Narrated By: Santino Fontana
Publisher: Scholastic Audio
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi – Dystopia
Format: Audiobook
Published: May 19th, 2020
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Many, many years ago, a friend suggested I check out a book seemingly everyone had been raving about. I trusted their opinion, picked up The Hunger Games, finished it on a train journey home from university and, as I waited for my connection, picked up the next two – I’d finished both before returning to uni after the weekend.
So, when The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was announced, I was excited, if a little apprehensive; I trusted Collins as a writer to pull it off, but I wasn’t sure about how I’d feel diving into the backstory of one of the trilogy’s monstrous antagonists. By the time I finished listening to the audiobook – narrated wonderfully by Santino Fontana – all I could think was how many different layers are sitting in both the original trilogy and this book, and how Ballad works as both an effective introduction to this world for readers who haven’t yet read the trilogy, and an excellent extension for those of us who have.
Snow always lands on top. Something Coriolanus Snow struggles to remember, with the hard times his family have now fallen on, and worse waiting on the horizon. But if 18-year-old Snow can prove himself as a mentor in the 10th annual Hunger Games, he might get a shot at putting him and his family back ‘where they belong’. What he doesn’t expect is to be given the worst assignment; the female tribute from District 12. Not someone who seems destined to win. But Snow thinks he can make it work, especially when he meets Lucy Grey Baird and finds her to be completely charming.
Something I really appreciated here is Collins showing that people aren’t wholly good or evil, but very much shaped by their upbringing, family, circumstances, and education. I don’t think she was aiming to make Snow a completely sympathetic character, but to show how monsters really are just men, and how they’re made. Snow’s formulative years were under a war sparked by a rebel uprising, when he and his family struggled. His family’s decline takes place after his father dies, and it’s this that forms Snow’s core – war brings out the worst in people, and Snow witnesses some horrific things, while The Capital reinforces the idea that everything people experienced during the war was because of the Districts.
What I found really interesting about this was the different perspective, and the way Snow’s beliefs are formed by a mix of trauma and propaganda. He really does see himself as a good guy, and when he realises he feels something for Lucy Grey, he immediately internally ‘claims’ her, while separating her from the rest of ‘District 12’ in ways that Lucy Grey, without realising, reinforces. Her family are not part of the District, and were travellers before The Capital cracked down on travel. But Snow sees this as a way of distinguishing her so that he is ‘allowed’ to like her.
This book gives a great insight into how Panam operates, and how they’re able to exert their control to the extent people allow children to be thrown into the arena to be killed. It also demonstrates the various ways people react to situations – whether it’s the tributes who hide or fight, or the way the mentors talk about and to their tributes. Snow also gets some ‘coaching’ from the adults around him, and he is constantly considering how he presents himself and what others will think of him.
As with the original trilogy, what Collins explores in this book isn’t just to do with Panam and a dystopian future, but the very real issues we face today. Even though his family are struggling, Snow comes from a very privileged background that impacts how he sees the world and the way he treats others. These views are formed by his trauma as well as what he sees in the arena, though he fails to consider that the actions of the tributes are the actions of extremely desperate people, who know they’re going to die and know it is because of The Capital. He is willing to do anything to ensure ‘Snow lands on top’, and there is no doubt there are plenty of ‘Snows’ walking around now among us.
This is an absolutely excellent addition to the series, and a book worth reading whether you’re a fan of the original trilogy or new to the series as a whole.
Reading Challenge
Barbie Reading Challenge
Prompt: BARBIE – A book title that has the letters B-A-R-B-I-E in it! There needs to be two B’s
Progress: 10/17 + 100% (1) Bonus Prompt Completed
Unwrapping Words 