Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls in Districts 1 through 12 within the ages of 12 to 18 and those further beyond the districts and age-range, calling all fans of The Hunger Games, after waiting half a year since the announcement of a new book that would continue the world that Suzanne Collins created and showed us over ten years ago, I present to you the very cover of the prequel novel, set exactly 64 years before the first Hunger Games book, that Suzanne Collins will be releasing on May 19th of next year, now officially entitled…
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes!
Image via Los Angeles Times
The cover depicts a lovely golden image of the titular songbird and snake intertwined within a thin ring of thorns, mirroring the golden image of the mockingjay on the cover of the first book of the series.
I would say that since the book takes place during the Dark Days of Panem, as well as the 10th Hunger Games long before any of the major characters were even born (a.k.a. the very Games in which Mags participated and won), the book’s plot will mainly have to do with the Capitol’s tactic to create jabberjays, genetically-enhanced birds – or muttations, designed to record and repeat messages, in order to spy on the rebels planning to overthrow the Capitol.
However, as we THG fans know now (if you’ve read the books), the rebels would then figure this out and feed the jabberjays false information to give to the Capitol, prompting the Capitol to stop this and discard all of the jabberjays by letting them die out in the wild… or at least so the Capitol would think: as the male jabberjays would instead mate with the female mockingbirds and create a whole new race of genetically-enhanced birds that could repeat back birdsong and human melodies, and these birds would be called – wait for it – mockingjays.
And that is the tale of how mockingjays were born and how a tool that the Capitol created can be turned against them by their own doing.
As for the snakes, I’m not too sure, unless the snake is supposed to be a metaphor for those in the Capitol…
But regardless of whether I’m right or wrong about this, I can’t wait for this book to come out! May the odds be ever in your favor in getting a copy on the day of its release…
Featured Image via PopBuzz