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I received this book as a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. A big thank you goes here to Scholastic Australia.
THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. On returning to the world of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins said, "With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days-as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet-provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity."
Paperback: 540 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
ISBN-10: 1743836813
ISBN-13: 978-1743836811
I absolutely love this cover! Not only does it blend in with the Hunger Games trilogy but it's also perfect for the story. At first, I was a bit irritated by the lengthy title but after reading it, I think there couldn't have been a better one for this book.
The author's writing style has been amazing as always. With this story full of emotion and heartbreak, the author had me hooked from the very first chapters. It is not as fast-paced as the original trilogy, yet it is absolutely thrilling. It has been great to read more about how the Hunger Games came to existence in the first place and how they developed over the years after the war. Suzanne Collins also did a great job with the world building. The setting has been worked out quite detailed so that it has been really easy to imagine every little thing from the Snow's apartment, to the arena, and the forests of District 12. It felt as if I'm right there in the story next to the characters.
When it comes to the characters, I'm still a bit speechless as to how easily the author tricked me into feeling sympathy and sometimes pity towards Coriolanus Snow. I even liked him at times and felt sad for how he fared after the war with going through the hardships of not enough food or money and so on. Well, Snow definitely destroyed all of these feelings within the blink of an eye.
All summed up ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟʟᴀᴅ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴏɴɢʙɪʀᴅꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱɴᴀᴋᴇꜱ has definitely been a reading highlight for me. It has been great to get a backstory from President Snow and to read about how he turned out to be the person he is.