Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

71 reviews

cluckieduck's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was excellent...until it wasn't.

Suzanne is an excellent storyteller, and it was great to revisit the world of Panem 60+ years ahead of the The Hunger Games. I loved the background and expansion of how the Hunger Games themselves were developed, the extra layers of detail showing the Capitol's recovery from the rebel attacks, and the morsels of call-backs (call-forwards??) to the OG trilogy kept me enthralled.

The use of President Show as the protagonist was an interesting choice. It was hard to equate the Coriolanus (or Coryo to those near & dear) of TBoSaS with the eventual antagonistic, sadistic President Snow. I was waiting for such a major cataclysmic event, and perhaps my lacklustre feelings towards the ending are because I expected something major, but I found the ending just...meh. 

I wanted and obvious turn of our protagonist from 'good' to 'evil' when, in truth, Coriolanus was always a morally grey sociopath, so there was no chance for me to be shocked into his villainous turn. I wish we could have gotten an alternate POV removed from his own internal monologue to get an outsiders perspective on his behaviours or actions. Lucy Gray would have definitely benefit from some more screen time, IMO. She was an intriguing character and her eventual arc left little to be desired. In truth, I was definitely waiting for

her to die in the Hunger Games, so having her win and then, eventually, wiping the entire games out of existence

seemed like such an odd (and kinda lazy) choice to me.

All in all, it just didn't really...go anywhere or provide anything necessary to the overall universe of the Hunger Games. What is has done though, is make me want to re-read the original trilogy because it's certainly been a while! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dementia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

sav_22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement, Dementia, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Classism

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ahawkins11's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and War

quinn24's review against another edition

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

5.0

The Hunger Games prequel following an 18-year-old President Snow  as a mentor in the 10th hunger games. 
and holy shit oh my god this is SUCH an incredible prequel. It’s absolutely fascinating the ways in which snow is so self important yet insecure and the way that he lies and justifies things to himself barely even needing outside influence. The way he views the games and his peers and Lucy Gray. The ways in which he is treated by the system and he clearly notices the faults in the system and yet continues to uphold it. All the parallels and references to the trilogy oh my god my brain is exploding. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Dementia, Cannibalism, and War

ginbat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It pissed me off so much I had to give it 5 stars. goddamn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Medical trauma, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

katattack345'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? Yes

5.0

This book had me hooked from the get go as did the original trilogy. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. 

It is far more darker than the original trilogy but I still loved every page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Torture, Dementia, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism

c_dmckinney's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dragonsreadtoo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Dementia

marthadude's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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

4.25

Before reading, I really didn’t think this book was going to be necessary and I didn’t think Snow’s origin story would be worth telling. After reading I think this book is a great addition to the series even if it’s not required reading. It was interesting to see how the world of The Hunger Games evolved from this into the one we see during the main series.

I’m also glad Snow was not made into a sympathetic character. That was a concern of mine and, while Snow is interesting here, he is still incredibly deplorable. It’s also fun that even though he is cunning and great at manipulation, he’s actually pretty stupid at points.

There’s definitely more threads I would have liked to seen just from the original books. I also wouldn’t have been opposed to seeing more of Snow’s career as he ages and becomes more powerful but I guess there could be another sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Terminal illness, Dementia, and Cannibalism