Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

147 reviews

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Gore, Cannibalism, Confinement, Murder, Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and War

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

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, War, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Violence, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

katelynnelawson's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Put off reading this because I thought it wouldn’t live up to the original trilogy… but just like all the books in the original trilogy, I read it in under 48 hours. Depressing but knew that going in and can’t wait to see the movie. I love that I both hated the villain and saw the good in him and wanted him to grow and change. The reader knows he won’t (and can’t as this is a prequel) but the author still makes you long for it and believe it could happen if he’d just made better choices and listened to that tiny little conscience inside. But everyone is a victim in war, even perpetrators, and grifters are always gonna grift.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Cannibalism

sedwards1992's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, War, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, 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: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Child death, Murder, Death, War, and Gore

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

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

elizabethc3's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.5

The story line was alright at best. It was hard to as there was sooo many characters that I was constantly googling too figure out who was being mentioned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Mental illness, and Child death

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

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

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

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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