‘The Hunger Games’ is a book trilogy by Suzanne Collins that swept the nation once a young Katniss Everdeen (played by a then-largely-unknown Jennifer Lawrence) stole our hearts and imaginations in the 4-part movie series of the same title. In painfully brief summary, the storyline is that in a future dystopia, 13 “Districts” rebelled against the Capitol of their country Panem and lost the war. As punishment, every year each District must send a boy and girl to fight to the death against the other human sacrifices. Katniss took her sister’s place and hijinks ensued. Last year, Ms. Collins announced that she was drafting a prequel to the series called ‘The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes.’
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Entertainment Weekly recently got a sneak peek at an excerpt from the book. They revealed that President Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland), the antagonist of the original series, is the protagonist of the prequel and they describe him as the hero. Here’s the excerpt:
“The grand staircase up to the Academy could hold the entire student body, so it easily accommodated the stream of officials, professors, and students headed for the reaping day festivities. Coriolanus climbed it slowly, attempting a casual dignity in case he caught anyone’s eye. People knew him—or at least they had known his parents and grandparents—and there was a certain standard expected of a Snow. This year, beginning this very day, he was hoping to achieve personal recognition as well. Mentoring in the Hunger Games was his final project before graduating from the Academy in midsummer. If he gave an impressive performance as a mentor, with his outstanding academic record, Coriolanus should be awarded a monetary prize substantial enough to cover his tuition at the University.
There would be twenty-four tributes, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve defeated districts, drawn by lottery to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. It was all laid out in the Treaty of Treason that had ended the Dark Days of the districts’ rebellion, one of the many punishments borne by the rebels. As in the past, the tributes would be dumped into the Capitol Arena, a now-dilapidated amphitheater that had been used for sports and entertainment events before the war, along with some weapons to murder one another. Viewing was encouraged in the Capitol, but a lot of people avoided it. How to make it more engaging was the challenge…”
Maybe EW defines heroism differently than I do, but this doesn’t sound like anything Spider-Man or Wonder Woman would do. You can read more at EW. The book will be out May 19th for your reading pleasure!
Courtesy: Entertainment Weekly
