THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES REVIEW

Let's talk about The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes...what did you think about it?

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Hey there! Welcome to Bookables! My name is Heather and you haven't already guessed it...I love books! I love reviewing & discussing books & just talking about them in general! I try to have new videos up every Monday, Wednesday & Friday!
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[freyjaward]

It would’ve been to repetitive to follow another tribute in their games. This book shows that Snow isn’t just evil for the sake of being evil. It explains how he justifies his own actions to himself. I think it was very important to the world building.

[Joe-zbps]

My problem with the book is that they never explained what went down between snow and tigres that made her help the rebels when the time came

[allie.astray]

Anyone else catch the names of the other mentors? Arachne Crane (Seneca Crane) and Hilirius Heavensbee (Plutarch Heavensbee) Also Lucky Flickerman (Caesar Flickerman) Show business must run in the fam - 😜

[lindseykokkinias]

i really think there’s a chance that maude ivory could be katniss’ paternal grandma. she always remembered lucy’s songs and i’m assuming she would sing them to katniss’ dad and maybe he sang them to katniss and prim. like the hanging tree and deep in the meadow.

[mutantx]

Catching Fire is one of the best book to movie adaptations .

[rafaelfcf]

I think you are missing on a very important point: the first trilogy wasn’t REALLY about the torture porn. It was an easier way to introduce teen to a mature political conversation than other books like 1984 and Brave New World. It was a book on how giving a specific group of people police power can lead to police brutality, on how media, propaganda and marketing can be used to create a smoke curtain to hide real world problems, on how the political game in a corrupt society can be challenging heading it with an idealistic “good” intention. It even talks on how many times the “other side”, or the “good side” can fall on the same downfalls as the bad side had fallen at first if you aren’t able to sieve the really good intention people from the leaches who want power and saw a way.

When you first read it, you were probably a teen more worried about the love triangle, the arena and Katniss journey. Most likely, most of the REAL intentions of the book might have just passed through your head. That’s why you would have thought Haymitch or Joana’s stories were better, even though they don’t really challenge or move forward the conversation. She didn’t release the new book to go on the teen side of it, it hopes you have matured enough to go one step forward in the conversation. I TRULLY believe that if you re-read the first trilogy keeping an eye for the mature political real-world content, you’d appreciate the new book a whole lot more. She already told you how society uses the spectacle to calm you down when watching our hunger games every day on the news, now she’s telling you how horrible people become Presidents and World Leaders. She is challenging you to grow up as a reader and as a person!

[mindajane]

I really enjoyed the book. I think it explained why Snow hated Katniss so much and saw her as such a threat. But it wasn't like Lucy Gray was a carbon copy of her and that was something else I kind of worried about. She was her own character. I was worried that this book would be like trying to make feel sorry for Snow or whatever but honestly I walked away from this book liking him a whole lot less than I did before and I couldn't stand him before...so that's saying something lol. I do agree some pacing was too slow and there were some scenes, especially in the 3rd part that I really don't know that we needed. That epilogue made my skin crawl and also made my stomach flip and made me so angry all in one. For me, it was kind of the most horrific part of the whole book. I mean you expect the Hunger Games to be gory and horrific, that's just what they are. But to be able to just treat people the way he did in that epilogue without a shred of guilt is just....a new level in sick. Was the book needed? Not really but I do think provided some context for things that we wouldn't have known otherwise and I for sure think there is more to come because while it answered some questions, it created many more for me! Tigris, Sejanus, and Lucy Gray were the best part of this book for me! They were all 3 such sweet good people and they were a welcomed distraction from the dark nasty that is Snow! I just wanted to say that I think the only reason Snow thought of them sending the tributes food was so they stayed alive longer and could be tortured longer, he sure didn't come up with it to make it easier for them!

[cloudywithachonceofpotato]

All I can say is Sejanus deserved better.😭😭

[chrisjovanovic]

RIP Sajanus. He was the voice of reason and my favorite character in this novel. He did have his moments of dumb decisions, when the author was using him to portray the complete opposite ideology to Snow. Overall, though, the relationship between those two was a much more interesting dynamic than that of Snow and Lucy, in my opinion. And wow, the hanging scene when he called out "ma!" had me in tears.

Thanks for your honest review and not sugar coating some of the things that will undeniably be not well-received by fans of the original trilogy. I personally enjoyed this book overall, but completely agree that, in the end, it serves little purpose in connecting to the other stories. Maybe there's a reason for this? Has Collins announced this as the start of a "prequel trilogy"? I don't know.

[gabrielabianchi]

I think this book is a look into how one's morals and opinions can change over time. We know he was never a great person, but at this point in his life, Snow was just finding out how far he could go with his ambition. It's sad that he chose such a despicable path, but I don't think we should pity him, because he made his choices. The book seems like a good basis for character study, especially if you factor in how he ended up.

[angelaw]

I would LOVE a book of short stories about Johanna, Finnick, Haymitch, and Beetee's games

[haleyblain]

I think you need to look at this book through a lense of adding context and richness to the original trilogy story. Why would she write another Hunger Games Victor story when she already did that so well in the original trilogy? This book has an obvious ending but the fun part is how Snow gets there. If you came looking for another story about a sad innocent tribute killing their way to the top and hating the Capitol then you'll be disappointed. This book dives into much deeper philosophical topics that the others in my opinion. Seeing how Snow came to be, the Games, and the Capitol is far more interesting than just another Hunger Games. To me it had the perfect balance of bringing the things I loved about the original trilogy along with new exciting storyline that made it feel necessary. This book felt much darker since it was about the antagonist but I liked that. One fault I will admit is the pacing felt a little off at times. I will say that it leaves you a lot to think about and that's why I love it so much.

[taylorsnow]

The really fast ending really made me remember how the ending to the Hunger Games trilogy was also rushed.

[velvetrooster]

I find it fascinating to find out how inhumane and brutal the beginning of the hunger games actually was when you compare it to the big spectacle that we saw in the original book and movie. I think it has a lot to do with how dehumanizing the treatment is of the tributes as they are selected for the reaping leading up to the games. Not just that but also the way that it’s just an open floor flat smallish Colosseum stadium with no real hiding spots. It’s just flat and open. Alongside that the book and the movie kind of give off a bit of holocaust vibe to me in terms of putting the tributes in handcuffs and in a dark train car and shipping them to the capital. It all gives off a holocaust vibe to me, but as much as I like, seeing how it became the spectacle that it is, and we really truly started becoming interactive with the Audience in terms of sponsors and being able to send them Gifts in the stadium. I would’ve liked to see at least one of the hunger games before the 10th hunger games so that we could get a more visualization literary and visually in the movie to see what it was like when it was truly just a plain open floor fight to the death without any audience interference or sponsors or Mentors being able to send in gifts to the tributes. I would’ve liked to see the brutality that caused the citizens of the capital to start losing their interest in the hunger games and why some of the citizens of the capital started to feel like this is a bit much and maybe we shouldn’t do this anymore because as explained it was definitely possible that they could’ve ended the hunger games if they didn’t bring back the interest from the citizens of the capital. What I’m saying is that I would like to see either written out in a book or visualized in a movie or both a depiction of the hunger games during the first nine hunger games before all the spectacle before the sponsors before you could send gifts to help out your tribute Just to get an idea of what it was truly like when it was literally just handcuffed the tribute put them on a train and when they get off the train at the capital throw them into the stadium and say have at it. I’d like to see that because the depiction of the 10th hunger games does come off as significantly more Brutil than what we saw in the original book and original movie during the 74th hunger games. I think that’s because it’s a more established dystopian future, which allows you to suspend disbelief Whereas without all the spectacle even from the 10th hunger games it just seems a lot more dehumanizing in brutal and just outright inhumane compared to the 10th hunger, games and all the games that came after once they introduced the spectacle and I hate using this phrase, but showmanship of it all. It’s like in the law of this world. We know that there was one year where they had a snowy environment stadium, where the majority of tributes weren’t actually killed so to speak, but rather froze to death and if I remember correctly, there’s also one where they had a desert environment stadium, and a good portion of the tributes died from dehydration. Of course it’s important to know that those particular environments came later on once they figured out how to build more elaborate environments into the stadiums for the hunger games. What I’m talking about is more on the lines of again something between the ninth and the first hunger games when it was just a semi abandoned war, torn auditorium that was just flat and didn’t have any hiding spots and wasn’t really that big and they didn’t get any mentors and they didn’t get Any training and as we know, they probably didn’t get any food since the reaping. It was just handcuff the tributes put them in a dark train car with all the holocaust imagery and when they arrive at the capital you put them in a cage at the zoo on display for the night And then the next morning just throw them into the stadium and tell them to have at it. In a movie visualized or in a book written out I just wanna see what it would be like to be in the hunger games in this world before the spectacle because what we got in. “Songbirds and Snakes” is basically the first modernization of the hunger games. Yeah I’m probably being repetitive here, but I wanna see what was happening and what they were talking about when they say it’s just brutal carnage in the most dehumanizing way and it’s causing the citizens of the capital to start resenting the hunger games, which is resulting in the citizens of the capital losing interest in watching the hunger games And I wanna see just how blatantly terrifying it was for the tributes, but I also wanna see what it was like for the citizens of the capital when all they had with the hunger, games was the fact that it’s on TV and the fact that you just know that there’s 24 children being plucked out of all these districts And thrown into a stadium and being told fight to the death and knowing that the only reward is that the Victor gets to go home I mean, as far as I can tell from the books and the movies the 10th hunger games was before they had ever started giving the winners in prize money, and before they had ever constructed any victory villages in any of the districts. I know that the book and the movie start off by showing you what it was like during the dark times a.k.a. during the war, but I actually think it would’ve been better suited with a small explanation about the war but more of an explanation of this is what it’s like to Host the hunger games and what it’s like for the tributes to participate in the hunger games and then a little explanation, telling us that with the current format being used for the hunger games we are currently losing the audience and the ratings are going down and the capital has decided to start adding new ideas into the hunger games in order to boost the television ratings, which is where we get president Snow introducing his idea for sponsors being able to give money so that the mentors can send gifts with the sponsor money into the stadium to help out their assigned tribute But and this is the last time I’m gonna say this I would’ve liked to see at least highlights from a hunger games without all of that before it evolved into an interactive sporting event.

[hamdialihassan]

I finished this book less than an hour ago and I have a lot of thoughts. Let’s dive in. First of all; I liked it. Not as much as the OG trilogy but enough.

I liked first and foremost that we finally got the point of view from someone in the Capitol. Mockingjay went through similar themes with the similarity between Snow and Coin and how the rebels are basically as bad as the system. In this book through Snow’s pov I kinda understood why he is the way he is and how ppl from the Capitol justify their actions. He’s orphanaged because of the rebels and in his mind everything they’re doing including the hunger games are necessary. I could also kinda see the potential for him almost being good when he was with Lucy Gray. She could sense it too because he kept helping her before and in the arena. In conclusion I don’t think they were ever going to work, no matter how much he thought he loved her they were just too different. Speaking of her lemme just say real quick; I think she’s alive and went to district 13 or whatever. And while we’re on the subject of their love story, I liked it at first and then in the third part I thought it got kinda forced.

I’m not gonna argue that he was ever good but he wasn’t the snakelike evil character that we knew from the HG books and this book showed his slow descent from just regularly bad to irredeemably evil.

I liked the easter eggs. They were fun and not too many. Especially loved that she wrote Hanging Tree.

The first two parts were good and well paced, and then the third one spent much time just explaining his duties as a peacekeeper. That shit was boring. And then the ending was actually quite good even if was too fast paced.

Dr Gaul was the worst woman of all time. Like seriously I think I hated her on Dolores Umbridge levels and I hope he poisoned her. She of all people would deserve it.

Sejanus deserved better.

I guess that’s it. Hope you enjoyed my tiny little review.

[imlonely]

honestly this book was very necessary to the trilogy. suzanne collins just puts snow out there at first and pretty much says we should hate him. she didn’t give a reason really until we saw his actions. the book trilogy is not all about the hunger games in general! people need to look deeper into the meaning of the book. it would be bad to do another book with someone’s point of view like haymitch or johanna. collins didn’t feel like she said enough about snow so she wrote what she needed to get out. everyone is saying how much it sucks but i really love it it shows WHY snow hates katniss so so much and we would have never known that if she never made it. i’m going back and reading the whole trilogy with the new information about snow

[justinboudreaux]

honestly, I thought it was so refreshing reading a hunger games story not involved with Katniss. I love Katniss, but it was nice to read something new

[ninjaproskills]

I also hope that Suzanne Collins makes a book in the exact timeline as this book BUT from Lucy Gray’s view. That would be really cool. I also got more attached to Lucy Gray than I did to Katniss and Peeta but not Finnick because Finnick is the ultimate god

[crescenthaven]

Ooh I would love a book about Effie! Her wacky fashion sense always intrigued me haha.

[allthingsfiction]

totally agree with you with the pacing, I noticed it dramatically changed towards the end - it felt slower compared to the beginning. I loved it at the start, I was hooked, then I began to lose interest and it got confusing at the end. Still wanna see the movie and love the hunger games world in general!