Skip to content

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

DystopianThriller
Pages
528
Published
2020
Language
English

Synopsis

Decades before he becomes the tyrant of Panem, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is a proud, ambitious young man whose once-great family has fallen into genteel poverty. When he is assigned to mentor a tribute in the tenth annual Hunger Games — the impoverished, defiant Lucy Gray Baird of District 12 — he sees a chance to restore the Snow name to glory. But as he grows entangled with Lucy Gray and with the brutal machinery of the Games, ambition, attraction, and survival pull him toward choices that will shape the man, and the monster, he is to become.

Set in a Capitol still scarred by war, this prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy traces the origins of President Snow and the early, cruder Games, examining power, control, and the seductive logic of authoritarianism.

Suzanne Collins returns to Panem with a slower, more philosophical novel about how a person talks himself into cruelty.

Prose complexity
7/10

Collected in

Book cover of The Hunger Games 4-Book Box Set
The Hunger Games 4-Book Box Set

Vibe

DarkTenseThought-ProvokingAtmospheric
Villain ProtagonistMorally GreyComing of Age

Genres

Dystopian Thriller YA Dystopian Science Fiction Adventure Drama Young Adult

About the author

S
Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins is an American author and screenwriter, best known for The Hunger Games trilogy and The Underland Chronicles. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she was the youngest of four children of a career U.S. Air Force officer, and a childhood spent moving between postings — including the year her father served in Vietnam — shaped a recurring subject in her work: war seen through a child's eyes. She began her career in 1991 writing for children's television, contributing to Nickelodeon progra...

Characters

Coriolanus SnowProtagonist

An ambitious, impoverished Capitol scion mentoring a tribute to restore his family's standing.

Dr. Volumnia GaulAntagonist

The Capitol's cruel head Gamemaker and Coriolanus's mentor in ruthlessness.

Lucy Gray BairdSupporting

The District 12 tribute Coriolanus mentors, a charismatic singer from the traveling Covey.

Sejanus PlinthSupporting

A wealthy classmate sympathetic to the districts, and Coriolanus's only real friend.

All characters in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Frequently asked questions

  • Should I read this before or after the original trilogy?

    The author designed this story with the assumption that readers already possess knowledge of the original trilogy, as it contains numerous references and thematic connections that are most impactful when encountered after the main series. While it functions as a self-contained narrative, reading the original three books first provides the necessary context to fully appreciate the evolution of the world and its characters.

  • Is there a film adaptation of this book?

    A feature film adaptation directed by Francis Lawrence was released in 2023, starring Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird.

Read all 21 reviews