The novel’s 18-year-old protagonist, Coriolanus comes from a wealthy Capitol family. However, his father, Crassus Snow, lost his munitions empire in the war with the rebels and died, along with Coriolanus’s mother. Coriolanus… Snow's family is bankrupt nobility, a contrast with his school rival, Sejanus, who's family is nouveau riche. For true fans of The Hunger Games, Collins shines most as she weaves in tantalizing details that lend depth to the gruesome world she created in the original series and Coriolanus's place in its history." -- Time

The extra .5 I gave this book was that it's not horribly written and there are a few "easter eggs" for things in the original trilogy, how things got to be the way they are, etc. But I still don't care about those things and could have done without learning them. I really think those two loved each other. The way they fell in love might have been pretty fast but considering their circumstances I think it was realistic. I mean Lucy could have died any second and Coryo’s life was dangerous as well. Not to mention that they were both very young and at least for Coriolanus it was his first love. If he wouldn’t have harboured real feelings for her he would have never even considered giving her his mother’s compact. It was, after all, his most precious possession. This said they barely knew each other and never had the time to spend all too much time in each other’s company. It’s no surprise they didn’t work out in the end; I’ve to admit that I was sort of thrown by the events at the ending of the book though! I mean OMG!!! After everything they went through together he actually wanted to kill her... just like that?! O_o But that’s Snow for you. He was always way too practical for his own good and he saw an opportunity to get the life he dreamed of. Lucy was the only obstacle left in his way so his logical conclusion was that she had to go. I’m glad Lucy was so smart and figured it out before he got a chance to kill her, but I’ll always wonder what happened to her. Maybe Katniss is her descendant? Who knows?The problem is the choices that he decides to make - the choices fueled by his over-developed self-preservation instinct which is by definition selfish. The problem is that you don’t need to be a born stone-cold tyrant — you can choose to become one when you choose yourself above all, when you make the corrupt system work for you instead of choosing to fight it. He chooses complicity — and that’s what shapes him into what he will become by the time 64 years later when Katniss Everdeen volunteers to become District 12 tribute in the horrific televised spectacle of Hunger Games.

In June 2019, Joe Drake, Chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, announced that the company was working with Collins with regards to an adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. [12] By April 2020, Collins and Lionsgate confirmed that plans were underway for the film's development. Casting had not yet begun, but director Francis Lawrence has been confirmed to return after his success with The Hunger Games trilogy. The film’s writer will be Michael Arndt, with Nina Jacobson and author Suzanne Collins as producers. [13]Bobbin is the male tribute from District Eight; Juno Phipps is his mentor. He’s a small boy who initially doesn’t attract much attention—until his interview, when he details all the ways he could kill someone… The writing has improved immeasurably too, when compared to Collins previous novels. On a base level the story is simple, yet you can delve a lot deeper into the philosophy of human nature, war and the constructs of political dominance and the effect on society. Why do the Hunger Games persist? What is their purpose and what are the consequences for the people who live in the Capitol and districts? I found it thought provoking. Lucy Gray was just so ridiculous. She seems one of the few random characters to have a normal name, and yet there was something comical about the way a 'distressed' Coriolanus would shout out her name. While the narrative did seem now and again aware that she was treated as an object, the way she’s depicted seems to corroborate this. She just didn't convince me as an actual human being. At times she seemed a twelve year old Marie Sue, at times she seemed to have walked off the stage of a musical, and yet we are meant to find her intriguing? Gaius Breen is one of Coriolanus’s classmates and a mentor in the Hunger Games. He loses both legs in the arena bombing and dies several days into the Hunger Games of his injuries. As… The whole book I wondered why Lucy Gray Baird was called "Lucy Gray" while everyone else is referred to by their first name. Apparently, her first name is "Lucy Gray".