An unlikely protagonist in ‘Hunger Games’ prequel

For years, readers have speculated whether author Suzanne Collins would revisit the world of “The Hunger Games,” and to the delight of her fans, she ’s returned to the Republic of Panem with a surprising twist. Her newest novel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (Scholastic), is a prequel to “The Hunger Games” featuring a shocking, yet familiar protagonist — the most despicable of the trilogy’s characters, President Coriolanus Snow.

Readers will recall that Katniss Everdeen was the 16-year-old “Hunger Games” protagonist who lived with her widowed mother and sister, Prim, in District 12, the coal-mining district of Panem. In Collins’s post-apocalyptic North America, not only were the 14 povertystricken districts responsible for sustaining the Capitol, a city of extravagance and waste, but they also each sacrificed two children to compete in the annual death match known as the Hunger Games.

Katniss was literally starving when she volunteered to take Prim’s place in the games alongside her fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. During the series, Katniss matured from a reluctant hero to one accepting of her role as the symbolic Mockingjay, the advocate for justice throughout Panem’s districts.

At the heart of the narrative, Katniss’ “daddy issues” fed her spiritual, physical and emotional hunger, and fostered her evolution into the champion of the revolution. Her father and Panem President Coriolanus Snow were the two men who served as father figures in her life. They represented two sides of the paternal coin — good and evil — traits that Katniss required to survive the trilogy. two; however, every action taken by Snow contributed to Katniss’ strength and willingness to acknowledge her power as the Mockingjay and to overthrow the Capitol. Snow’s threats to Katniss’ family, his manipulation of her into portraying Peeta’s star-crossed lover, his lies about the uprisings and his repeated orchestrations of Katniss’ and Peeta’s deaths only fueled Katniss’ determination to prove him wrong and see him dead.

In Mockingjay, Katniss is given the opportunity to kill Snow, an encounter that soon proves Katniss and Snow were neither friends nor enemies. Their relationship was much more intimate. While Snow’s Hunger Games may have threatened her life, Snow would never have murdered Katniss himself. He’d let the games play out to his advantage. In the end, Katniss “repays” Snow in a surprising — and fitting — turn of the plot.