Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games Prequel), written by Suzanne Collins, reviewed by Terry Wahrman

Summary:  Coriolanus, a member of the infamous Snow family, finds himself in an opportunity to be a mentor for the 10th annual Hunger Games. Snow’s family has fallen on hard times and is struggling to keep up with the high-class society of the Capital. Snow’s problems grow as he soon discovers he will be mentoring a tribute from District 12, one of the worst-performing districts in the Games. Soon Snow’s opinion of his tribute changes and she participates in multiple devious activities. As the preparations for the games continue Snow learns that his tribute is in fact NOT from District 12 but instead part of a group that travels between the districts. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she is now trapped in the games. Snow begins to learn more about his tribute and starts to realize his world is very different from the world beyond the capital walls. Snow must now pick a side, either help a new friend and bring an end to the sinister games or join the creators of the games and help perpetuate the cycle.

Straight Talk for Librarians:  A prequel to the Hunger Games series, this novel really forces die-hard readers to question their perceptions of characters both in this novel and in the original title series. I really enjoyed this read as I found myself constantly making new inferences about the Hunger Games universe. This novel also answers many questions left unanswered by the original series. All around this was a well-written and structured book. The story was not just about how did this young likable kid turn into the big bad bloody monster readers thought he was. It also developed an almost lyrical story about the rebellion and defiance over the games. Signaling to the reader the events of the original series are not new but emphasize the war that has been going on for generations. Unlike my original assumption, the ending of the book left me building large and small connections from the prequel to the original series, instead of being the big bow on top it felt advertised as. Personally, I give this book 5 stars. It is a great companion to the universe and offers something for new and old Hunger Games readers.