Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

120 reviews

issyd23's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad 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

Collins lands on top! So glad this prequel has kept its fire 5💥 

APKAB All Peace Keepers Are Bastards

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Grief, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Animal death, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Stalking, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship

meghanm404's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cannibalism and Animal death

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I had high hopes for this because I loved the trilogy and I was curious about President Snow's origin story. The story started strong but went downhill from there and I was so disappointed. Even the romance part didn't save it that made me sad because Coriolanus and Lucy Gray were so cute, but yeah, it didn't work well. All I could say was that at an early age, the villain tendency was apparent. LG and her disappearing act must be a poetic way of her way out, but even that, I hated. I love music, but I didn't like the lyrics in this book (except for the song dedicated to Coryo.) I liked the twist that Coriolanus' dad stole the idea of the Hunger Games from his friend and passed it on as his own. It was evil and gutsy. But, tbh, there were a lot of times that I want to DNF this because I was so bored. I guess, the third POV was a mistake as well. The saving grace of all this chaos was the narrator of the audiobook companion, Santino Fontana. He's a great narrator. You're an awesome writer, Suzanne, I devoured the trilogy, but this wasn't for me. I'm sorry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Violence, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Murder, and Physical abuse

nellsir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Police brutality, Torture, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Moderate: Dementia

aliyas_encanto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.75

Ties so many questions and stories from the original series together in the most perfectly wretched bow. The development of Snow as a "villain" is a story so engaging I could see myself reading again and again. Also, my favorite part of the story were the songs which I felt really encapsulated so much of this character-driven book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

rebecca_bluedragonskeep_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child abuse

danaslitlist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

I wish I could properly articulate how much I love this book but at the moment I'm having a hard time stringing a complete sentence together that isn't just a serious of screaming into the void. I think at the core of how I feel about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is that everything felt intentional, it didn't feel like a prequel written years after the original series, and it only expanded and deepened the motives, emotions and messages in the original series. 

This is a book that requires at least two read throughs to really soak everything in, I believe, because there's just  so much meaning hidden behind the beautiful writing. Collins masterfully crafts Snows' backstory in a way that leaves no question about his morals and character being corrupt while also portraying this in a way that has you at the edge of your seat. This is a story about an evil man, not because of his background or upbringing but simply because of who he is, and the lengths he's willing to go to in order to preserve his status. 

But as is common with all of Suzanne Collins' work we also are gifted with the messages of fascism, the dangers of government overstep, and the resilience that beats at the heart of humanity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child death

viviundworte's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Racial slurs

tabbed_reads2much's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Oof bro I didn't like this one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Slavery

Maybe I just hate snow but this book was not it

wajeemba's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

The setting is interesting if you've read the main series. I've never read a prequel that tells the backstory of the villain. Similarly I haven't seen a main character in a story that's good at intrigue and politicing, so that was a fresh perspective.

Writing was pretty well done. Characters generally behaved in a way that was consistent with their motivations, though one decision was more plot driven than believable in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Toxic friendship, and War

It's a hunger games book. The elitism and callous disregard for life are rife throughout the book. Though it's on the shorter side and classified as a young adult book, I would not recommend for an audience younger than late teens at least.