Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

82 reviews

eguare's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The primary tension of this book comes from its status as a prequel, wherein the reader already knows that the main character is the primary villain of the Hunger Games trilogy 60-ish years after the events of this book. Knowing that, the book has a dark, ominous cloud over it even in the parts that would, in any other book, provide hope for the protagonist's redemption. The characterization and deep dive into the motivations of "future President Snow" were fascinating and often heart-droppingly horrifying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, War, Toxic relationship, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Gore, Genocide, Animal cruelty, Death, Classism, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

Minor: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

elspethmigliore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

this was INSANE. the perfect way to begin the series. it literally sets up the latter books in the most beautiful way im in awe.

at first, i shipped lucy and snow SO HARD bc like obviously. but then i kept reading and i realized how they were so different and how power-hungry snow is that i knew it couldn’t work. and i’m glad it didnt. i dont think either of them deserve to be stuck with the other, despite how evil snow becomes. he’s good deep down, but whats engrained in him could never leave. i wish they had a better goodbye, but also i think it was the most clever way to end their story.

i cannot get over how they ended. what incredible revenge they had on each other. and i genuinely cannot get over how perfectly this sets up for the trilogy. 

it’s so eerie to know how in control the capitol is with every situation, but it makes for an even more satisfying end when it comes to the later trilogy. lucy sets up for katniss’s character perfectly. 

also, i know when i watch the movie im gonna ship them so hard bc tom blyth is so hot, but i still stand by what i said. 

✅ ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WILL BE REREADING THIS WAS INSANE

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Animal death, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Murder, Classism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Classism, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Murder, Drug use, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Medical trauma, War, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Emotional abuse

mconroy9137's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Gore, Body horror, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Deportation, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Dementia, Animal death, Alcohol, Misogyny, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Cannibalism

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Cursing, Excrement, Miscarriage, and Eating disorder

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Murder, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, War, Physical abuse, Gore, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death, Classism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Kidnapping

fragrant_stars's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved loved loved this goddamn book so much. I feel like it's an excellent portrayal of the ugly side of trauma and mental illness. It's tragic really how certain characters had every opportunity to make the right choice, and yet in the end made terrible choices instead. It's good, I think, to have sympathy for villains and understand how they became who they became. It's a good reminder that there is no biological or innate difference between us and the most terrible person in the world- it all comes down to choice in the end. Well done Suzanne, you have my heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child death, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Classism, War, Kidnapping, Gore, Drug use, Addiction, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Bullying, Racism, Classism, Alcoholism, Medical content, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Police brutality, Torture, Vomit, and Alcohol

the_pysselfia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Body horror, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Addiction, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this was a brilliant sequel. perfect length, it really gave you time to delve in to the story. suzanne did a brilliant job of putting us in snow’s mind. the way she started off making you feel sorry for him because he has real hardships and goes through many genuine emotions you find yourself kind of rooting for him and *almost* forgetting what he was to become

the complexity, yet simplicity, and eventually tragedy, of his love story with lucy gray was so well written, you weren’t sure if you could trust her and the way it spoke her ballad in to existence at the end was chilling

. the attention to detail was incredible; so many nods to, and easter eggs from the original trilogy. and not only those, but also the fact that we see the creation of the world that katniss is brought up in, and connect so many dots.

the songs origins brought from the original trilogy, as well as the other songs sung were haunting, as well as it being incredible to see their origin and true meaning behind them. the symbolism of it all was poetic. seeing snow’s mindset already being brainwashed by his society, the superiority he feels from his tile and status being further twisted and deepened to become the man who we meet in the original trilogy.

the depravity and brutality of the treatment of the districts in this earlier setting was astounding, after reading the original books you don’t imagine things be much worse in the past but it is, despite the wicked and twisted things yet to come, along with snow’s power. overall, it was a brilliantly thought-out and crafted novel, perfectly tying in to the original trilogy; whilst being its own twisted, compelling story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Child death, Gaslighting, War, Torture, Classism, Death, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Confinement, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Vomit, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Sexism, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racial slurs

theaceofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Let me preface this by saying that I listened to the audiobook. I suspect that this has a negative effect in my reading experience and I have attempted to adjust my rating bases on this. I switched between being okay with the narrator and being very frustrated. There are a lot of songs and while I don't expect them to come up with a whole score for an audiobook, some kind of tone, enthusiasm, energy (you get the idea) would have been a massive improvement. The Gem of Panem sounds almost AI generated and his female "singing" voice is just frustrating. Other than that the narrator was okay, but nothing special either.

Set not too long after the war against the rebels, this book explores the Capitol and the early Hunger Games through the eyes of Snow (yes, that Snow). He is assigned as a mentor and plans to exploit this to ensure a good future for himself. Unfortunately for him, he is assigned the underdog of the underdogs - Lucy Gray Baird the district 12 female tribute. But she is not your usual district 13 citizen and Snow works with her to try ensure her survival and his future.

It's been a while since I've read the original trilogy (maybe I should reread them actually...) but I remember what reading it was like. I enjoyed the prequel but it reads a lot like fanfiction. And I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way. There are a lot of what feel like *see, see* moments (e.g. several references to the katniss plant, songs, I'm sure there are several others I'm missing). There were parts I absolutely loved and others that... Yeah. I think parts could have been better/explained more/etc. The book maybe tries to fit a bit too much story in. I'd say it maybe contains content equal to about two of the original trilogy. There were also parts of the end that I just didn't like, but others were interesting

It's quite a lot more violent than the original books. It gets quite disturbing at times. You get to see into parts of just how messed up the Capitol is. I absolutely loved the world building and the insight into the Capitol it provided. I think this was my favourite part of the book. Honestly, I'd be interested in reading more about it, particularly the

genetics lab

(not really a spoiler but a thing that exists). It was inter sting to see into the aftermath of the war and at least at this point that not everyone lives the same glamorous lifestyle. Being able to see how things started growing into the world we saw in the last book was great. The games (still relatively new) are quite different to what we see then. 

I wasn't a big fan of the main characters. I know other liked her but Lucy annoyed me, although I don't know how much of that is because of Snow's views. Snow... Well, I didn't like him. Not because of who he becomes but because who he is in this book. I know he's young but he's kind of all over the place. I think it might be an attempt to make him complex, but it just didn't work for me. It is an interesting look into how mind works though and his thought processes and reasoning.

Was it worth reading? Yes. Just be prepared for something far darker than the original trilogy that somehow managed to be the same and nothing like it at the same time. I think it delves into a lot of interesting ideas and expands on the world 

Some notes on some of the content warnings (all are individually spoilered)

 
Child death:

Obviously these would occur, bit I thought it's Worth mentioning that these are more on page than I remember the original trilogy being

Child abuse:

Let's just say that the cushy conditiobs the tributes live in weren't a thing in the past

Murder:

Includes execution

War:

In the past. Lot's of mentions of the aftermath

Gaslighting:

Propaganda

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, War, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Medical trauma, Deportation, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Animal death, Vomit, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, and Addiction

rylin_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

snow lands on top. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

sariereads's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Murder, Addiction, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use