The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

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It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined, every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute, and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great follow up! submitted by emma116 on June 28, 2020, 8:36pm This was a good prequel to the hunger games series. I enjoyed reading this and reliving my youth! I watched the movies first to remind myself what happened which was super helpful to catch all the easter eggs.

Great prequel submitted by Jhopson on July 6, 2020, 8:55pm An interesting addition to the Hunger Games universe. Corialanus Snow as an 18 year-old involved with the early days of the hunger games. Well-written, compelling, somehow manages to make the villian of the series a relatable character.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Book Review submitted by yanxia cao on July 20, 2020, 11:00am The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel of the trilogy, The Hunger Games. It follows eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow. After his war-hero father and mother died, Corionlaus along with his cousin Tigris and his grandmother are on the brink of poverty. Barely able to pay for food and when a new tax is released, unable to afford an apartment, Corionlaus needs a district tribute who can win the tenth Hunger Games. Preferably from District 1, 2, or 4, where the winners usually come from. Much is at stake. The mentor of the winner will get a scholarship to the University, something Corionlaus desperately needs. Unfortunately, he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray from the poor district, District 12, who has the least chance of winning. He believes that she has no chance of winning until she sings at the reaping and wins over everyone in the Capitol’s heart.
Dr.Gaul, the Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games, and a vicious and nefarious person in general is disappointed by the small number of people who watch the Hunger Games and tells her group of students, the mentors to ponder and brainstorm ideas to get the citizens of the Capitol to be interested in the malicious and evil Hunger Games. Coriolanus suggests people betting on who they think would win the games, “sponsors” for the tributes. A way to encourage people to watch and to let them participate in the games. Participation led to people being more engaged with the games, letting them view it as a
Even though Lucy Gray captivated the people of the Capitol with her mesmerizing voice, that doesn’t mean that her skills in combat are at the same standards. Coriolanus’s only hope in securing the scholarship to the University is that Lucy Gray can outlive the other tributes, and hope for numerous donors. I mean, what else can she do? She can’t wield a sword, or handle an ax.
Will Lucy Grey win the tenth Hunger Games? Will Snow win the competition? What exactly will Snow sacrifice for the scholarship? How did Snow turn into a malicious vengeful villain? How did a poor boy, on the brink of poverty, turn into President of Panem? How did Snow get his signature move? Where is The Hanging Tree from, who wrote it?

MY OPINION (No one asked for it, but whatever):
(No spoilers, because it just came out and in case someone wants to read it and doesn’t want me to spoil the book for them)
I give this book a solid nine-point five out of ten. This book had me up all night finishing it. I must say, some parts of the book were a bit boring, that’s why it isn’t a ten out of ten, but the last fifth of the book was very intense. There were plot twists everywhere and so many aspects of the book surprised me. There were unexpected murders, friendships, bonds, and people’s motives. This book also answered so many questions from the trilogy, The Hunger Games. I got to take a look into the life of a Capitol citizen, a poor one though. How he viewed the Hunger Games and life a few years after the First Rebellion. It was intriguing to see how Coriolanus use to be a thoughtful, smart, and quick-witted child, before (plot twist, I’m not going to say it). The idea of the Hunger Games made so much more sense after I realized that Coriolanus and his family (plot twist here) contributed to the making and rules of it. I could definitely imagine a cold-hearted man and his family devising plans about how to punish the Districts.
I’m glad to see that the characters aren’t just entirely evil mean villains or perfect angels. When I heard that there would be a fourth book, I expected it to be the journey of Finnick’s Hunger Games journey, or Beetee’s, or maybe even Haymitch. Or like an extra special year. The very first Hunger Games, or one of the Quarter Quell. I was very surprised to learn that it would follow Snow.
I would recommend this book to ten and up. There are many murders and components of this book which I would feel not appropriate for anyone younger than ten. I know a lot of adults read the first three books of the trilogy, that’s why I feel like this book would be appropriate for them too.
I would recommend people just starting to read this series to start with Katniss’s journey, even though The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel. Katniss’s journey has a more in-depth definition and description of everything in Panem. The 12 Districts, the Capitol, the Hunger Games, etc. This book assumes that you already know those aspects.

Solid 9 put of 10 submitted by mrusse12 on July 20, 2020, 11:27am This book was a great elaboration of the Hunger Games trilogy and gave a new perspective of many of the original characters. I would give it 9 out of 10 stars because sometimes the action was lacking and it was a bit boring at times.

Not light-hearted submitted by jcottey on August 7, 2020, 8:13am If you're looking for a feel good book, look elsewhere. Collins is an excellent writer and spun a compelling story following Snow as a senior in high school. Personally, I read an online summary of the last fifth of the book rather than finish it because I didn't want to deal with any more death, betrayal, evil, good people being changed to bad. If you're good with all of that and have read the rest of the series, you will enjoy the book.

Great Prequel submitted by lawrencekl57 on September 11, 2020, 3:57pm This is one of those books that you can't wait to finish because you want to know how it ends, but don't want to finish because you're enjoying it so much. I fell asleep three nights while reading it, and even dreamed about it.
It has interesting parallels with today's world and how we view other cultures. I hope that more books are coming.

Wow! submitted by Xris on February 28, 2021, 1:02pm I mean you kind of know where it's heading, but the author still gives you glimmers of hope that things could have been different for him. Certainly keeps you riveted to the story. Dark stuff though, but a great story.

Satisfying submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 18, 2021, 10:01pm A rewarding back story of the early world of the Hunger Games trilogy. Having read this, I of course wanted to go back and re-read the trilogy in order to see how they go together. Very satisfying.

Bruh. submitted by HockeyDude on July 25, 2022, 10:06pm The word I had to go to be rueful was your day and day day so you were going

Mixed feelings submitted by maggotnico on August 3, 2022, 1:08pm This book was VERY hard for me to get into at first. The beginning is very drawn out and boring in my opinion. It gets really good about halfway through.

If you are a big fan of the Hunger Games series, it's definitely a good read for context and history, and an interesting look into how the stone-cold President Stone became that way (or was he always that way? read to find out!)