Here is the Gift

There’s a deep sadness at the heart of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" – a knowledge that this is a story that can’t have a happy ending, and can’t have a hero. But it is a fine dystopian tale, giving greater depth to the history of Panem.

 I was looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint! You get to understand where Snow comes from and different events that shaped his life. I think Susanne Collins tied in a lot of items from the Hunger Games series very neatly. It's not without a sense of irony that Snow made his position through District 12 and ultimately how he was brought down by the same district that got him there. Without giving away too much of the story, one comes to understand what he had to do to get to the top and what he has to do in order to survive and stay on top. How the war experience shaped his childhood and his family.

 I do like the image that Susanne Collins conjures up with the "Snow lands on top" to describe Snow's conviction in his action, just like Katniss with her "Fire is catching" and "Fire burns/beats rose". Overall it's satisfying without being predictable. 4.5/5 If you're a fan of the original series, you will most likely really enjoy this. This is a stellar page-turner with a lot of action and happenings. Like the previous three books, I never much enjoyed the first part but the second and third parts of this book are a lot of fun. I'm a huge fan so I made sure to begin reading at midnight when it was released and then finished it this late morning.