The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, prequel to The Hunger Games, chronicles the rise of Coriolanus Snow. His gradual descent into moral bankruptcy makes compelling, thought-provoking drama. The tale is everything readers have come to expect from master storyteller Suzanne Collins: violent often gristly scenes, compelling plot twists, and fascinating world building. The narrative opens about sixty years before the time of Katniss Everdeen. Young Coriolanus of the Snow family aristocracy has completed his studies and hopes to build a future for himself at the Capitol. The once proud and influential family consists of only three: Coriolanus, his cousin and their grandmother. Impoverished, they reside in the family’s palatial home but subsist on cabbage soup and Lima beans. Without a scholarship, university studies are out of the question. Coriolanus is determined to vaunt himself into prominence within the Capitol hierarchy. |
This richly textured tale of the road to hell, i.e. all-consuming greed and power serves as a chilling reminder of the consequences of authority gone awry.
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