The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)

Name: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)
Rating: 4.74545431137085 (55 reviews)

Suzanne Collins

May 2020 · Scholastic UK

4.7

55 reviews

Ebook

624

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

"The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the best Hunger Games movie of them all" USA TODAY

"Everything you would expect from Collins is here: fraught teenage love; plenty of violence... the themes of friendship, betrayal, authority and oppression will please and thrill" The Guardian

"It works beautifully... please don't make us wait another decade" The Times

pre-order Sunrise On the Reaping - the fifth book in the Hunger Games series - coming March 2025

Ambition will fuel him.
Competition will drive him.
But power has its price.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games.

In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him.

He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin.

Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Three books, four films and one worldwide phenomenon, The Hunger Games original trilogy changed the face of global YA.
All three of the Hunger Games original novels have been made into major feature films, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson & Liam Hemsworth
The best-selling prequel to The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was a global number one feature film in autumn 2023 and a number one New York Times and The Times bestseller in hardback in May 2020.

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
Sunrise On the Reaping - the fifth book in the Hunger Games series - coming March 2025 & a film adaptation is slated for November 2026
The Hunger Games illustrated edition is releasing in October 2024

Ratings and reviews

4.7

55 reviews

cathy stanley

March 14, 2025

Great book. Have read it twice. It was an interesting idea doing a prequel and having the main character being someone that the reader disliked in the Hunger Games trilogy. Really looking forward to the next book

Kerrie Wilson “Proud Fenian Warrior” O'hanlon

April 20, 2025

I couldn't put this book down and I ended up finishing it at a day and a half without stopping but I was very disappointed with the movie TBH, I felt like it should have been done in two parts to do it justice because the book was so long and the storyline has so much detail that if the whole thing was included in a single film it would have to be 5-6 hours long

Jessica Roberts

June 28, 2020

A brilliant prequel that stood on its own as well as tying into the originals. I loved reading about Snow and how the Hunger Games came to be.

2 people found this review helpful

About the author

Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Indiana University with a double major in Drama and Telecommunications. Collins went on to receive an M.F.A. from New York University in dramatic writing. Since 1991, she has been a writer for children's television shows. She has worked on the staffs of several shows including Clarissa Explains it All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! and was the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days. Her books include When Charlie McButton Lost Power, The Underland Chronicles, and the Hunger Games Trilogy. Book one of this trilogy, The Hunger Games, became a major motion picture in 2012 with Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence portraying the main character of Katniss Everdeen. Catching Fire, book 2 of the trilogy, became a major motion picture in 2013. Mockingjay - Part One was released as a film in 2014 and Part Two in 2015.

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