Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

56 reviews

kdailyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

calamityin's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Infidelity, Blood, Vomit, and Cannibalism

plumdustsuns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I hate President Snow. That’s it. That’s the tweet. And the fact that Plinths are funding Snow when he got his son killed UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
This little sociopathic bitch???

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

---

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

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Disliked the narrator for this one 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katattack345'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me hooked from the get go as did the original trilogy. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. 

It is far more darker than the original trilogy but I still loved every page. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Torture, Dementia, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

---

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

kt2e56's review against another edition

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

3.0

Not as good as the original trilogy, but a good read regardless. I think my biggest issues are with the fact that its central character is someone we already know from the future. I

t seems like Collins had to go back on quite a bit in order to make this narrative fit in with what she already told us in the original trilogy. 

I’d say that some other issues with this book are that most of the characters are just…flat. Dr. Gaul with her ridiculous nursery rhymes is too cartoonish of a villain, Lucy Gray is a manic pixie dream girl (which on the one hand makes sense because we’re seeing her from Snow’s POV, but that doesn’t make her any less grating), the rest of the Covey and their weird country bumpkin way of life are equally as grating and Snow himself has zero shades of gray. He’s awful all the way through (I’ll get back to this).

The most interesting characters by far are Sejanus Plinth and Dean Highbottom, both of whom I kind of wish had been the POV characters for this prequel.

BUT I will say that in terms of politics and big picture ideas, this book is way more ambitious than the original trilogy. Yes, Snow is a bit one note but I *do* actually appreciate that. He’s a fascist, point blank. He’s an elitist bigot whose family has fallen on hard luck but we don’t ever have to feel sympathy for him because he STILL clings to that bigotry even though it’s glaringly obvious that The Capitol is to blame for his family’s trauma. It’s also VERY interesting that Collins doesn’t even attempt to hide the links between fascism and misogyny. 

Let’s talk real world for a second and how commonplace it is for alt-right young men to be drawn to their worldviews because of an innate sense of entitlement not only with wealth and the economy but with women as well. A big part of fascism is controlling women. It’s never a surprise when an alt-right extremist has a history of domestic violence. Never.

And Collins making it abundantly obvious that Coriolanus doesn’t truly LOVE Lucy Gray but seeks to own and possess her is actually really great. There’s no love story here. We know Lucy Gray is doomed from the moment she’s in his clutches. He wouldn’t have done ANYTHING for her if he didn’t want to fuck her so badly tbh.  This was so obviously going to end one way and I’m glad that Collins didn’t chicken out and went for it and avoided giving him a change of heart although I wish she wasn’t so ambiguous with it. 

The ending as a whole was another issue for me. It felt a bit rushed and convoluted and I wish Snow’s meeting with Highbottom was stretched out just a little more as opposed to stuffed into the epilogue.

All in all though, this was a solid read and I’m sure I’ll be seeing the movie in the Fall. I’m curious if Collins will be expanding even further on this world or not… 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

dativa's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Finding !!! connections with the rest of the books like clues here and there is so cool. And Snow really

becomes himself in this one. It's really amazing watching the depths of his evil be created, tested, and affirmed so young

. I... am hoping that the

singing

will feel natural in the film; that tends to take me out of it sometimes, but I see how integral it is to the whole thing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

It is a heavy read in the sense of understanding the ways it is explicitly and implicitly exposing real life; something like watching a Black Mirror episode I guess.