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With The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I broke my own rule. I watched the movie before reading the book.

Then, I wondered if knowing the story in advance would ruin the book�� but in fact, it didn’t. In fact, I’d argue it made it better. The music is such a core piece of the story that hearing Rachel Zegler belt out those tunes before reading the book helped me to hear those melodies in my head while reading to make the whole experience even richer.

The novel is packed with extra layers of context that deepen both The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss�� possible ancestry (iykyk) and Snow’s villain origin story. Witnessing the seeds of his evil take root was fascinating, especially when those little Easter eggs, familiar surnames, sly references—started clicking into place. I loved the the backstory and symbolism of the mockingjays. Once you realise what they represent to Snow, his hatred for Katniss makes even more sense.

Now onto Snow’s character. If Walter White was Breaking Bad, Coriolanus Snow is Breaking Evil Incarnate.

I never thought I'd enjoy reading about a pretentious, toxic nepo baby, but I couldn’t look away from him. I loved to hate him. Going in, I fully expected to despise him from page one. But Collins made me almost sympathise with him. At first, Snow isn’t the dictator we know, he’s just a desperate, calculating survivor clinging to his last shred of status in a post-war dystopian North America. He even seems genuinely conflicted at times. But then the red flags started showing. The way he repackages his wrongdoings as acts of necessity or kindness. How his “kindness�� is really just manipulation. His creeping hunger for control. His need to “possess�� Lucy Gray. And before I knew it, I was watching, step by step, as he justified every choice that led him straight into tyranny.

Who really captivated me though was Lucy Gray Baird. She’s the titular songbird, sure, but don’t forget she has an affinity for snakes, both the slithering kind and the ones disguised as men in suits. Her character arc is bound to polarise, some will call it brilliant, others will throw their book across the room. I was the former.

Highly, highly recommend for OG Hunger Games fans, who can enjoy reading from the perspective of an unlikeable character. This book is another one that is eerily prescient of current times.

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Never thought I'd enjoy reading about a pretentious, toxic nepo baby, but I'm 10 chapters deep and I can't look away?