Excerpt: 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.
AMBITION WILL FUEL HIM.
COMPETITION WILL DRIVE HIM.
BUT POWER HAS ITS PRICE.
- Author: Suzanne Collins
- Genre: Fiction
- Theme: Humans, selfish animals or rational beings?
Pre-Read Thoughts
Allison: As someone who has a deathly fear of heights, you wouldn’t see me jumping head first into anything. But put me in the authoritarian regime of the Capitol with rebelling districts and I’d jump without even looking. In all honestly, there’s something almost painfully nostalgic about revisiting a series that completely encapsulated my silent sustained reading for the majority of my high school career. So when Bree suggested this book to read, I really couldn’t have agreed more. The gravitational pull of the prequel to the Hunger Games series has brought back the world of Panem, not as we have known it but what started it. I look forward to the excitement of flipping through the pages and entering the world of the 10th Annual Hunger Games.
My Artwork based on Young Snow
Part I: Thoughts/ Oberservations
Tigris who is snows cousin seems like the lady that helped house cat Ness Peter in jail when they went to the capital and she seem to on this like for Coach shop that was for like very luxurious people in the capital
Sejanus seems to be my favorite character so far just because he is a district Foreign kid so he like knows the struggles of being born in the district but has simply spend the majority of his life just being a pampered capital citizen
What I find surprising is that a majority of capital citizen still have enough humanity and then left to not be a fan of the games which is why the mentorship came about it’s because they want more capital audience enticement to the games because it’s this control factor that Dr. Girl is trying to make
And also a random prediction I want to make is that snows apartment within the heart of the capital is where they keep the tributes from each district in the later games
Snow seems to have more gentle more humane moments when he’s talking to Lucy grain but they only seem to come out when he’s with her
What I find surprising about snow is that he’s been in properties we knows the effects of war and how it takes a toll from both sides but he’s a social ladder climber it’s actually been born into such a prominent family such as the snows and he wants to be more successful and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get back on that podium
I can see little things that Lucy does and that snow notices her to do that contribute to making the games as successful as they are like her referencing like oh they can’t do much more to you not at the tributes but don’t you have anyone at home that you care about
Part II: Thoughts/Observations
Lucy is a few days from entering the games and her and Snow are getting closer than ever
It becomes evident to the higher ups that they have more than a friendship.
As the Games go afoot, Lucy dashes away form the arena using her escape plan that her and Snow came up with. Bc she wouldn’t win in a hand to hand combat.
The tribute start getting killed or eliminating each other leaving Lucy with a select few to knock out herself.
Lucy ends up winning the games, but doesn’t even get to meet Snow bc he gets sent off to the Districts as PeaceOfficer for messing with the games
Snow starts to become closer to Sejanus. He is constantly judges him for not accepting his blessed circumstances.
Sejanus is constantly being tested in his emotional state bc of his connection to his tribute and his love for District Two and everything he has known.
Lucy has the poison that she smuggled in to the games to help her just in case she needs it.
Lucy doesn’t come out from her hiding spot until Jessup starts acting funny (rabies)
Snow sees the rainbow snakes that the Dr. has cooked up in her lab and he throws in the handkerchief that has Lucy’s scent on it, in his attempt to save her from them.
Part III: Thoughts And Observations
Man O Man, things are getting wilder and wilder. Snow is asked where he would like to get deployed and he chooses District 12 bc even if he has to become a peacekeeper at least the thought of seeing Lucy.
Sejanus, Sejanus, Sejanus. Always the loyal companion to Snow. He ends up following Snow to District 12 bc he also needed to be punished for his actions and his father sent him along with Snow so he wouldn’t mess up anymore in the Capitol.
Along with finally seeing Lucy is the fact that the other guy she was seeing before the Games is also part of her sining gang back home, or at least he feels he should be a part of still.
Tensions arise when Sejanus feels compelled to help out the “rebels” or at least those who want to escape District 12 and anything associated with the capitol.
The night before they escape, Lucy writes Snow a love song that incorporates “ice turning to water”, “milk churning to butter”, all their slow and cumulative activities over the summer. This lifts Snow and cements his optimistic belief that love can conquer any personal differences/ideals between two parties (only for this idea to be abruptly shattered the next day).
The romance between Snow and Lucy made sense in the context that Lucy was not privy to Snow’s thoughts, and perceived his kind deeds to be altruistic instead of manipulative, hence viewed him as a kind man. In return, Snow lacked genuine human connection in the Capitol as he had to deceive his classmates with regards to his financial situation, and was drawn to Lucy.
Seeing Lucy is as exillerating as Snow could’ve asked for, it makes training bearable. He enjoys the repetition of the daily routine of the boot camp in order to become peacekeeper.
His first order as a new recruit is to be a “body” at a hanging that is to happen for someone breaking the law. The hanging tree song is sung. and used repeatedly in this chapter.
Sejanus makes what Snow thinks are poor decisions. He has all the money in the world in the Capitol and can truly make a name for himself. While Snow has one of the best names in the world with no power or money.
Snow starts seeing Sejanus’s humanity as a key component on getting killed in the future and slowly starts to turn on him as Capitol researchers fly in to research Mockingjays in their natural habitat. He sends a secret message to the Dr. about Sejanus’s admission to helping and aiding the rebels.
His mother’s powder and family photographs are destroyed in the lake, but the compass remains. To me this represents him leaving behind objects of sentiment: only objects that fuel his direction are important now.
Some are saying the romance was vapid, but I think this was intentional. They weren’t really in love. They may have thought they were, but the ‘mutual affection’ and talk of living out their days with each other dissipated in a flash at the earliest instance of distrust, and it went to hunting each other in the woods just like that. That cements Snow’s disillusionment with sentimental things – henceforth, he views love as a weakness (failing to understand they were not actually in love). He even thinks to himself he should marry a stone cold, power-oriented woman like Livia Cardew who can’t play with his feelings.
My Broken-Up Analysis
(Because I can’t seem to complete these posts on the day I finish reading the books)
I kind of saw the twist of Dean Highbottom coming after the story of his and Crassus’ falling, but I really enjoyed the reveal. I also didn’t hate the Dean at all, only his passive aggressive tendencies towards children, but there was also something that always irked me about him. I sort of associated him with Haymitch, with the whole drinking to forget shenanigans, and his overall distaste for anything Capitol but still being attached to it to survive. I loved Sejanus and I hated that he got so screwed over by everyone, and I also saw his death coming, cause you just know that good doesn’t win here in the World of Panem. You can tell all through the book what a manipulative, entitled person Snow is, and even though we catch the smallest of glimpses of goodness in him, the Snow we know and hate/love eventually steps all over that goodness. The story is written pretty well, especially the symbolism around how everything that tied him to the “pure” Snow (mother’s powder, pictures of his family) were destroyed in the lake while he covered up the murder weapons of his first true betrayal. This is the turning point for him, and a sign that the Dean was right. He was like his father all along, and it’s fitting that only his father’s token was the only thing strong enough to withstand this defining event in his life. All in all I think it is a great book, but part of me hated and felt frustrated while reading it, like everything we knew about Snow just gets solidified in this book. If you were a huge fan of the Hunger Games Trilogy, this book is 100% Suzanne Collins, you can basically smell the coal of District 12 on the pages and little “Easter Eggs” from the Hunger Games Trilogy are scattered through the different parts and gives you a deeper insight to the true formation of the games. So if you’re a fan debating on whether to go out and get this book, I would definitely recommend you do. Happy Reading, and May the Odds Be Ever in your Favor.
Nonsense With Nosilla 
Leave a comment