The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

If you were like me when you were younger, who braided your hair to the side, sang "The Hanging Tree" out of nowhere, raised three fingers in the air, and felt like a rebel, you must have already understood what book I was talking about. Even if you don't understand it, I believe you must have heard of The Hunger Games and maybe watched it. The Hunger Games opened the doors to a world called Panem, which was diverged into various districts, and introduced us to a brutal competition called the Hunger Games, led by the Capitol and, of course, within the leadership of President Coriolanus Snow. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which we will examine shortly, allows us to witness the birth of this universe through the youth of Coriolanus Snow and the 10th Hunger Games.

The Capitol, the capital, is preparing for the 10th Hunger Games, and this year is a little different from the others, as they have selected 24 young students from the Academy to mentor the tributes who will compete in this competition and to be awarded after the tributes which they assigned win. Predictably, Coriolanus Snow is one of these students. In those years, he did not yet give the impression of being the monarch of Panem; on the contrary, he was in danger of losing the Snow Mansion, where he lived with his cousin and grandmother, due to their inability to pay off their debts. The Snows are proud and never reveal it to the public, and it all comes down to the tribute that Coriolanus mentors.

On the day of the harvest, when the tributes are determined by lot in the districts and therefore assigned to their mentors, Coriolanus notices that a girl from District 12, which is known for constantly losing, has been assigned as his tribute. Even if he is angry at the thought that Dean Highbottom, who does not like him for a reason he cannot understand, may have a hand in this, he strives to make this rebellious-looking, singer-girl the winner of the games in some way. However, Coriolanus is not yet aware that he will involuntarily gravitate towards his tribute and realize that his classmate, whom he sees as a loser, spineless, and rich shiftless, is not what he seems.

Suzanne Collins, you're a genius. I frankly can't say anything else about the author. I don't understand how she made the end of each episode so exciting, so suspended, and somehow brought us to a level where we could sympathize with a man like Coriolanus. My only understanding is that this book integrates with the other series at every point, as if it came out before, not after the Hunger Games series, leaving no question marks in our minds and explaining the development of each character very clearly. I was very excited that the course of events completely changed, especially near the middle of the book, and that towards the end of the book, the events that we thought we had solved changed their course and progressed unimaginably. So much so that I left the book in the office, listened to it audibly on the subway on the way, and read it on my phone at home, and I was ready to spend the whole day on this book.

Another thing I liked about the subject of the book was that Coriolanus, like us readers, asked questions such as "How did the Hunger Games come about?", "Why was no other method preferred to punish the districts?" and found the answers to these questions both in his own experiences and in his observations throughout the book. I think it's an excellent book. The best part is that I wished they had made a movie about those wonderful scenes I imagined while reading, and the fact that the movie Song of Birds and Snakes will be released exactly this month. Although I don't think it can be as comprehensive and gripping as the book, I believe shooting a few striking scenes with a quarter of an effort will be enough for us Hunger Games fans (tributes). I force everyone, just as President Coriolanus did with his people, who read this review to read the whole Hunger Games series and this book and watch the movies.

Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.

“People aren’t so bad, really,” she said. “It’s what the world does to them.”