Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Ballada ptaków i węży by Suzanne Collins

65 reviews

jessmbark's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Coriolanus Snow walked so Oliver Quick could run. But in all seriousness, Suzanne Collins' ability to write in a binge-worthy way is impressive. Some moments were a bit on the nose, but this fits the theme of the original trilogy so well: bread and circuses. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Classism and Xenophobia

loveisabird's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

i saw the movie first and while there’s much more in the book that fills the story out much better, there’s definitely some touches/changes from the movie i missed desperately here. coriolanus ripping out his own stitches. tigris’ last line about his father. YOU CAN KISS MY ASS!!!!!

but between the book and the movie together i think i’m even more taken in by this era of THG storyline than the original trilogy. don’t get me wrong i love the story of the final rebellion. but i also just adore worldbuilding and seeing the world of panem getting built, setting up the eventual rebellion, at this earlier point is entrancing to me. the way it recontextualizes things from the original trilogy that are already so provocative… the mockingjay, the hanging tree, the unnamed first district 12 victor, the traditions and spectacle of the hunger games… delicious. 

also like. as much as i hate the bitch coriolanus was a more compelling narrator. then again maybe if katniss’ books weren’t in fucking first person i’d be more into her narration and inner world also. 

finally lucy gray baird is the best character suzanne collins ever created and if you ask me she lived a long life in the woods. maybe not a happy one. but she survived that motherfucker i know it in my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Child death, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Child abuse

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Torture

Minor: Medical content, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

kattila's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Police brutality, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Terminal illness, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism and Medical trauma

lola218_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Murder, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, War, Child death, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Grief, and Xenophobia

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

c8ln18's review against another edition

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

4.5

I’ve been a long time fan of the Hunger Games series. It was an interesting turn getting into the mind of Snow. Suzanne Collins does a fantastic job balancing the duality of man and decisions in this novel. I watched the movie first and I’m glad I did, because I got to see how the songs sounded, and also visualize the book better. I enjoyed seeing how it differed. This book did get a bit slow for me occasionally, which is why it’s not quite a 5 star. Occasionally because I knew the ending, considered putting it down. However, I’m glad I kept on though! Sejanus deserves the world. I loved the callbacks to the original series and seeing how everything got started. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Police brutality

Moderate: War

Minor: Cannibalism

rsoule7'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? 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: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Confinement, War, Child abuse, Classism, Police brutality, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Drug use, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Cannibalism, Addiction, and Genocide

Minor: Bullying

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Murder, Classism, War, Addiction, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts

rebekkamafia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Idk why I saw Coriolanus through rose-coloured glasses for a huge part of the book and was hoping he would change and not be like the President Snow we know but towards the end I truly realised (and let myself see) what a fking psychopath he is oh my lord i loathe him

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Animal cruelty, Murder, Death, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

bellebeaumont95's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 Making a concerted effort to review every book I read this year because: resolutions! Or something.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes tracks a pivotal time in a young Coriolanus Snow's life, all the moments that lead up to him becoming the President of Panem by the time of Katniss' Hunger Games, 64 years after the events of this book.

It's such a well-crafted franchise. The worldbuilding in this one is still very well thought out, rich and just phenomenal, each character serves a very clear purpose in the story, and as usual, the perspective is where the book really shines. We spend the entire time seeing events unfold from Snow's POV, and while we are at times drawn to empathize with him, since he is a very nuanced character, at every turn it's inescapably clear that he always had choices. Collins shows this vividly through characters like Tigris, Sejanus, Lucy Gray, even some of his classmates from the Capitol (which really surprised me, I hope Lysistrata had a nice life far away from this man) who live through most of the same events as Coriolanus and simply make different choices.

It does run a little longer than needed (I don't think learning all the minutia of bird-trapping was all that vital, unless it was to draw another parallel to Katniss' hunting? STILL), and it does occasionally suffer from a bit of prequel-itis, such as some heavy-handed winks towards the future and certain in-your-face-"isn't-this-so-diabolical" moments, but I can't really fault Suzanne Collins for that, since people still! keep! missing! the point! (The next person to make a "Snow lands on top of me" thirst trap edit owes me 50$!!!!)

Overall I would recommend this book as a worthy installment in The Hunger Games series; at no point does it fall into villain apologism, and it has a lot to say about the complexity of privilege.

4.25/5 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit and War

Minor: Addiction

eminent_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Xenophobia