Book Review - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, 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.

So I may have hated this, but not because the story was bad or the writing was done poorly. No, I just hate Snow with a passion. This book was an amazing behind the scenes look into the history of the Hunger Games and how Snow's mind works, why he is the way he is. I'm impressed that this prequel, written in quite a different style to the original trilogy, managed to draw me in. The start was slow and the end fast but Snow's evolution was done cleverly in my opinion. I give this book 4 stars overall.

Many thanks to Scholastic Australia for providing me with a copy of this book for my independent and honest review.