My take on the Balad of Songbirds and Snakes #2

    Growing up I was a diehard fan of The Hunger Games. I read the whole series multiples times and could quote the movies. So, when the fourth book came out, I was beyond excited. I read the whole book two days after its release date. I recently reread it because of the new trailer of the movie that had been released a few months ago. 

    Something that I think the author did well was writing this book to explain President's Snows past and rise to power rather than make it a redemption ark. You go into the book already with a type of despise for Snow and come out of the book with an even stronger one. You see all the potential he had to become a better person but again and again he made the wrong choices. He chose money, fame, and power over the opportunity at a small, happy life.

    Some of the similarities I like between the prequel and the main series is the comparability between Lucy Gray and Katniss. It goes to show why Snow grew to hate Katniss as much as he did. Katniss was Snow's karma that came back to haunt him years later. The book also gives a lot of background to the original trilogy. Like the start of the Mockingjay species, the origination of the popular song "The Hanging Tree", and the development of The Hungers Games themselves. I am excited for the film to be released so a full comparison can be made.