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A review by beautifulpaxielreads
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Reviewed 26/04/24 (1st reread)
I'll say this for Suzanne Collins - the woman knows how to craft a page-turner.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (TBOSAS) was just immaculate. I decided to bump up my rating from my previous reading of this - 4.5 rather than 5 purely because our narrator, Coriolanus Snow was so despicable (beautifully written, though!).
I read this first in 2020 - the year it came out - and then again in 2024, after I saw the film adaptation. I'm glad I saw the movie first - for while the film is very well-made and incredibly gripping to watch, as an adaptation, it cannot hold a candle to the depth and detail of the original work.
This is understandable (and in my opinion, inevitable) when you are translating a work of literature to the screen, as each medium works differently to communicate its message to the audience - a film works by showing you what you need to know, whereas a novel tells you.
The strength of TBOSAS as a novel lies in its narrative voice - that of the aforementioned Coriolanus Snow. Coriolanus begins the novel as an impoverished student with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and vanity, and ends it asa murderer who becomes the adopted heir (and unofficially, son) of a wealthy family whose real son's death Snow had a direct hand in causing .
The characterisation was superb (I particularly loved Lysistrata), the crafting of suspense, tension, and plot masterful, the examination of the nature vs. nurture debate thought-provoking, and the callbacks to the original Hunger Games trilogy were cleverly inserted and not overdone.
Having read the book previously (and seen the film), I knew what was coming, and so at these points I would have to put the book down to mentally prepare myself before returning to it. The sense of dread was palpable, and the cliffhanger at the end of each chapter made it really hard not to keep reading - I can see why I raced through it in a day the first time.
TBOSAS was a chilling, suspenseful, and highly engrossing read.
I'll say this for Suzanne Collins - the woman knows how to craft a page-turner.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (TBOSAS) was just immaculate. I decided to bump up my rating from my previous reading of this - 4.5 rather than 5 purely because our narrator, Coriolanus Snow was so despicable (beautifully written, though!).
I read this first in 2020 - the year it came out - and then again in 2024, after I saw the film adaptation. I'm glad I saw the movie first - for while the film is very well-made and incredibly gripping to watch, as an adaptation, it cannot hold a candle to the depth and detail of the original work.
This is understandable (and in my opinion, inevitable) when you are translating a work of literature to the screen, as each medium works differently to communicate its message to the audience - a film works by showing you what you need to know, whereas a novel tells you.
The strength of TBOSAS as a novel lies in its narrative voice - that of the aforementioned Coriolanus Snow. Coriolanus begins the novel as an impoverished student with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and vanity, and ends it as
The characterisation was superb (I particularly loved Lysistrata), the crafting of suspense, tension, and plot masterful, the examination of the nature vs. nurture debate thought-provoking, and the callbacks to the original Hunger Games trilogy were cleverly inserted and not overdone.
Having read the book previously (and seen the film), I knew what was coming, and so at these points I would have to put the book down to mentally prepare myself before returning to it. The sense of dread was palpable, and the cliffhanger at the end of each chapter made it really hard not to keep reading - I can see why I raced through it in a day the first time.
TBOSAS was a chilling, suspenseful, and highly engrossing read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Veiled references to characters having to trade sexual favours for survival, hence I have marked "sexual violence" and "sexual assault" as minor content warnings only.