Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Ballada ptaków i węży by Suzanne Collins

721 reviews

saaraah's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Classism, Child death, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, War, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Cannibalism

gothamballer39's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy and getting a better understanding of the rise of Snow. 

I do think there were a bit too many pieces of foreshadowing that took me out of the story

the expression "it's not over until the mockingjay sings", the fact that it's "too early" for the katniss

, but I did enjoy a couple of the smaller character callouts

like realizing that Maude Ivory was Old Maude who helped Katniss and Gale at the Seam and seeing Cesar Flickerman's dad make his first attempt at commentating the games

. 

I thought the pacing of the first half of the book was really strong and it kept me engaged with the characters and where the plot was heading. Then in the second half of the book, though, things just moved by too quickly where it felt like the plot was rushed.

Especially when Snow was planning to runaway with Lucy Gray and then over the span of like 5 pages he changed his mind and tried to kill her

 

It was unnerving to see just how much of the Hunger Games' evolution Snow played a role in and it set up his villain arc for the Katniss' story nicely. 

All in all, this doesn't quite live up to the excellent social commentary found in the trilogy, but is still a fascinating and enjoyable book for any Hunger Games fan. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Violence

cookie_lover's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, War, Toxic relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Classism, Medical content, and Child death

gabi_715's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, Child death, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use

ashleygreene03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, and Toxic friendship

porsche_elise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Murder, and Child death

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

Very interesting to watch the character arc!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, War, Death, Torture, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, and Blood

baearles's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Classism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Addiction, War, Vomit, and Grief

benegesserwitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Dementia, and Slavery

martysaurus27's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I had such high hopes, but this turned into a hate-read almost instantly. This was a premise that asked so many good questions about the world of the Hunger Games and how they came to be in the aftermath of The War, and instead it seems the only questions the author asked were, "Damnit, my draft is due WHEN?" and "This is going to be made into a movie regardless, right?" 

I remember the original trilogy fondly - granted, I was a kid with low literary expectations - but the writing in TBoSaS was just too sloppy to get past. Endless lazy exposition ("He buttoned his shirt - and it reminded him of [paragraphs of lore]"), an eye-rolling circus of one-dimensional characters (including the insufferably goofy Not Like Other Girls™️ female protagonist who is essentially a poor, Appalachian Jessica Day with snakes her pockets), an implausible romance ramrodded into the plot seemingly against its will, and a plot that consistently did just about the least interesting thing possible with every opportunity... Snow might land on top, but this book sure doesn't.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Violence