The beloved author Suzanne Collins is releasing a prequel to her famous trilogy called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
While we don't know much about the new book besides the short excerpt she’s released, the excerpt has revealed that young President Snow is going to be the protagonist of the novel and the prequel will take place during the tenth Hunger Games.
There is much controversy around Snow being the protagonist because he was the main antagonist of the trilogy, committing genocide and representing many evils in our own world. Snow will not be competing in the Hunger Games. Instead, he will mentor a tribute from District 12. In the original trilogy, it is mentioned that there was only one victor from District 12 in the history of Panem.
Many fans believe that this victor is the tribute Snow will mentor. According to the excerpt, this prequel will take place right when the Hunger Games started to gain popularity, meaning for the first time tributes are groomed to be on camera and are really acting for an audience. To make it more popular, the Capitol wanted the 24 brightest students from the Capitol’s Academy to mentor the tributes.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be a look into the fantasy world that so many fans fell in love with from a whole new angle. The book will be released on May 19, 2020, but you can preorder it now. Read the full excerpt here.