"The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" by Suzanne Collins

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (May 19, 2020) by Suzanne Collins.

Before Coriolanus (known affectionately as Coryo by his cousin) Snow was President of Panem, he was once an 18-year-old preparing to mentor his first-ever tribute in the 10^th annual Hunger Games. The mighty house of Snow is no longer since District 13 was obliterated. While Coriolanus, his fashion-adept cousin Tigris and their imposing grandmother, referred to as Grandma’am by her two grandchildren, live in the Snow family’s penthouse, they must strive to maintain appearances. Coriolanus leans mightily on his charisma, hard-won talent and ambition to keep others from knowing their dire straits. He needs one of the university’s prizes in order to attend the university. His academic record is spotless, but Dean Casca Highbottom hates him for reasons not of Coriolanus’ fault, and he winds up with, of all things, the District 12 tribute. And not even the male tribute, but the female tribute. Fortunately for him, Lucy Gray Baird turns out to have “star quality” with her forward fashion at the Reaping, her siren-like singing ability and her shining personality. Tigris and Coriolanus agree that he should treat Lucy Gray as a guest and not a condemned prisoner. And Lucy Gray wants him to believe that she can actually win. The two become close, and though he may love her, he is always Capitol first. His counterpoint is Sejanus Plinth. Sejanus’ family hails from District 2, but because of their relatively new wealth (10 years ago, Strabo Plinth with his District 2 manufacturing business, sided with the president), they live very comfortably in the Capitol that Strabo bought the family’s way into. Sejanus, with his compassion and history in the Districts, doesn’t hold back how he feels about the Hunger Games, no matter how many consider him a rebel sympathizer. The Games are monstrous from the start and the added snake muttations up the monstrosity factor even greater. Creator of those muttations, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, Head Gamemaker, is disturbingly playful because of her twisted, sick Mengelian nature, and is one of Coriolanus’ strongest advocates. Whether or not this is helpful to him, Coriolanus plans to succeed. Because “Snow lands on top.”

This story is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, as this story takes place over 60 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute. Knowing Coriolanus as President Snow means I’m never going to warm up to him, not even in a he’s-just-misunderstood sort of way, but Collins does try to humanize him by making him superficially caring and emotionally relatable. She works to make him vulnerable yet confident, and he’s charismatic but with airs. It is complex and chaotic with the world-building, the multitude of characters to root for, abhor or feel conflicted about, the philosophical questions the story can encourage and what it looks like to watch someone become a villain. It’s a challenge to read, and it’s at turns hard to read because of the depths to which characters will go to win, to survive. I don’t think it’s nearly as good as the trilogy, and the book does not need to be 517 pages long, but it remains a book for fans to read. And we should all consider what it means that the most horrible of characters may have once done the right thing. What might we have done in their shoes?