Books!

 The ballad of songbirds and snakes review

*SPOILER WARNING*

What the actual FUCK was that ending oh my god. Alrighty so I started of this book with high hopes and a lot of curiosity. Like why did Snow become so horrible? What happened in his past to make him like that? And my questions were answered yes, but not in the way I liked.

Let me just say everything that happened to Snow was entirely his own self destruction. He knew that Sejanus would get hanged if he sent that Jabberjay to Dr.Gaul but tried to hide it with his own stupid excuses. And the way he played Lucy Gray made me sooooo mad. Lucy Gray was so sweet and he took her innocence and ruined it. I’m so mad we don’t end up knowing what happened to her. I think it’s so crazy how Snow was able to forget any good memory he had with Lucy and put it down to her doing harm to him. In one of the lines in the book he literally says “She could fly around district 12 all she likes but she and her mockingjays could never harm him again”.

Also I think in a way he saw Lucy Gray/Sejanus in Katniss. Especially with that hanging tree song that Katniss sang, her free spirit reminded him of Lucy. I feel like Katniss and Peeta’s relationship made him feel envious as well. They had just as horrible(if not worse) circumstances that he and Lucy Gray had but they were able to survive. I think in a way he was jealous that they were able to be together but him and Lucy weren’t.

And oh my gosh Sejanus It made me so sad when he died like what the heck. And the way Corionlanous played him as well. SEJANUS LITERALLY THOUGHT THEY WERE BROTHERS!! Sejanus had no one else in the world to rely on but Snow just for Snow to turn his back on him and kill him. I don’t think that Snow was valid at all for his tyranny. He even said it himself in the epilogue that he knew he would later become a sick Tyrannical leader.

The thing with the roses also sickened me. Katniss thought he always smelt like roses to hide the scent of blood on him but it was because of his mother. I’m not sympathizing with him at all but that’s such a sad turn of events. This whole book was such a sad story. My heart hurts for Lucy Gray. ALL SHE WANTED TO DO WAS SING. And everyone around her hurt her. Especially the person she was in love with.

Snow hating the mockingjays kind of just shows how he wants the system to be how it is even if it’s corrupt. He hated the mockingjays because they were unnatural and a mutation even though they helped the rebels, which just shows how much prejudice and discrimination he has.

Also at some point I think Snow just completely disassociated with his own humanity and didn’t care about the weight of his actions. While yes it is(in my opinion) true that he is a complex character he is also a morally wrong villain whose actions absolutely cannot be justified. And the movie watered down just how evil he was from the start. Like when Sejanus was feeding the tributes his first thoughts were “is he trying to be better than me?”. He was always a bad person it just came out of him more and more throughout the books.

As for my theory on how what happened to Lucy Gray, I really can’t tell. I can totally get behind the whole snow killed her theory but I also just can’t fully believe that’s true. I like to think that her and the covey escaped together and performed their songs wherever they wanted. Obviously that’s a super optimistic way to think about it but I really can’t pin point one theory on how she ended up. A part of me does think she died but also like how would that happen?

To conclude, fuck Snow and fuck the capitol. May the odds be NEVER in his favor.