I went into Suzanne Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes thinking it would be a real eyeroller as I’m not to fond of YA dystopian sci-fi, but seeing as how the film adaption was around the corner and the time I sank into the Hunger Games trilogy (and being the unapologetic asshole who believes the words “the book was better” to be Mosaic Law), I said fuck it and gave it a read.
And I was surprised be how I wanted to keep going after the end of every chapter. I enjoyed getting into the head of Coriolanus Snow and his possessive infatuation with Lucy Gray and the inner working of Capitol class structure.
That’s not to say I don’t have issues with the book. The pacing is inconsistent, the actual Hunger Games are a relative bore, and some characters could have benefited from more focus.
But through it all, I don’t feel my time has been wasted reading it and am curious to see how the film adapts it.
Any books you’ve read that you thought you’d hate but ended up enjoying? Why?
The 7 husbands of evelyn hugo by TJR. I’m super wary for all TikTok books. I absolutely despise Colleen Hoover and Fourth Wing (recently recommended to me by a friend). When the dedication to the book said “smash the patriarchy” i thought i was getting myself into another “kill all men” kind of novel (like How to Kill your Family) but once I actually started, I couldn’t put it down. It completely blew away my expectations and might have been the most fun read I’ve had this year so far. Makes me super excited to check out her other works, as people say they’re even better than Hugo
I also feel the same way. I didn’t start it and expected to hate it but since it’s so popular, I just didn’t expect much. I wanted to know what the hype was about. I also liked the synopsis better than fourth wing or acotar so I went for it. I enjoyed reading it and made me wanna check out her other works.