A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins

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⭐7/10

I loved Collins as a teenager but was pretty skeptical I'd still enjoy her writing given my advanced years and curmudgeonous nature. It didn't take me long to be convinced otherwise. I think she's pretty talented and creates compelling backdrops to tell interesting stories within her genre. I thought it was a pretty bold choice for a blockbuster YA writer to tell a story from the perspective of the villain, and I think it mostly paid off. 

Most people say that this book was kinda average but the next one was better. After the first few chapters I was ready to come in hot and say that this was her best book. I thought the examination into the mind of an evil man was well done with consideration of his own trauma and insecurities. But midway through I kinda just stopped thinking that. This book was set up to be better than it was, never really exploring the ideas it sets up beyond some surface level observations. I'm not sure if it's a limiation of Collins or of the genre, but I wanted more! Let's learn about the human condition! 

Instead, the story devolves into a kinda boring action book, and then an unconvincing romance. This book is probably too long, and I was pretty bored for a few hundred pages. I thought the end redeemed a lot, serving a pretty gutting conclusion, but that was about fifty pages of a 500 page novel. It's probably what I'll remember about this book, and for that reason I'll give it a positive review, but it was a slog for quite some time. 

For a while I thought we might get the Godfather, but that's obviously asking a lot of an an author who specializes in love triangles and high stakes action. I think she's a talented writer, but I'd have a hard time earnestly recommending this one.

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