It’s been said before, but with how popular the Hunger Games books and movie franchise got, and how many mediocre-to-terrible copycats they spawned, it’s easy to forget that there’s a reason the original trilogy was so successful. That reason being, Suzanne Collins is a really, really, really good writer.
In this prequel, Collins has a tall order to fill. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes presents the backstory of Coriolanus Snow, the totalitarian president from the first three books. Villain origin stories are so tricky. You need to make your protagonist engaging enough that readers will stick with them the whole book, yet not so likeable that their villain turn is completely out of left field. You also need to maintain reader interest even though everybody always knows the ending. For an example of how this can be done badly, look no further than the Star Wars prequels (there are a few things those movies did well, but Anakin’s character is not one of them). Collins succeeds in both tasks. Coriolanus is a fascinating character: he’s intelligent and charming, narcissistic and amoral, and deeply traumatized from a childhood spent in a war zone. His life has been so full of instability that he is now willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to feel in control. He also has moments of true kindness and humanity that lead the reader to hope that maybe, just maybe, he will do the right thing after all. Even though we all know where Coriolanus’s journey will eventually lead, watching him get there is a fascinating, though sometimes unpleasant, process.
