The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0) (original 2020; edition 2020)

by Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games (Prequel 1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
8,114	174	1,166	(3.77)	49
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 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.… (more)

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Member:	madamsandler
Title:	The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
Authors:	Suzanne Collins
Info:	Scholastic Press, Kindle Edition, 541 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	read-2020

Work Information

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (2020)

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English (168) Dutch (2) German (1) Spanish (1) All languages (172)

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Showing 1-5 of 168 (next | show all)

Coriolanus Snow is supposed to be graduating from the Academy after mentoring a tribute for the Hunger Games. Little does he know how the 10th annual games will change his life.
I couldn't decide whether to like Snow or not at the beginning. There was empathy for his situation and hardships. But over the course of the book my empathy slipped away until finally the villain was wholly revealed in all his misery. (

)

elorin | Dec 18, 2024 |

Schön, einen weiteren Abstecher nach Panem zu machen. Aber dieses Buch überzeugt mich nicht so sehr wie die Trilogie.

Zum Teil liegt das natürlich am nicht besonders sympathischen Protagonisten. Aber das ist ja keine Überraschung und ich hätte damit gut leben können, wenn mich das Buch ansonsten überzeugt hätte. Das größere Problem hatte ich damit, dass die Handlung über weite Strecken vor sich hin dümpelt, um sich dann auf den letzten 50 Seiten fast zu überschlagen. Und die ziemlich stereotype, eindimensionale Antagonistin tut ihr übriges.

Auf jeden Fall ein nettes Buch für zwischendurch, das aber bei weitem nicht an die vorherigen Bücher der Autorin heranreicht. (

)

Ellemir | Dec 18, 2024 |

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, while not perfect, plays an integral role in the Hunger Games series by granting Snow's character greater depth, revealing his motives and backstory, and raising interesting questions about morality and justice. To me, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is not overly remarkable on its own in the same way that the original Hunger Games novel is, but it adds so much to the original trilogy and transforms Snow from an antagonist who I found only mildly interesting to one who is fascinating and deeply tragic. It is certainly worth a read for those reasons; it just does not reach the same thematic heights as the rest of the series in my opinion. (

)

AlaanaM | Nov 23, 2024 |

3.5

I wasn’t particularly interested in reading a prequel about Snow and while Collins is a great writer, I wasn’t invested enough in the characters to appreciate the book to the full extent. (

)

jenjenreviews | Nov 20, 2024 |

Maybe my memory was fading, but this seems much too violent in its descriptions of the killings. (

)

tinabuchanan | Nov 13, 2024 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Collins, Suzanne	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Fontana, Santino	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

The Hunger Games (Prequel 1)

Is contained in

The Hunger Games / Catching Fire / Mockingjay / The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes | Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Has the adaptation

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes [2023 film] by Tom Blyth

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Canonical title

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

10th Annual Hunger Games

Epigraph

"Hereby it is evident, that during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre, and such a warre, as is of every man, against every man."
- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651

"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains."
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762

[plus three more]

Dedication

For Norton and Jeanne Juster

First words

Coriolanus released the fistful of cabbage into the pot of boiling water and swore that one day it would never pass his lips again.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Egan, Kate

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

813.6

Canonical LCC

PZ7.C6837

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

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

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Book description

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.

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