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Jun 20, 2020maroon_cat_560 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book is absolutely incredible. It opens a window to new points of view that weren’t considered in the Hunger Games trilogy, and explains the backstory further. It plays with your emotions and understanding to know that once the Capitol was struggling, and it was the fault of the Districts. While in the trilogy, President Snow is presented as evil and sadistic, here he is presented as kind and loving, and even demonstrates that he was once innocent. The way he was so attached to the last he had of his mother, the way he and his cousin were so close, and the idea of him actually being in love were all a bit shocking to those who had read from Katniss’s point of view. I loved the characters- Coriolanus was charming, Lucy Gray was wildly unique, Dr. Gaul creepy but meaningful and Lucky Flickerman a great metaphorical character. The story was intriguing, I never felt the urge to read ahead, and like in the trilogy all action is well timed and balanced. When I first read the Hunger Games trilogy, I wondered, why the Hunger Games? This book brought the question to mind, and explained it through the lunatic Dr. Gaul. The humanity undressed thing was on point and hit home when you consider history and the present, and is just beautifully chilling. What guilt and loneliness did to Coriolanus makes you really sympathize with him. President Snow is no Disney villain- he “takes life for very specific reasons” (Mockingjay). And here you see how much he hated killing the first times he knew it was his fault. But by the epilogue, you see what he is becoming. The prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy couldn’t have been more heart-wrenching. This doesn’t surpass the trilogy, but it’s definitely necessary for any new reader of The Hunger Games. The new angle puts the seventy-fourth Hunger Games in a whole new light.