Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

21 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

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

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

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Murder, Classism, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Alcohol, War, Misogyny, and Addiction

Minor: Vomit, Infidelity, Excrement, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Confinement, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcoholism

lj_sophia's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow. This was a much more complex story than that of the original Hunger Games trilogy. It's violent, dark, compelling, and a wonderful way to set up Katniss's story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Violence, War, Death, Classism, Blood, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Addiction, and Grief

fragrant_stars's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

I loved loved loved this goddamn book so much. I feel like it's an excellent portrayal of the ugly side of trauma and mental illness. It's tragic really how certain characters had every opportunity to make the right choice, and yet in the end made terrible choices instead. It's good, I think, to have sympathy for villains and understand how they became who they became. It's a good reminder that there is no biological or innate difference between us and the most terrible person in the world- it all comes down to choice in the end. Well done Suzanne, you have my heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child death, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Classism, War, Kidnapping, Gore, Drug use, Addiction, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Bullying, Racism, Classism, Alcoholism, Medical content, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Police brutality, Torture, Vomit, and Alcohol

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this was a brilliant sequel. perfect length, it really gave you time to delve in to the story. suzanne did a brilliant job of putting us in snow’s mind. the way she started off making you feel sorry for him because he has real hardships and goes through many genuine emotions you find yourself kind of rooting for him and *almost* forgetting what he was to become

the complexity, yet simplicity, and eventually tragedy, of his love story with lucy gray was so well written, you weren’t sure if you could trust her and the way it spoke her ballad in to existence at the end was chilling

. the attention to detail was incredible; so many nods to, and easter eggs from the original trilogy. and not only those, but also the fact that we see the creation of the world that katniss is brought up in, and connect so many dots.

the songs origins brought from the original trilogy, as well as the other songs sung were haunting, as well as it being incredible to see their origin and true meaning behind them. the symbolism of it all was poetic. seeing snow’s mindset already being brainwashed by his society, the superiority he feels from his tile and status being further twisted and deepened to become the man who we meet in the original trilogy.

the depravity and brutality of the treatment of the districts in this earlier setting was astounding, after reading the original books you don’t imagine things be much worse in the past but it is, despite the wicked and twisted things yet to come, along with snow’s power. overall, it was a brilliantly thought-out and crafted novel, perfectly tying in to the original trilogy; whilst being its own twisted, compelling story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Child death, Gaslighting, War, Torture, Classism, Death, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Confinement, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Vomit, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Sexism, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racial slurs

theaceofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Let me preface this by saying that I listened to the audiobook. I suspect that this has a negative effect in my reading experience and I have attempted to adjust my rating bases on this. I switched between being okay with the narrator and being very frustrated. There are a lot of songs and while I don't expect them to come up with a whole score for an audiobook, some kind of tone, enthusiasm, energy (you get the idea) would have been a massive improvement. The Gem of Panem sounds almost AI generated and his female "singing" voice is just frustrating. Other than that the narrator was okay, but nothing special either.

Set not too long after the war against the rebels, this book explores the Capitol and the early Hunger Games through the eyes of Snow (yes, that Snow). He is assigned as a mentor and plans to exploit this to ensure a good future for himself. Unfortunately for him, he is assigned the underdog of the underdogs - Lucy Gray Baird the district 12 female tribute. But she is not your usual district 13 citizen and Snow works with her to try ensure her survival and his future.

It's been a while since I've read the original trilogy (maybe I should reread them actually...) but I remember what reading it was like. I enjoyed the prequel but it reads a lot like fanfiction. And I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way. There are a lot of what feel like *see, see* moments (e.g. several references to the katniss plant, songs, I'm sure there are several others I'm missing). There were parts I absolutely loved and others that... Yeah. I think parts could have been better/explained more/etc. The book maybe tries to fit a bit too much story in. I'd say it maybe contains content equal to about two of the original trilogy. There were also parts of the end that I just didn't like, but others were interesting

It's quite a lot more violent than the original books. It gets quite disturbing at times. You get to see into parts of just how messed up the Capitol is. I absolutely loved the world building and the insight into the Capitol it provided. I think this was my favourite part of the book. Honestly, I'd be interested in reading more about it, particularly the

genetics lab

(not really a spoiler but a thing that exists). It was inter sting to see into the aftermath of the war and at least at this point that not everyone lives the same glamorous lifestyle. Being able to see how things started growing into the world we saw in the last book was great. The games (still relatively new) are quite different to what we see then. 

I wasn't a big fan of the main characters. I know other liked her but Lucy annoyed me, although I don't know how much of that is because of Snow's views. Snow... Well, I didn't like him. Not because of who he becomes but because who he is in this book. I know he's young but he's kind of all over the place. I think it might be an attempt to make him complex, but it just didn't work for me. It is an interesting look into how mind works though and his thought processes and reasoning.

Was it worth reading? Yes. Just be prepared for something far darker than the original trilogy that somehow managed to be the same and nothing like it at the same time. I think it delves into a lot of interesting ideas and expands on the world 

Some notes on some of the content warnings (all are individually spoilered)

 
Child death:

Obviously these would occur, bit I thought it's Worth mentioning that these are more on page than I remember the original trilogy being

Child abuse:

Let's just say that the cushy conditiobs the tributes live in weren't a thing in the past

Murder:

Includes execution

War:

In the past. Lot's of mentions of the aftermath

Gaslighting:

Propaganda

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, War, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Medical trauma, Deportation, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Animal death, Vomit, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, and Addiction

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

Suzanne Collins knows how to write a compelling story! These 500+ pages flew by and I couldn't put the book down. Brought me back to devouring the original trilogy, which I think I'm about to again.

It is not fun to be inside Snow's head for this long, but it is enlightening. The plot also manages to be compelling despite knowing the foregone conclusion. Seeing an early version of the Hunger Games without all the technology that the later ones will have is interesting too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Child death, Murder, Blood, Gore, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Violence, Confinement, Death, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, Vomit, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, and Cannibalism

eyescanbecruel's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcohol, War, Death of parent, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cannibalism, Police brutality, Infidelity, and Animal death