Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

103 reviews

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

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

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, 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: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

infjkiki'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism and Pregnancy

trashcanmoose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

luna_is_superior's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

Coryo is a HUGE unreliable narrator, how'd he make me love him until like the last chapter????

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism