Jayson’s Reviews > The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes > Status Update

Notes:
(1) Yeah, I just finished the book and I still don't know what the heck to think about it.
- Whereas "Mockingjay" similarly required time mull over its ending, it was a much more exciting book, punctuated with action. This, on the other hand, was slow throughout and ended with a head-scratcher.
(2) On the bright side, the thing I dreaded would happen because of the midpoint plot twist, didn't end up happening.

Notes:
(1) '"Hey, you found some katniss" ... but [Lucy Gray] immediately examined the roots, from which small tubers hung. “Little too early yet."'
- How awfully meta.
(2) Less than 50 pages from the end, and I still don't know what to think of this.
- By now, books would be in tidying-up mode, but what appears to be the climax doesn't feel built up enough to cap off this book, it feels like the end of a second act.

Notes:
(1) 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".
- It isn't a double-barreled surname, her people have double first names, with the second a common surname.
- Something that could have been explained 250 pages ago!
(2) The romance is going too well. I feel like tragedy's around the corner.

Notes:
(1) Of course, being an Ancient Rome analogue, this society unsurprisingly has their own variation of public crucifixion.
- 20' high poles with a crossbeam sounds remarkably similar to American football uprights.
(2) It's a running joke that very few people in Panem actually know the national anthem.
- Possibly a commentary on indifference to national unity in the Capitol: anthems being symbolic of nationhood.

Notes:
(1) Whenever Coriolanus frets over the possibility Lucy, or Tigris, aren't as chaste as he naively presumed, I hear Britney Spears singing: "I'm not so innocent!"
(2) This is turning out to be quite the Jane Austen romance.
- Well, except for all the murder... and explosions... and allusions to prostitution... and ritual humiliation... did I mention murder?
(3) Tigris like to eat raw meat.
- A bit on the nose.

Notes:
(1) There's a lack of distinction among students. All the names are too alike, exotically Roman, and easily confusable.
- Contrast this with "Harry Potter," where student names were distinct, a bit stereotypically ethnic but distinct nonetheless, and gave an impression of appearance and voice.
- I'm having difficulty telling Clemensia from Lysistrata and Persephone. Make note of different hair color, at least!

Notes:
(1) Dr. Gaul, the Head Gamemaker, is inclined to speak in rhyme... frequently, not all the time.
- Might as well call her Dr. Seuss.
(2) Familiar names keep popping up. I assume Arachne Crane is related to Seneca Crane and Hilarius Heavensbee to Plutarch Heavensbee, for example.
- How very "Harry Potter."
(3) 100 pages in, and I'm not feeling the urgency of the original books.
- Sort of reads like fan fiction.

Notes:
(1) I don't like that Collins uses poverty to make Snow sympathetic.
- Feels cheap to me.
(2) Snow's cousin's named Tigris. I wonder if this is the same Tigris from "Mockingjay"?
- If so, it'd give her scenes there added meaning.
(3) Snow's family is bankrupt nobility, a contrast with his school rival, Sejanus, who's family is nouveau riche.
- Such a very Victorian trope. Odd to see outside of classics.

Notes:
(1) Some of you might recall that I did an audiobook re-read of "The Hunger Games" trilogy late last year. Well, the whole purpose of that was to prep myself for reading this book.
- The problem is I forgot, lost urgency and it got lost in the shuffle.
- I'm sure most people here know the feeling, when you buy a book, you either read it straight away or it sits around on a shelf until you're in the mood again.