Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

67 reviews

sav_22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement, Dementia, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Classism

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

theuncannydani's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Terminal illness

puckeverlasting's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Collins does a wonderful job encouraging readers to sympathize with evil without softening the story or shying away from the morbidity of the material. This story feels complex in a way that surpasses the previous works in the series, although those have their own merits as well. Although character groundwork was laid, the ending still felt a bit abrupt. Very solid all around, from characterization to plot to writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

All your typical Hunger Games TWs, but perhaps a touch more extensive

teethmachine's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was really interesting, uncovering these little secrets bit by bit about Snow. Every time something new happened I went "oh yep that's why he really hates Katniss so much yep, makes sense", and it was so nicely woven together to make her just The Absolute Worst Thing To Ever Happen To Him. Honestly, it makes her eventually defeating him even more satisfying. 

Spoiler for plot stuff:

And it's weird, going into this, I was like "I hate Snow, yucky, icky", but then I started getting into his head and his relationship with Lucy was really sweet, and I knew that something had to happen because before Katniss, District 12 had never had a victor, so I was convinced Lucy was going to die in the Games, because she had to, but then she didn't!! And they were going to live and be happy, but I knew something bad had to happen, and I just so desperately hoped that Snow wouldn't be the one to instigate it, but he was, and I still can't figure out if Lucy did actually betray him?? I just went on this wild roller coaster from "yucky bad Snow" to "awww they're in love, he's actually kind of sweet" to "YUCKY MAN BAD" so it's been a wild few days lmao.

 

But also: why the hell were there two characters with names ending in 'anus'? I spent the entire book thinking about anuses. Honestly, hilarious, would give it 5 stars just for this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ginbat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It pissed me off so much I had to give it 5 stars. goddamn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Medical trauma, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

elfghostthingy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Gosh
Coriolanus
So many emotions in one book
It took me some time to get used to it, being a big book

and about a character I despised in the og trilogy

There were moments where I heard my heart race
It was fun

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Genocide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

m_rain's review against another edition

YIKES. This book is awful... I barely made it a third of the way through and had to stop because of the intense classism, racism, and slavery. The tributes are continually described with animalistic characteristics and openly enslaved. Tributes are kept in a zoo, handcuffed, medically treated by a veterinarian, starved, and completely dehumanized by capital residents. 

The book is from the perspective of a soon-to-be dictator and described in way that tries to make him a sympathetic character. Snow, and the majority of the main characters, see the tributes as lesser human beings and he openly manipulates the tribute he is assigned in order to perpetuate his family's social status. 

I cannot understand why anyone would 'enjoy' this book... Collins has no excuse to be writing this miserable and graphic story or trying to make us 'feel for' Snow.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Bullying, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Classism