Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

243 reviews

moonlitreading_'s review against another edition

dark tense 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

3.5

“She could fly around District 12 all she liked, but she and her mockingjays could never harm him again.”

Snow is such a trash human being and 500+ pages of him is too much for my liking. The only comfort I have is the knowledge of what happens to him in Mockingjay.

My dislike for Snow aside, this book was okay. It didn’t affect me the way the trilogy did but it is interesting how the Hunger Games were like in the beginning. It shows how the mentoring, the sponsorship, the betting, and all the other stuff I know from the trilogy came to fruition.

I did like a few characters, namely Sejanus and Tigris. Sejanus deserved so much better, what happened to him literally broke my heart

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Suzanne Collins knows how to write a compelling story! These 500+ pages flew by and I couldn't put the book down. Brought me back to devouring the original trilogy, which I think I'm about to again.

It is not fun to be inside Snow's head for this long, but it is enlightening. The plot also manages to be compelling despite knowing the foregone conclusion. Seeing an early version of the Hunger Games without all the technology that the later ones will have is interesting too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Cannibalism

joensign's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, and Death of parent

lunsbooks'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Although I recognize it won't work for all readers, it was a perfect read for me. The pacing and the writing were both great, as well as the development of the characters and expansion of the world for fans of the original trilogy. I actually wanted to keep reading and was constantly thinking about the book, but I do understand all the people that have said it is slow or too boring, as that can be the case if you don't connect with the characters. Again, I can't compliment the writing enough, there are so many beautiful lines and it felt very dreamy at times, whilst the book was tackling very heavy topics. 

If you enjoy understanding the mind of nuanced, imperfect characters, all while diving into some interesting discussions about humanity, then this is the book for you. Additionally if you loved The Hunger Games trilogy, it'll be interesting to notice all the parallels, knowing what comes after. Snow's descent into madness and loss of empathy as the book progresses is flawlessly executed, which makes the ending all the more heartbreaking and bittersweet. Once again, it won't work for everyone and I believe this has been a very polarizing book thus far, but I enjoyed every aspect about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

andyandnormski's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Suzanne Collins never fails to disappoint me. Each book in The Hunger Games series is well thought out, carefully planned, and has some of the best world building I've seen in years. I found it difficult to put the book down and read late into the night more than once.

The story follows Snow as a young teenager on the cusp of adulthood and shows you just how irredeemable he was from the very beginning. The narrative is haunting from his perspective. What you gain is a deeper understanding of how the games and Panem itself evolved into what we see during Katniss's time. Without giving too much away, all I can say is you'll likely find yourself wanting to personally punch Snow by the time the story is finished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

znvisser's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

As a teenager I once rushed through all the Hunger Games books in one summer on the beach, but since this one came out years later I hadn't gotten to it yet (not sure I even knew it existed). The upcoming movie made me realise that whether or not I intended to watch it, this may be my last chance to read this story without being spoilered on social media in advance (I should’ve at least started a week earlier perhaps, but I sort of made it). 

For me it’s been long enough so that I don’t remember the precise details of the later President Snow’s evil. At some point though, Snow was just a (cocky) kid a bit too gullible buying into the propaganda poured over him after growing up in a war. Simultaneously however, the basis for his later evil is already apparent as well: his character is classist, distrusting, and extremely calculating; as a teenager, Snow is therefore cold and unable to form any genuine relationships. From the start Snow is constantly - and quick at - rebuilding his outward image to control how he comes across in public, whether it is to hide his insecurities, arrogance or cruelty. It’s also shown early on how he is actually able to drop this guard to some extent around Lucy Gray, which makes his actions harder to predict sometimes, and as a result for a more interesting plot. It’s quite a feat how the author entangles you into this story about someone not even that likeable; somehow you still root for Snow to magically take his life in a different direction, even though this is a prequel and we already know not even love (or whatever the feelings were that he called love) could save the guy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mpeach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

noemie_13's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rochelleisreading's review

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

kylasmv15's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I’ve got many thoughts and *many* opinions about this book, but I'm going to sit on them for a bit. All I will say at this time is that after managing to finish this book, there had better be a Finnick book in the works as my compensation. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War