
Thank you for the fan art in the Featured Image, above, by ConfusedChameleon. This book is actually a prequel to the original series, The Hunger Games, #1, set sixty-four years before the first book, in which we meet Katniss in book #1. We see the hero of this book, or the anti-hero, for most of the story, as the villain from the main series, Snow. Well before he becomes president, resetting the clock, and destroying the evidence from the 10th Hunger Games. Very much akin, if different intent to the Holocene Calendar: 10 ADD is year 10 After the Dark Days, also the year of the 10th Hunger Games, with Year 0 ADD being the end of the war/(first) rebellion -I love that she creates a new calendar system, but I cannot seem to find where I initially saw this, as I don’t seem to be able to find it in the book. And no, when he was president, it did not in fact rain champagne every Tuesday, at least not in any of the Districts. I read this book several times, and the first time I do not recall liking it, but this time, I loved it. Must have been the translation. For Babylon 5 fans, It occurred to me that the young Snow is much like the pre-Eye Londo Mollari (of Babylon 5): both are subjected to trials that will later define their futures by powerful and sadistic forces intent on shaping the world in their images. Both are vulnerable in some way, when found, and then placed in disastrous positions of power, causing tremendous suffering for many years to come. Both even find a sort of redemption, by sharing some level of truth with change-makers who will use it to help win a different future.
Interesting parallels, and interesting how vicious down-on-their-luck narcissists can be, and how they can be directed by ruthless powerful older others. Not that this excuses either of them, in any case. Even when guided by horrid examples like this:
“… operated by Avoxes —
tongueless workers made the best workers, or so his grandmother said…”
Source: Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Hunger Games #0, by Suzanne Collins | Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better
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