Susan Collins reignites the Hunger Games flame

“The Hunger Games” is back. Not like that, Katniss isn’t going back into the arena, but the book series is making a return this year, and Lionsgate has discussed making it a movie. 

When the original book, “The Hunger Games” came out, it held a spot on The New York Times Bestseller List for nearly five years. Come May 19, 2020, the new book, "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” will be published. 

Collins told the BBC that she “wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war commonly referred to as the Dark Days—as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet—provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.”

This book is set to take place 64 years before the “The Hunger Games,” book series. It discusses the “games” that took place as a punishment for the districts after their rebellion. It portrays Coriolanus Snow as a young, charismatic man who will be training a District Twelve girl in an early year of The Hunger Games. 

Some fans took issue with this after reading the excerpt available, on Entertainment Weekly, and hearing about the novel, hoping that this book will not put the bloodthirsty dictator in a sympathetic light. 

Some fear Snow will be humanized and took to Twitter to complain about it, stating that they didn’t want a sob story about the man most resented in “The Hunger Games” series.

 Many took issue under the argument that “The Hunger Games” is about fighting for freedom. They fear that thrusting Snow into a sympathetic light will erase this message. 

While some fear this book will humanize Snow, others find the idea of learning about Panem’s president intriguing. 

If you are among those hoping to get a copy of "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” this May, “May the odds ever be in your favor.”