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dark
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-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
N me gustan las traducciones de la Pilar, batalle mucho con este libro por eso. Lo siento pero Haymitch es una persona indígena, no quiero escucharlo hablar como colonizador.
Además de eso, hermoso libro, al principio si sentí que había mucho fan service pero creo que para el final Collins supo como unirlo todo.
Además de eso, hermoso libro, al principio si sentí que había mucho fan service pero creo que para el final Collins supo como unirlo todo.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, Colonisation
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
It was lovely to get to know Haymitch a bit better, to see how charming, kind and sweet he was before all the evil things he was put through. No one in this universe has suffered as much as he did in my opinion. Knowing the ending might've removed a bit of the tension, but it didn't deter me from growing attached to a lot of the characters and feeling so awful for them (my darling Maysilee!).
It could've done with less cameos, even as a fan of the series it felt a bit too on the nose at times, and as much as I enjoyed encountering some of these characters again, I also would've enjoyed meeting new ones. I don't really care for all the song lyrics sprinkled throughout either, I feel like it fit perfectly in TBOSAS but here it just seemed repetitive. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed my time with the story and I'm sure I'll come back to it for a reread in the future, as I love Suzanne Collins' writing.
"Don't let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it."
It could've done with less cameos, even as a fan of the series it felt a bit too on the nose at times, and as much as I enjoyed encountering some of these characters again, I also would've enjoyed meeting new ones. I don't really care for all the song lyrics sprinkled throughout either, I feel like it fit perfectly in TBOSAS but here it just seemed repetitive. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed my time with the story and I'm sure I'll come back to it for a reread in the future, as I love Suzanne Collins' writing.
"Don't let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Suicide, War
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This prequel tells the story of the 50th Quarter Quell hunger games - starring Haymitch Abernathy.
Everyone has been losing their minds over how great this book is and although I gave it 4 stars, that was a very generous 4 stars. The book is fast paced and the hunger games concept will always be appealing because the arenas and game designs differ from book to book.
I had fun reading this but it did disappoint me. There's quite a few reasons this book didn't work well for me and I think it's because it truly is a fan service book - I don't think the author had any intention of writing these prequels when she started the main trilogy.
Here's where it went wrong for me:
1. The suspense is lessened because we already know how Haymitch's games end, as it was revealed in a previous book. Even though I read that book over 10 years ago, I still remembered that part. There's no suspense wondering if he is going to win or sacrifice himself for one of the others because we already know he lives. We also know that his major side quest that he's on is not going to have the major effect the rebels want, because otherwise the main trilogy wouldn't happen. Throughout the story, Haymitch questions who he can trust, but the readers already know, diminishing the suspense/mystery even more.
2. The romance was boring. I just didn't really care. We didn't get to see the romance blossom, grow, or change. This book had the flattest love story out of the entire series.
3. The deaths carried very little emotional impact. Quite a few loveable characters get injured or die in horrific ways and none of them carry a weight even close to what we experienced in the first book. Everytime a major characters died, I found myself thinking "Whelp. That sucks." and carrying on. This may also be because there are so many characters in this book that the author has to snuff them out pretty quickly. I don't think the story benefitted from having so many characters in any way.
4. I also think there were too many mutts in this one and it made the game feel super rigged. I know the game is established to be somewhat rigged from the start, but this was next level. Also the mutts weren't as daunting as ones from the other books. There was very little tension throughout this game. I didn't feel like the stakes were super high and I didn't feel scared enough.
What did the author do right? Well, there were a couple good character arcs. I believe she did her best to create suspense even though we already know where Haymitch ends up decades later. The book is fairly fast paced and very easy to read. Most people seem to really like it so I think she did alright.
Everyone has been losing their minds over how great this book is and although I gave it 4 stars, that was a very generous 4 stars. The book is fast paced and the hunger games concept will always be appealing because the arenas and game designs differ from book to book.
I had fun reading this but it did disappoint me. There's quite a few reasons this book didn't work well for me and I think it's because it truly is a fan service book - I don't think the author had any intention of writing these prequels when she started the main trilogy.
Here's where it went wrong for me:
1. The suspense is lessened because we already know how Haymitch's games end, as it was revealed in a previous book. Even though I read that book over 10 years ago, I still remembered that part. There's no suspense wondering if he is going to win or sacrifice himself for one of the others because we already know he lives. We also know that his major side quest that he's on is not going to have the major effect the rebels want, because otherwise the main trilogy wouldn't happen. Throughout the story, Haymitch questions who he can trust, but the readers already know, diminishing the suspense/mystery even more.
2. The romance was boring. I just didn't really care. We didn't get to see the romance blossom, grow, or change. This book had the flattest love story out of the entire series.
3. The deaths carried very little emotional impact. Quite a few loveable characters get injured or die in horrific ways and none of them carry a weight even close to what we experienced in the first book. Everytime a major characters died, I found myself thinking "Whelp. That sucks." and carrying on. This may also be because there are so many characters in this book that the author has to snuff them out pretty quickly. I don't think the story benefitted from having so many characters in any way.
4. I also think there were too many mutts in this one and it made the game feel super rigged. I know the game is established to be somewhat rigged from the start, but this was next level. Also the mutts weren't as daunting as ones from the other books. There was very little tension throughout this game. I didn't feel like the stakes were super high and I didn't feel scared enough.
What did the author do right? Well, there were a couple good character arcs. I believe she did her best to create suspense even though we already know where Haymitch ends up decades later. The book is fairly fast paced and very easy to read. Most people seem to really like it so I think she did alright.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Torture
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Torture
Minor: Rape
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really fills in the story of hamitch and adds to the history of the world. Theres a decent chunk of lines that are clearly fan service (returning of characters, references to lines in other books) but it plays well
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence
Moderate: War
Minor: Rape, Suicide
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
"You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won't be realised today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations. We're all part of a continuum. Does that make it pointless?"
haymitch abernathy... i thought i knew what to expect, and yet i was still heartbroken. and angry. i don't have the words right now, but president snow when i catch you?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Rape, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Rape, Torture
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
We already knew the basics of Haymitch's story becoming the victor of the 50th Hunger Games. I definitely forgot a lot of it before reading this (I haven't reread the original books since 2012?), but as I read, a lot of things felt familiar to me. Knowing what's going to happen does not take away from this story at all, however.
I really loved the fellow District 12 tributes, which made it all the more difficult to keep reading the book honestly. I didn't want to read about what I knew was going to happen. I feel like you get to know more tributes than in the original book which was really nice if not upsetting as well. I think that some of the deaths in the arena were among the most gruesome that Collins has done yet. NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING SOME OF THAT IN THE MOVIE. I almost put off reading this one longer because I knew that this would be a downer the entire time. With no happy ending. But I think that Collins does manage to fit just a little bit of hope into it, if only because we know how the series as a whole ends.
These books are not subtle. And reading this one in particular during our current era in the US was difficult. The parallels are strong and purposeful. I beg you to be critical of what you hear from your government, as propaganda is one of the most powerful tools they have. And never go along with anything that dehumanizes others and strips them of their autonomy & dignity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Rape, Suicide, Torture
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Torture