Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

433 reviews

rchulin1's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad tense medium-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

4.5

Wow just wow it's hard to not get popular books spoiled but even so l still was surprised. I really was able to transport myself into the games into district twelve on a whole other level. The ending was so surprising I could definitely feel Snow's insanity building something | kept thinking about was the title: the ballad of songbirds and snakes. So at first I assumed the title was to be about Lucy's time in the hunger games the battle between her innocence and her violence which is true in a sense but I feel like the true symbolism was that Snow eventually became another snake Lucy tried to handle in a way. So Lucy is the songbird and Snow is the snake. Throughout the entire book we see Snows internal battle with the mentality he was raised with being a child of the capital and the mentality of someone on the outside although he was only in the Games for a small moment the entire book was in a way his own game. He was stripped of his innocence his way of seeing the capital through rose colored lenses into truly seeing and not only not fearing the capitals ideals but embracing them. A few times he mentions how he impulsively does things and those impulses are his inner self trying to break through even with him aiding Lucy it just shows how selfish he is he saved her for his own benefit. Lastly I deeply appreciated the small nods to the other hunger games books "May the odds ever be in our favor", the meadow song, his dislike of mocking jays, Katniss! I can deeply see how he changed the hunger games and the role he played in the beginning he dislikes how the tributes were transported in cargo holds and in the other books we see the tributes now being in a far fancier train. We see the peacekeepers being more harsh and we see how the arena changes every year so that the former years games doesn't play a role in this years and so on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Animal death, Classism, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Mass/school shootings

clairemitchell's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Those last 45 minutes were INTENSE. The betrayal. The cruelty. Snow slips into becoming a tyrant as easily as putting on a glove. He’s full of red flags from the start that are nurtured by circumstance and hubris. 

Oh my gosh!! The murders! He does it so casually! You know how bad Snow is from the original Hunger Games , but whoah…awful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Minor: Cannibalism

moondaisyy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: War and Toxic relationship

catsbreadbikes's review

adventurous dark informative medium-paced

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

3.0

This book has big "you were named for the bravest man i ever knew" energy for most of the way. I liked learning the history of Panem, but thjs would have been better served as a fictional "history" text, similar to The World of Ice and Fire for the game of thrones books. Being a fictional narrative with a young president snow as the protagonist detracts from the experience of this book, and the choice to have SANTINO FONTANA narrateand NOT have him perform the songs is downright baffling 🤷 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Classism

Moderate: War, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcohol, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

Minor: Police brutality, Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Bullying, and Death of parent

laurenbaggy's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, War, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Violence, and Classism

whitne_ey's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gun violence, Genocide, Toxic relationship, War, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Confinement, Vomit, Addiction, Drug use, and Alcohol

popiloey's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence and War

bass_clarinet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny and Vomit

joselyn_wren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Child death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Body horror, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Chronic illness, and Gun violence

thebowandthebook's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.0

I enjoy this book, this was a re-read. The madness of Snow is really fascinating and I really like how Collins integrates philosophy into her works. 
Minor reference to gay stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Child death

Moderate: War, Torture, and Cannibalism

Minor: Addiction