Because I enjoyed the original trilogy, I was excited to see this one out.
Spoiler review.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to the Hunger Game trilogy, set around sixty-four years before the first book. It tells stories from President Snow's point of view, back when he was a teenager, before the upcoming 10th Hunger Game.
Suzanne Collins has built an intriguing dystopian world. In the trilogy, we only read snippets of history and make our own conclusions from bits and pieces of information and our imagination. So it's interesting to me that she chooses this timeframe when it's still fresh from war, rebellion, and the Hunger Game has just started.
I have to derail and give my take on a couple of prequel suggestions that I have read:
- A prequel based on the second Quarter Quell (the one won by Haymitch). Haymitch is a fascinating character for me. In fact, he is the character that I relate the most with. He went on to be a depressed drunk because all his loved ones are most likely annihilated since he was one of the first to 'challenge' the Capitol. He remained the only victor of District Twelve until the trilogy's protagonists came along.
While he is definitely an intriguing character, and I would love to read more about him and his game, I don't think there is enough material to build a book around it. I could be wrong, and it's totally valid that there are many other things that can be explored even though we know the outcome of this character quite well, but he is not as ancient as President Snow. (I hope I don't find white roses in my yard later)
- An alternate book from the point of view of Peeta Mellark.
No. I don't think this is a good idea for a new book at all. He is a straightforward character, it could work if he were the main protag initially, not when we already have a complete story from other more interesting characters.
- An alternate book from the point of view of Finnick O'dair.
Now I don't remember if I read this somewhere, or it's in my own head. I think this one could be interesting. Even though we know the character starting book two, he has a very good background story and definitely could be a well-rounded character. We don't know him too much, just enough to make him appealing.
So after those, I think the timeline choice of this book is great. We get to see the after-war's life, even from the point of the winning side. Snow was an educated young man coming from a well-respected family but trying hard to hide his struggles and diminishing status. He became the mentor of a tribute from the tenth Hunger Game, Lucy Gray.
The game was different from what we know from the trilogy. The tributes were treated like low-class low-quality gladiators. They were barely fed and taken care of, having the status of cheap entertainment, housed in a zoo and exhibited like animals. Most were malnourished and too weak to fight. We were shown early implementations of the game, mostly pioneered by Snow, that raised the status of the game and treatments of the tributes, although the terrible main idea remains the same.
I often wonder (and sometimes think of it as the weakness of the series) why the Capitol people are so sheltered, shallow and blind (except Plutarch). At the very least, this book shows us the initial reception of the game, the dictatorship and the government's oppression, evil people in power like Dr. Gaul. If I were to compare it to the real world, it would make a lot of sense. We still see it now.
Although I think it's not naturally intended, Snow's soft spot for Katniss is based on his interaction and relationship with Lucy Gray. Too much of a coincidence? Maybe, but it's not that unbelievable too. There are some missing links (Tigris), but I think it's not much of a setback as it's easy enough to draw some conclusions.
Snow's journey is an interesting journey of a heroic figure turning villain. However, the author puts a lot of effort into the built-up and pulls quite a drastic character change at the end. It's a reasonable outcome, but more could be done for it, especially since we know the result of the evaluation of the main character.
Rating 4 cabbage soups out of 5 Capitols.
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