I present to you my review of...
Knowing what awaits us 64 years after this story its not a surprise that this book is tragic. And a big message of Hunger Games is: Hope. This book creates this hope, and you cant help but fall for it.
In general I like a lot of glimpses into a world that we dont know quite yet. The technology is sparse and some things are mentioned that are forgotten in the Hunger Games. The technology can be frustrating because you know how it gets in the Hunger Games, but then also makes for a very interesting, albeit scary contrast between the time periods. North America is directly mentioned and we even find out (atleast I think we didnt know before) that the Reaping is held on the 4th of July. As if we didnt need a bigger reminder of how far the world has fallen.
Interestingly enough (because I don't remember how much it is in the books) but the music from the movies gets its origins here. And it will make you feel things.
I understand that a lot of people didnt want Snows point of view. But I think it 100% worked here. I was getting nervous as so many negative reviews started dropping but I wanted to refuse to look at them until I got my thoughts out. I think it makes sense to hear this story than some character favorites like Haymitch or Mags, etc. I dont think we could have gotten alot out of those stories but fan service and tragic deaths of children.
This book has messages and they come across to me quite clear. We return to a Capitol that isnt at the height of its power like in The Hunger Games. We see the aftermath of a war even if it is 10 years later, and we see what it has done to Snow and his family. We can see that the Capitol is just as much of a mess as the Districts.
We see the 10th annual Hunger Games being decided to have mentors, but instead of district mentors its students from the Capitol mentoring the tributes.
It's with this plot that we see the sad injustice that whether you're District or Capitol, the kids are those that suffer. Which has always been a point to the Hunger Games, to show that innocence can be an illusion, that even they can kill, and its what humans do at base instinct.
But again, here we see it on both sides.
I think the novel does a great job with us understanding Snow and seeing where he's coming from. I'm not sure if The Hunger Games ever gave us a look into why the world would have gotten here, and I think this book does that.
Much like The Hunger Games though, you wont read this book with any fuzzy feelings. You read it feeling angry, sad, beat down, hopeful, and raw. If you want that feeling you got from the original trilogy I think you should read this. If you want the interesting quirky capitol with explosive Games and unique tributes, I wouldn't recommend returning to Panem with this book.
I'm now going to go into specifics that can be considered Spoilers for the book. So only continue if you dont care or have already read.
Dr. Gaul was a very curious character. I could see where she was building up Snow to be an apprentice or atleast teach him her ways. But I didnt think they'd remain on the "same side". I actually wonder if it's because of her experiments that Snow eventually gets his sickness. (Though it seems that someone with old age would simply get. But you never know.)
Tigris - I really began to fall in love with their dynamic. I know she wasn't in it alot but I still liked her and what she had to do for Snow. It makes me sad to know how they end up in the end. But also interesting that we met her in The Hunger Games. I liked how it was setting her up to be the "first" of the tribute designers.
Victors -I was quite interested to see how the life of a victor was influenced after winning. Ofcourse due to this particular story they basically tried to make sure noone knew them. And the "victor village" and prizes wasn't created until after Snow joined the Game Makers. But the idea that Lucy Gray would show up in the Capitol to sing and stuff would have been interesting.
Speaking of Lucy Gray - damn...lets get to it. This was tragic. I didnt expect a love plot to happen, I'm usually not a fan of it. But this felt so realistic and not thrown in. It made sense to get to the point they were at.
Honestly she was such a dynamic character. I still feel like I never could tell her true intentions. As Snow came to realize at the end, she wasn't really a sheep was she? She had vulnerabilities, but she wanted to live, and she had passions. I feel, like with Sejanus, she used Snow for her own uses. I'm still quite torn about that ending, I like that they left it vague. I think there was enough tragedy to not straight up show that she was killed.
The fact that the Hanging Tree which became a rallying song in the 3rd movie stemmed from Snow is sadly poetic.
It all felt so realistic, and indeed tragic. It seemed to start like any young love, only for the world and ideals to crash into each other. You could see where Snow's faults came in to hurt the relationship. But you could also see where choices outside of his control put him in these situations that caused this. I wish they could have just figured out a way to take Lucy Gray out of the District. I know it could never end truly happily ever after. But the only thing I didn't like was it felt like Snow was going to completely leave her to her fate with the mayor, instead of even thinking that with his new power he could help her. But then again, due to his situation, she could always pose a threat to his life, and if we know any theme to this series its Survival.
It was still a quite sudden end, I wonder what Lucy Gray thought in those moments. Was she running for her life and depended on Snow, but then realize he would go back. She seemed to know this and resign to run on her own. I dont know, it was tragic for, as Snow said, come down to their own Hunger Games in the woods.
Sejanus is the last thing I want to talk about. He held the most turmoil for me in this story. Because I felt for him, but always was annoyed at him, especially for Snow. Snow wasn't inherently a bad person. But he wanted to keep his name and power as best as he could for him and his family. Sejanus got in the way of this, alot. It actually showed alot of Snow to keep helping him, but all the while you could see the threads that kept Snow tethered to his not entirely selfless reasoning. But like with Lucy Gray, and with the people of the Capitol, you can see where he is being used, even if its not entirely malevolent.
Regardless, Sejanus caused alot of turmoil for Snow, he was quite frankly, and idiot. And it was hard to be completely sympathetic. But him, like alot of the Capitol kids, seemed to have such a realistic friendship with Snow.
In his end, that single idea of Snow remembering an 8 year old boy on the playground with a bag of gumdrops absolutely destroyed me.
It broke me to read this, and picture this. Immediately it brought to me that idea of innocence. And how this poor child spent so much of his life in fear. Sejanus truly was too innocent and weak for this world. Even though I know it was Sejanus' fault, it still makes me sad thinking of this kid.
For Rue, for Prim, for Sejanus.
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