The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy of novels. It was written by the series' creator, Suzanne Collins, and published in 2020. The storyline is set around the 10th Hunger Games, 64 years before the Hunger Games in which Katniss competes. Cornelius Snow is 18 years old and tasked to serve as a mentor to the female tribute from District 12 named Lucy Gray Baird. Snow, who is already set to be President in the future, is trying to use the games to restore glory to the Snow family, but he also develops feelings for Lucy and ends up risking his future to help her.
The hardcover version of the book is just over 500 pages long. It reads very much like the original novels, so if you got through those quickly, you can get through this one quickly as well. Collins does a good job laying the seeds for who Snow would become later in his life but makes him much different (and much more of a sympathetic character) in this book. We also find out how the Hunger Games came about, how the games evolved to become a spectacle, and how the treatment of the tributes developed over time. The story does get a bit slow about 2/3 of the way in, but it does pick up in the final couple of chapters. If you are a fan of the original books, this is absolutely worth reading.
