PositivePolygonThe book, while not an essential addition to canon, layers on darkly satisfying implications to the original series and makes for a compelling return to the Hunger Games world ... The young Snow is a compelling character: a poor little rich boy, stripped of all his wealth, trying desperately to bring glory back to his family name ... It’s a reminder of the power of propaganda—how putting the veneer of a good narrative atop any awful thing can get people to believe the message ... Collins’ choice to switch from the close first-person perspective of the Hunger Games trilogy to a more distant third person is also a boost...allowing readers to draw their own conclusions about his actions and enjoy more refined prose ... Collins reminds readers that even the most horrible people may have at one point done the right thing, but that doesn’t make them any less despicable or less worth overthrowing.
