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THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES
by SUZANNE COLLINS
Rating: ⭐
Goodreads
“It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, 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 outmaneuver 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 favor 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.”
I don’t have a lot to say about this one because I simply do not know what this book was about. About halfway through, the Hunger Games have come to an end…and the story shifts into something I just couldn’t follow. I think my brain just checked out after the games. There were some songs? Some military scenes? Long monologues? I don’t even know.
Aside from that, I simply didn’t care about anyone. I understand it’s a villain origin story, but I did not care about him and don’t even remember the other characters names at this point. Ultimately, slugging through this 16-hour audiobook was a chore.
A side note: I always thought his name was Cornelius. What is Coriolanus?! It was such a silly name to be heard said aloud. Couldn’t she have given him a nickname?!
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THE ONLY SURVIVORS
by MEGAN MIRANDA
Rating: ⭐⭐
Goodreads
“A mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a tragic accident—only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy.”
The predictability of this, wow.
Obviously, I cannot say much else without spoiling it, but I figured this one out almost immediately. The author tries to throw some red herrings your way, but ultimately, they fell flat. This is unfortunate, considering it is such a slowwwwwww build.
I did enjoy the way it was told with present day and flashbacks of the “event“. However, I had a hard time following who was who and what was happening. This could be because I listened to it on audio, or it could be because it just didn’t flow well. There were many times I was simply confused. Which meant I also did not care about any of the characters. They were all one-dimensional and unexciting (is that a word? idk, I’m using it).
Overall, this story had promise, but suffered in the way it was written (the povs, the flashbacks) and how long it took to get to the point.
Have you read these? What were your thoughts?
4 Comments
Sorry to hear neither of these worked for you. I’ve had Ballad on my TBR forever but just keep ignoring it. I’ve had mixed success with Miranda’s books so this one sounds like a good one to pass on. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on both!
Others might love The Only Survivors, but I definitely was disappointed. I’ll have to look into her other books. This was the first one of hers I read.
Bwhahah Coriolanus IS a stupid name, but I think there is some kind of symbolism? Most of the names in the books are from Roman history, so. Still, it IS stupid heh. I am very sorry that you hated it though. I did not hate it. It was also not like, my favorite book, but I… let’s say I appreciated it? Still, she should have just written Haymitch’s games like everyone wanted and called it a day. And bummer about The Only Survivors! I bought it, too, which I now kind of regret? Ah well. Let’s be honest, it was probably just going to sit on my shelves until the end of time anyway 😂 So sorry these didn’t work out for you!
Well, I missed the symbolism. I was just irritated hahaha I would have LOVED a Haymitch book! He’s the best character haha