The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger Games prequel)

I was looking for a change from the glut of history books I have been reading lately, so I picked up the new(ish) Hunger Games prequel.

I had read the original trilogy back in 2011, and like most here, felt they got worse as the series went on.
Unfortunately it seems like this book continues to follow that pattern.

I was hoping for a book that delved into the cause of the war and maybe the war itself, but instead it takes place around the time of the 10th Games (64 years before the original book). While Collins does explain the background of some of the things that appeared in the original series, this is more of a look at the lives of the elites/used to be elites in the Capitol.

Also, Collins seems to have that George Lucas bent in which everything in earlier works needs to be connected to existing characters. Much like Lucas had Anakin be the builder of C-3P0, Collins ties in too many of the ideas for the Hunger Games themselves to existing characters.