting a revolution. I’m so happy that so many teens were introduced to these difficult themes at a young age.

Going into TBOSAS, it’s safe to say I had expectations for what I thought Collins would explore. While I don’t think that TBOSAS lived up to a lot of fans' expectations, and even I don’t think the prequel is as well rounded as the OG series, I absolutely loved the read. As more months pass since I first picked up TBOSAS, the more I come to appreciate how Collins chose to write what was a long awaited book.

One of the things I really liked about TBOSAS was the pacing of the Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, Katniss repeatedly emphasizes how the games are for show and entertainment. The Games are described as tense, captivating, and brutal, which works to develop how the Games are meant to draw the watcher in. Furthermore, anyone choosing to read The Hunger Games is like the capital audience in reading about the murder of children. In TBOSAS, before the hyped games of Katniss’s time, the Hunger Games are slowly paced, messy, and mostly ignored by the people of Panam. Contrasting this slower paced version of the Games is necessary to understand how the Games were manufactured to be entertaining and distract from the violence committed by children. While I completely understand for actual reading enjoyment this could have dragged down the book, I personally think that TBOSAS wouldn’t have worked any other way. 

The arena itself where the games are held deserves its own paragraph. I was shocked when I first read how little planning went into the Games before a young Snow worked to change how the Games were perceived to gain power. To learn that the games were held in a leftover sports arena was such great imagery and works as a stark contrast to the games of Katniss’s time. Furthermore, it questions what we today perceive as entertaining. 

I love a good villain, and Snow was such an interesting character in The Hunger Games series. Even if as a reader you do not agree with his actions, he always did what he thought was necessary to uphold his power, which are important characteristics of any villain. While I’m really happy that I understand more about the character of Snow now, his characterization in TBOSAS did feel off to me. I understand how Snow got to his position and the struggles he faced, but I still felt like I was missing something by the end. Snow’s character was the only part of the book that didn’t feel fully rounded, but that also could be attributed to the third person narration.

Lucy Gray, the tribute Snow was assigned, was an equally interesting character. Her relationship with Snow was a great addition by Collins not because they were loving and could be shipped, but because Snow used their relationship to gain power among the game makers. Lucy’s backstory with her family and how they did not consider themselves residents of any one district added depth to her character and the world. Her family questions who was assigned to what district and offers a different perspective of the people of Panam. I liked that her ending was ambiguous, but there was some confusion for me in that ambiguousness and I really felt like something was off with Collins’s writing of the ending .

The Hob once hosting music nights was such a great, small detail. I think the music flowing through the story was a plot device that worked really well. It was a mind blowing moment when it’s revealed that Lucy Gray is the singer and creator of the Hanging Tree song. I think it was a nice connection and contextualized a lot of the hate Snow had for Katniss in the OG books. The songwriting within the novel is really great.

I was so excited to learn more about Tigris because of the important role she played in Mockingjay, but she came off as one-note. I learned next to nothing of substance about her. She is supposedly one of the few Snow loved, and while it’s good for his character to show so little of actual feelings for her, it does nothing for character development.

One of the many villains of the book, Dr. Gaul the head game maker, came off as a cartoonish villain to me. While it makes sense that a game maker might be eccentric and would believe people are inherently bad, she came off as one-note. But on the other hand, maybe that was Collins point? Out of all the parts of the book I think I need more time to think about, Dr. Gaul’s character is one of them. 

  

Rating 4.5/5: Despite some of my issues within the story, I truly believe that this book is a must read for Hunger Games fans. I really think this is a book that you have to read for yourself and form your own opinions rather than listen to reviews, because loving or hating it seems to depend on personal taste. Personally, I found the novel to be thought provoking and blasted through it in a little under a day!