The Hunger Games #0: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes

Everything you would expect from Collins is here: fraught teenage love; plenty of violence... the themes of friendship, betrayal, authority and oppression will please and thrill The Guardian It works beautifully... please don't make us wait another decade The Times Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price. It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. 

In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - ; every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes. 

Three books, four films and one worldwide phenomenon, The Hunger Games changed the face of global YA. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a global number one hit in hardback. Don't miss the book that *everyone* will be talking about this summer.