Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

96 reviews

al3xa's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Bullying, Colonisation, Genocide, Abandonment, Deportation, and Emotional abuse

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

4.25

Remember how district 12 only had 2 winners in 74 years? Well here’s the one that wasn’t Haymitch. The author took on an intense task of creating a backstory for a despicable character and for the most part did well. I understand why Snow was the way he was and how the games really got fleshed out. You even come to know why he had such a passionate hatred for Katnis. I was however disappointed with how many opportunities the author missed with making connections to future characters. Maybe I’m cheesy in loving that stuff but she hardly hinted at anything. Not an essential read but a good one for the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction and War

corvingreene's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

The prequel to the Hunger Games series focuses on President Coriolanus Snow's childhood, and Collins does an excellent job of creating a sympathetic and complex character that adds a great deal of nuance to the series overall. Still, he's not a likable character--intentionally so--and so it's just not as enjoyable a read as the stories focused on Katniss and Peeta. I did find the ending a bit rushed as well,  and I had to reread a certain key scene several times, and I'm still not sure what exactly happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Medical trauma, and Classism

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

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

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, and Cannibalism

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

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

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

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

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

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, Classism, Racism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Death, and Violence

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

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

kylasmv15's review against another edition

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

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

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