The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes

If you are a fan of the other Hunger games books, this book takes place before the first book, when the leader of Panam (Coriolanus) is just a young boy ready to attend university.

The book gives you a good idea into Corio's mind and helps explain how he to to thinking the way he does, and also reveals some interesting history from the first books and how they 'came to be'.

An enjoyable book, though I found i could easily put it down, which made it take longer to get through it.

Was not necessary to be written. No one needs to develop empathy for someone as horrible as Snow.

Riveting read and unsettlingly relevant to today. The first third is a bit slow going building up the background but then it becomes well paced, taking some fairly unexpected turns. In the process it raises question worth thinking about. A solid prequel to the Hunger Games to be sure.

This was a really good read. I pretty much inhaled it. I liked that fact that it was a story in and of itself which lent history and context to, but was not dependent on the Hunger Games.

I have no idea how to rate this. It was interesting and gripping but I didn't feel anything for the romance. I love reading about morally grey characters and didn't go into this expecting Snow to suddenly be 'made' into some sort of villain, and I'm glad there was no such moment. He loved power and control in The Hunger Games and we saw him realise that in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I'll probably come back and rate it in a couple of days but for now I'll just say that I liked it and flew through it.