Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

147 reviews

vi_holmes's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

1.5

 I just don't understand why this book exists....

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an apparent attempt at a villain origin story for President Snow. But it fails miserably. There's no moment or change in his character to explain how he became the evil president in the original series. In fact, there's no change to his character, period. He is a self-absorbed, arrogant prat from beginning to end. There's no character arc whatsoever. There's not even Snow being evil in a fun way from the beginning. He's just an annoying elitist. That's it. After 500 pages...

All the other characters are just as hollow and one note as well. Even the love interest, Lucy Gray, that I assume was written to try to humanize Snow (it didn't), has absolutely no personality outside of her songs (which are mostly pointless wastes of pages) and being Appalachian-coded. She's really just a plot device and not a good one. Which is really a waste. If this book was told through her eyes like the trilogy did with Katniss, I think it would have been had so much more life and would have made much more sense as to why it was written in the first place. As it is, the little bit of her being the explanation behind The Hanging Tree and her involvement with Snow feels like an afterthought. I didn't root for them to be together at any point in the story because Snow treated her like a possession, not a person he was in love with.

I won't spoil anything about Sejanus's part in the story, but even he is the same character from beginning to end (though he is the closest one to having any sort of character arc). He's supposed to be the voice of the districts, but he just comes off as a reckless, loose canon that never thinks through his decisions.

I will say though that learning a bit of background for Tigris in the beginning was interesting even as it felt like such a random characters from the trilogy to give such thoughtout lore to. And when the Games first kick off, it did pick up and it was interesting to see the Games from the outside perspective. But even while the tributes were still in the arena it started to drop off again and got pretty repetitive. But those couple chapters and Tigris' background and Dr. Gaul, whom I found to be a fun villain at times, is why I'm giving this book 1.5 instead of 1 star.

Overall, I know I would have ended up reading it eventually out of curiosity, but I really hope the movie is better. I loved the original trilogy so much. I lost count of how many times I read them. This was such a let down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

aely's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

This book was awful and disturbing and terrifying and oh my god—

SEJANUS DESERVED BETTER

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, War, Child death, Death, Classism, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Medical content, and Confinement

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Vomit, Drug use, Animal death, and Drug abuse

callie_castle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Abandonment, Blood, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Body horror, Drug abuse, Violence, Drug use, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, War, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Classism, and Death of parent

halaagmod's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

1.75

This book should've been done much, much differently. So much wasted potential, in my opinion, for a Snow backstory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Gun violence, War, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent

myaraisin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Bullying, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Child abuse, Classism, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Grief

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Murder, Classism, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Alcohol, War, Misogyny, and Addiction

Minor: Vomit, Infidelity, Excrement, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Confinement, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcoholism

ironseaweed's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I loved all the changes with the characters. I did know what was coming next when reading (I got bored during the book then stopped and watched the movie). I would recommend if you haven’t watched or read the Hunger Games. Try to read the book first before the movie. This is harder to read than the other books, but would recommend. KEEP PUSHING! For me, the beginning of the book was hard to read and get into personally, but I kept going and really started to love! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Alcohol, Death, and Cannibalism

Don’t read if you don’t have a strong stomach!!!

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

autumnk3lly'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

4.5

I really liked the first half, but after the games ended I got a bit lost. I knew what was going to happen, but the ending still made me sad :( But still, I loved it enough to finish it in two days, so I give it 4.5 stars ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism and Suicidal thoughts

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