Years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena, the Hunger Games were still new, brutal, and evolving. On the morning of the tenth reaping, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow faces his one chance to restore his family’s fading legacy. As a mentor, he must outwit his peers and guide his tribute to victory, securing his place among the Capitol elite.
But Snow’s assignment is humiliating: the female tribute from District 12. Survival seems impossible, and the odds stacked high against them. Yet as he grows entangled in her fate, Coriolanus confronts choices that blur the line between compassion and ambition.
Suzanne Collins’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a chilling prequel to The Hunger Games, revealing the dark rise of a man shaped by power and fear.
