I was so excited for this prequel to the Hunger Games, which takes place after Collins’s most recent prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This one focuses on young Haymitch Abernathy as he becomes one of four tributes from District 12 for the 50th annual Hunger Games and a Quarter Quell year in which double the number of tributes are chosen – two boys and two girls. Haymitch isn’t necessarily clever or talented, like Katniss or some of the other victors, but he’s determined to take care of his fellow district tributes, and some new friends and alliances he meets during the training. This book had many throwbacks to the full series, and really set the stage for who Haymitch becomes in the later books. If you thought there *may* have been some redeeming qualities about young Coriolanus Snow in the first prequel, well, Snow shows his true villainous traits in this book. A wonderfully satisfying prequel to a fantastic character-driven and world-building story.