📖 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

In a prequel to the classic Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins explores the 10th annual Hunger Games and casts a new light on President Coriolanus Snow. The Snow family was once a prestigious family, but the glory is only the past. Coriolanus volunteered to be a mentor in the titular Hunger Games to win a scholarship, which his family doesn't have enough money for. However, when he gets picked to be a mentor for the District 12 girl, he thinks that he will never have a chance at winning the scholarship or the Plinth Prize, the award for being the mentor of the winning tribute. Over the course of the rollercoaster of a book, Coriolanus bonds with Lucy Gray, the tribute, and they start to form a relationship. This simple relationship becomes multifaceted with many problems Coriolanus faces, from relationships with other mentors, taxes and a threat to be evicted, and mostly, Lucy Gray going into a battle to the death with twenty-three other tributes. However, the Games are yet to begin… I recommend this book because it sheds light on a softer, more romantic and caring side of Coriolanus Snow, as an antithesis to his demeanor in The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. The book reveals a test of human nature, a subversion of values, and a betrayal of love and friendship. The Hunger Games takes place not only in the arena, but everywhere. This book also has underlying topics like classism, capitalism, totalitarianism, and social stratification, while taking place in a dystopian futuristic nation.

作为经典《饥饿游戏》系列前传,苏珊·柯林斯的《鸣鸟与蛇之歌》以第十届饥饿游戏为切入点,用全新视角审视了科里奥兰纳斯·斯诺总统。斯诺家族曾声名显赫,但家道中落,为得到奖学金,科里奥兰纳斯以导师身份参加饥饿游戏。当他当选为12区女孩导师时,认为自己没有机会赢得"普林斯奖"-获胜贡品导师奖。随着故事情节跌宕起伏的展开,科里奥兰纳斯与贡品露西·格雷,从最初导师与贡品之间的简单联系,逐渐发展为多面化关系。书中科里奥兰纳斯面临诸多问题,从与其他导师关系,新游戏规则,被驱逐的威胁,到露西·格雷如何在与其他23名贡品展开殊死搏斗中存活。尽管如此,游戏尚未真正开始…… 我推荐这本书,因为它揭示了科里奥兰纳斯·斯诺曾经更温柔、浪漫、善良的一面,与他在《饥饿游戏》、《饥饿游戏2:星火燎原》和《饥饿游戏3:嘲笑鸟》中的举止形成鲜明对比。书中人性的考验,价值观的颠覆,爱情与友情的背叛,饥饿游戏不止在竞技场上,更无处不在。故事发生在一个反乌托邦的未来国家,书中还涉及阶级主义、资本主义、极权主义和社会阶层等潜在主题。