Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

193 reviews

celina246's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Suzanne Collins was in her bag with this one. this was suchhh a great book I could not put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Gun violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Police brutality, War, Dementia, Deportation, and Vomit

downsophialane's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I would have loved a more comprehensive exploration of the "Dark Days", the ascent of the Capitol and the initial origination of Hunger Games, but that's not the promise of the premise, so, okay. The beginnings of the mentorship and sponsorship programs is also an interesting piece of worldbuilding. I think young adult literature is a great way to grapple with big philosophical ideas about human nature, civilisation and our capacity for evil, and Suzanne Collins has demonstrated her capacity to facilitate this again in this sequel.

The subversion of the highly-produced, nail-biting Hunger Games of the original trilogy is a interesting change. Lucy Gray is a delightful heroine, though I will say staying in Coriolanus' point of view was an interesting choice... He was so relentlessly self-centred and untrustworthy, I was so distracting by how unlikeable he was;

(I know he had sympathetic circumstances in the Capitol and the trauma of the war in his childhood, but his consistent choice to choose seeking power over people, and deflect human connection is just... so horrible and sad.)

The end escalates so quickly, and

Coriolanus' descent into paranoia was so intense and so well done. I love the ambiguity of what Lucy Gray was doing in that climatic scene, but the reveal that the snake was non-venomous was just like... my dude, this is on you. As usual, I chose to believe my favourite character survive and live long and happy lives (just like Finnick, thanks very much Suzanne Collins.)

 
I definitely chose the audiobook because it was performed by Santino Fontana, who I adored in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella, whose lovely Disney Prince voice everyone would recognise from Hans. So I was pretty disappointed with the lack of music in this audio production. Obviously they hadn't set the songs to music yet, but let's be real, the film (which I haven't seen yet but I assume she's singing the whole time) was always going to be made so it would have been great to have mocked up the melodies to create a really high quality audiobook. As it is, I wouldn't recommend the audio over the physical book. 

I would recommend this, but not as a must-read the way the originals are. All I know is I couldn't move on with my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Cannibalism

rmgiannino's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The world of The Hunger Games is so riveting and this book was no different than the trilogy. I really enjoyed learning all of the things that became a part of The Hunger Games because of Coriolanus. He was such an easy character to enjoy until the end. I really didn’t know what was going to happen but obviously knew he’d make his way to the dark side and back home. 

The only downside of this book was that the names drove me bonkers!!!! They were all just so silly and I know that’s just the way of the Capitol but it was a breath of fresh air when the storyline moved to the districts. It’s so obvious to see why President Snow hated Katniss so much because she must’ve reminded him so much of Lucy Gray.

I loved that the Covey was a bluegrass band. Bluegrass is some of our favorite music and I’m excited to listen to the music in the movie! I really loved all of the connections in this one and I can’t wait to watch the movie adaption soon to compare.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: War and Gun violence

rsoule7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Confinement, War, Child abuse, Classism, Police brutality, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Drug use, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cannibalism, Addiction, and Genocide

Minor: Bullying

kaitidid's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Child abuse, War, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Police brutality, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Toxic friendship

wallywoahjack's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

You have no idea how many notes there are in my copy that literally say either “Jesus Christ”, “DUDE” or “my god”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Kidnapping, Confinement, War, Sexism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Violence, Child death, Body horror, Misogyny, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Police brutality, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Alcohol, Gore, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Classism, Suicide, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Kidnapping and Panic attacks/disorders

lay_kone's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, Child death, Confinement, Animal death, Torture, Violence, War, Medical trauma, Grief, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

jeimy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I'm not entirely sure what I expected from this book, but it definitely was a surprise. The good:

• It was fascinating to know Snow's background and upbringing, and see how his thinking evolved over time to become, eventually, President Snow.
• I loved learning about the early versions of the Hunger Games.
  They were incredibly barbaric and heartless—I almost found myself yearning for the masked civility of the current rendition of the Games (even though there's no good way to make children kill each other for sport.)
• Lucy Gray is an incredible character. I rooted for her and found her to be one of the only truly likable characters in this book. 
• The way Suzanne Collins is able to write nuanced characters is always fascinating to me. I both empathized with Snow and hated him at the same time. 

The not-so-good (to me):

• The book is split into three parts, and I found that each one went on for a little too long. They definitely could have been shortened.
• I so wanted to know what happened to Lucy Gray. My personal hope is that she survived and is a direct ancestor of Katniss (or another member of the Covey is). How else would Katniss' father know the songs Lucy Gray sang and even the name "katniss"?
• Compared to the current Games, the Hunger Games in this novel were almost... boring. 

Overall, I do wish I had read this before reading the original series! I think it would have been fascinating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent and War

brandonssmead's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: War, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship