Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

493 reviews

ghostmomxoxo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Corionalus? Coriolanus when I CATCH YOU CORIOLANUS???? 

Suzanne Collins is a marvel and I loved how she added to the already amazing world building of the Hunger Games in this story. I know this isn't possible, but at this point I'd read a book about each game if she's the one writing it. I think my biggest takeaway is that feels rare to read a YA series that respects its readers in the way that this series does; I love that it doesn't feel as though your hand is ever being held for too long.

Also Lucy Gray I will think of you for the rest of my living days <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

thewinterizzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I read this first, have not read THG series yet. I think that was a benefit, as I could see how — if you were familiar with Snow from the original trilogy — this book may be insufferable. Snow is awful and this backstory gives its reasons, but he’s still awful and remains awful by the end. Narratively though a great story and a good example of character growth (even if that growth is a spiral downward).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Death of parent, and War

_azure76's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

magsbord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

nandakandabooks's review against another edition

sad medium-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

3.0

Not a special bad or good book.
Solid historic backstory and circumstances influencing the  creation of the hunger games and Mr. Snow we know were.
Overall themes is definitely more toxic friend-/relationships and the romance.
The actual hunger games were quite short and POV is Mr. Snow. 
A lot of relationships are not really fleshed out and I would have loved seeing more details here and a less "sudden" development of certain relationships. 

Would recommened for fans who want to spend more time/revisit this setting. But it was not a pageturner.
The german audio book was well done!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Cannibalism

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

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

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

toriwatson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Death, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism

giuliawanders's review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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

4.0

I read the first three books as a teenager so I enjoyed getting back into the series.  

It didn’t disappoint. 

It feels weird to read Coriolanus’ thoughts. I usually empathise with the main character but I knew he was going to be evil, I know he was going to become President Snow.

At times I felt like he was learning something, he was getting it.. but of course not. I guess he was born so entitled and he craves power so much that he just never sees the world differenty even if he actually has sweet people in his life that could’ve led him to a kinder, better, view of the world (Tigris, Sejanus, Lucy, his mother….).   

I hated him at the end and I guess that’s why this book is good. We know he ends up being an horrible person, I didn’t want a story that justified him.

I liked all the references to the trilogy and it was interesting to see how the games became the way we know them. 

I guess some bits are a bit slow but overall I enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Abandonment

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

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

Minor: Bullying

alexandramcgrew's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

this was SUCH an interesting exploration of president snow before he was president snow. at points i almost sympathized with him, and then he’d say something so president snow-esque it would snap me back to reality. i loved visiting the world of the hunger games again and getting to understand more about the original trilogy through this book. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent