I’m writing this review as a long-term fan of The Hunger Games trilogy who was questioning whether a book all about a despisable character could hook me - but boy was I wrong to even doubt it for a second. Both disturbing and enticing, TBOSAS revealed fresh information about the intricacies of Panem and also the development of The Games into how we know them by the 74th. I admire Suzanne Collins’s ability to force the reader into Coriolanus’s unsettling perspective yet create a piece of work I struggled to put down despite my hatred of him. His inner monologue was charmingly sarcastic and full of subtle hints towards his descent into the villainous president we’re familiar with, constantly reworking the narrative to justify his actions and challenging the reader to form their own opinion rather than blindly agree. Furthermore, it was expertly interwoven with references and foreshadowing for the trilogy making it a stimulating prequel for hardcore fans and I especially loved seeing familiar capitol families such as the Flickermans, Cranes or Heavensbees. Lucy Gray Baird was a really likeable and interesting heroine with complex parallels to trilogy characters. Furthermore, as to be expected in Collins’s work, the side characters were really strong, especially Sejanus, Reaper, Lysistrata, Lamina and Clemensia, and I found every background character felt like they truly had a purpose in contributing to the political and heartwrenching plot. Fans of the film adaptation may be surprised at the slower pace of the book, in particular the games themselves which suffered the most changes, but I see the original plot as an intentional act on Collins’s part to show the games for what they are behind the spectacle of entertainment; brutal and inhumane. To desire more would make us no better than the capitol citizens. I think to write TBOSAS off as dystopian YA does it a great injustice due to its observant social commentary and questioning of human nature.