Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

53 reviews

greenmind's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed this book enough as an audiobook to have on while doing other things, but it needed a throughly good editing - it’s overlong and completely loses it’s impact for this. 

Coriolanus isn’t a hero or even particularly likeable here, which makes this book a little harder to find the groove into - and sadly we see him as a young villain, more this way by nature than by design. Weak and snobbish, confused by his emotional responses and only ever “in love” in a shallow, possessive sense, rather than being fully present in his own life. Lucy Gray is more interesting than him, and yet we never really get to know her because Snow isn’t actually capable of deep human connection. It means the book doesn’t live up to its true potential and feels confusing to read, with shallow character and a lack of tension if you haven’t already enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy before this. Snow really is just a boring psychopath after all - and it’s all the more disappointing to have that revealed when you’re looking for something with more conflict and bite. A manipulative and manipulating loner with only the drive to feed his own narcissism and personal survival driving his actions. Disappointing generally, even if I did enjoy dipping into this world again. I imagine the upcoming film of this could also be equally disappointing… or it might be significantly better, considering the much needing edit this bloated book needed will be delivered in film script form. We’ll see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Child abuse

Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, War, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Medical content, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Stalking and Alcohol

cait's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Police brutality, Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Torture, and Toxic friendship

cowboylikestoread43's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Colonisation, Violence, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Police brutality, War, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Murder

k1313's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts

elenaluisa's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Colonisation, Deportation, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

brittaka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an excellent prequel to the Hunger Games series! Using Snow’s first-person perspective and his internal musings on the state of nature debate, Collins does a masterful job of displaying the eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow’s descent into the bloodthirsty, villainous President Snow readers of the original series will recognize. On a philosophical level, I love that Collins uses this narrative to argue that Thomas Hobbes (who wrote that humanity needs to be controlled in order to be “civilized”) is wrong. Throughout the book, readers see firsthand that those who champion the need for oppressive and violent control and order only do so in the name in maintaining their own sense of supremacy. Snow doesn’t do any of what he does in this story for the Capitol, for the people of Panem, for Lucy Gray, or even for Tigris and the Grandma’am—it’s all for himself, to satiate his own unquenchable desire for power, authority, and complete control. Snow merely uses Hobbes’s philosophies to justify his violent and selfish actions, which (along with Lucy Gray’s contradicting belief that human beings are good at heart) promotes the idea that Hobbes and Snow have it wrong—an idea that Collins fully endorses in the Hunger Games series itself. In other words, this book says “be anti-facist!” and “ACAB” in all the best ways, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has read the original series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Classism, Murder, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Police brutality, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, Animal death, and Death of parent

lucimolri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

3,75/4 

Desde que se anunció tenía poquísimas expectativas y no tenía intención de leerlo, pero al final me ha enganchado un montón y me ha dejado con ganas de releer la trilogía. 

¿Que si es bueno? Pues a ver, para mí ha sido muy entretenido, pero si no eres muy fan de la trilogía y sientes mucha nostalgia por su historia… pues a lo mejor no te gusta. 

Para mí empieza muy bien pero pierde fuerza una vez empiezan los juegos del hambre. Está repleta de referencias a la trilogía, claramente hechas para los fanses, y de canciones, muuuuuuuuuchas canciones. No mentiré, llegaba un punto en el que prácticamente me saltaba las canciones, porque igualmente el narrador te las explicaba. 

En conclusión: me ha gustado, pero si no te lo lees no te pierdes tampoco nada

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Child death, and War

Moderate: Cannibalism

studydniowka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Bardzo dobra młodzieżowa (i nie tylko) dystopia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Grief, Medical trauma, Torture, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Violence

eagleshouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this has been my favourite read of the year by far. I've always loved Suzanne Collins' writing and the Hunger Games as a franchise, but I feel like this may be one of her best yet.

The protagonist is schoolboy Coriolanus Snow - the primary antagonist for the original series. However, just because the book is written from Snow's POV, does not mean he is a likeable character or a good guy.

At the beginning, Snow is the main character, and you as the reader attach yourself to him. He's a little pretentious, but nothing more grating than that. However, as the story progresses, I felt further and further horrified and concerned for Snow - the book genuinely slowly shows his progression into a horrible, evil, man, without a massive change happening until right at the end. It was Collins' use of language that Snow used that first set me off, referring to his lover as 'belonging' to him throughout the book, and progressively gets worse until the climax at the end, which honestly I was not expecting at all and yet was one of the best plot twists I've read.

it also adds so much depth to the Hunger Games story - with so many metaphors and references to both classical literature (both Coriolanus and Lucy Gray are named after pieces of literature that fit their characters, with Grays being stated in the story itself), but also the original series. Lucy Gray being the composer to The Hanging Tree and also writing it for Snow makes Katnisses use of it as a rebel song so much more poignant. 

Anyway, without fully spoiling the book, I think this is an essential read for anyone, even if theyre not fans of THG, because the use of government and capitalism and imperialism really shows through as well in such a good way. 5/5 book, my favourite of the year.
..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Confinement, Colonisation, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cannibalism, Dementia, and Bullying

k_galloway's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.75

this honestly could have been a short story because the last 100 pages are absolutely insane. read it just for the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, War, Animal death, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Genocide