Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

15 reviews

theirgracegrace's review

dark mysterious 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

4.5

Quite literally judging a book by its cover, I had originally written off this one as a cash grab by Collins due the success of The Hunger Games. I have never been so pleased to be proven wrong in my life.

The story follows a tense summer in the life of Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical president that we meet in the main trilogy sixty-odd years later. He is eighteen years old and slated to be mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a Covey girl living in District 12. He develops an infatuation with her early on, and much of the book is given over to how he tries to keep her safe before and after the 10th Hunger Games. 

The characterization of Coriolanus is incredibly moving, showing how the idealistic teen has his critiques of and subtle attacks on the Capitol used against him and against Lucy Gray. It crushes his spirit, and turns him into the monster who betrays everyone and trusts no one that we later see. Nostalgic nods exist to the main series are plentiful, as it appears that the young Coriolanus was instrumental in the implementation of much of the horror of the Games. 

All-in-all, a wonderful (if stressful!) book that played with my expectations just as cleanly as the Games themselves. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the main series and wants to hear a tale of how it started!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexism, Blood, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Bullying

Minor: Excrement and Infidelity

Two of the tributes contract rabies and it is described in detail when they suddenly show symptoms in the arena. Snakes (including snake attacks, one of which is fatal) are common in the book, as the title suggests. There are two hangings of criminals that occur in the book in the latter portion

rchulin1's review

adventurous hopeful sad tense medium-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

4.5

Wow just wow it's hard to not get popular books spoiled but even so l still was surprised. I really was able to transport myself into the games into district twelve on a whole other level. The ending was so surprising I could definitely feel Snow's insanity building something | kept thinking about was the title: the ballad of songbirds and snakes. So at first I assumed the title was to be about Lucy's time in the hunger games the battle between her innocence and her violence which is true in a sense but I feel like the true symbolism was that Snow eventually became another snake Lucy tried to handle in a way. So Lucy is the songbird and Snow is the snake. Throughout the entire book we see Snows internal battle with the mentality he was raised with being a child of the capital and the mentality of someone on the outside although he was only in the Games for a small moment the entire book was in a way his own game. He was stripped of his innocence his way of seeing the capital through rose colored lenses into truly seeing and not only not fearing the capitals ideals but embracing them. A few times he mentions how he impulsively does things and those impulses are his inner self trying to break through even with him aiding Lucy it just shows how selfish he is he saved her for his own benefit. Lastly I deeply appreciated the small nods to the other hunger games books "May the odds ever be in our favor", the meadow song, his dislike of mocking jays, Katniss! I can deeply see how he changed the hunger games and the role he played in the beginning he dislikes how the tributes were transported in cargo holds and in the other books we see the tributes now being in a far fancier train. We see the peacekeepers being more harsh and we see how the arena changes every year so that the former years games doesn't play a role in this years and so on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Animal death, Classism, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Mass/school shootings

lovosii's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, War, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Body horror, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Bullying, Cannibalism, and Drug use

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

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

4.75

A fascinating look into Snow’s journey to being the tyrant we know from the original trilogy, the red flags were there from the beginning. I am choosing to believe

that Lucy Gray survived and escaped into the woods and doesn’t just live on through her songs.

The pacing was a little off sometimes but overall exciting and gripping. Suzanne Collins is a genius. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, War, Addiction, Blood, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Animal death, Vomit, Sexism, Kidnapping, Bullying, Medical trauma, Body horror, Grief, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, and Infidelity

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

paigeinabook's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I never thought Suzanne Collins could get any Suzanne Collins, but she did! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Ableism, Child death, Gaslighting, Stalking, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Torture, and War

goodomen's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Death

minamean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cannibalism and Domestic abuse

midnightverde's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

What a wild ride this book was. I think it’s my favorite from the series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Infidelity, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, Murder, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have to admit I liked this more than I thought I would. I watched the Hunger Games series in the theaters, and my goddaughter wanted to watch this one. We never made it to this one. We’ll probably stream it. The ones I saw were so gruesome that I was expecting to shrink while reading each page, but I was surprised. I liked this first book, the insights into how Snow got his start. Now feeling more open to the rest of the series, which my goddaughter started reading at 13 (her capacity for gore at such a young age shocked me). I shall grow my own bravery on her bravery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Drug use, Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail