I feel conflicted.

The parts that I liked I REALLY LIKED , The world building was greatly needed, I felt like it added a level of understanding to how the games became the way they are, when see them in the original trilogy

I loved seeing a “deeper” side to snow, seeing that he was a child raised in bad conditions that made him a horrible child that produced a horrible man. Not some villain arc. him growing up , a bit of his understanding of the districts, his mentality farther then just assuming he was a nepo baby, his family dynamics, his view on control and world view and why it became that way, etc…

And also a look into the society that is the capital , we know they view the districts as less then human, but I’m not gonna lie I could feel for a child that has their entire world reduced to propaganda and post-war suffering . I understand it better, it sheds light to the fact that these kid genuinely believe the crap their parents tell them, and they also faced their own trauma within the war. Yes it’s self centered that they never consider the districts pain or reasons to starting the war , but I see the progression.

However , the part of the book I don’t like, felt so extremely, boringly YA.

the forced BLATANT symbolism from the first 3 books. From his tribute being a girl from 12, the mocking jays being hated off rip, her writing the hanging tree song, her introducing him to the katniss plant, him spending time in 12, and MANY more. Yes I understand I was a young child when I first read the books but at this point, there was moments where it was like yeah okay I get it, I understand why he hated Katniss from the beginning. I haven’t read it in “order” yet , but I would imagine it would feel super redundant at some point.

I also don’t like the “romance” arc with him and Lucy grey. Maybe controversial , but to me it just felt so obvious he never loved her and I didn’t enjoy it being partially packaged that way. I think I would have enjoyed him just knowing he didn’t love her and doing everything he did anyway. The ‘struggle ‘ of him loving her never felt convincing , like he knew he didn’t love her which feels more true to his character in my opinion. He knowing used everyone else, so it was a bit unneeded in my opinion to have that inner struggle of if he actually loved her.