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jessicaludden's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am in pain after rereading this. Somehow I have that same feeling I got when I read this for the first time as a 12 year old. Just that emptiness in my soul after reading such a bittersweet ending. This book was full of war and politics and rebellion which is why it was so boring to me as a kid, but 10+ years later and I love it even more. There’s so much loss and the ending does an amazing job of portraying how Katniss and Peeta have been damaged beyond repair, but still have hope for their future together. They suffered a lot, but are braver and will make their kids braver for it.
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Kidnapping, Addiction, Blood, Mental illness, Gore, Miscarriage, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and War
jowmy4's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Vomit
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Excrement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Torture
amna_a's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Suicide attempt
arlorees's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Blood
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Vomit
kaylallavender's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Violence, War, Murder, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism
Moderate: Torture, Addiction, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Trafficking, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Miscarriage
valereads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm afraid to say that, like Catching Fire, this book had major pacing issues. Like Catching Fire this book had a slow first third which thankfully felt less tedious than the one in Catching Fire. The middle third was honestly forgettable. The rest of the pacing felt messy. There were chapters and chapters where nothing seemed to happen followed by a few chapters where everything moved so fast it was difficult to process everything. I felt like this weakened the impact of some of the more violent parts of the book, especially as we weren't given the opportunity to dwell on their impact in the slow chapters.
Once again the romantic relationships were one of the weakest parts of this novel. With the twist that both options in the love interest were kind of bad in this book. Katniss has clearly developed an unhealthy co-dependency with Peeta from their shared trauma and due to the trauma of losing district 12, Gale is filled with toxic anger and hate. I wish we'd gotten more focus on the platonic relationships in this book, especially the one between Katniss and Prim. The few moments we had of them together were lovely and Katniss grieving over Prim with Buttercup genuinely made me cry. The romantic relationships didn't make me nearly so emotional.
In addition I found it hard to care about a lot of the secondary characters introduced in this book let alone remember their names. They were underdeveloped which majorly reduced the impact of their violent deaths which I especially felt when they seemed to impact Katniss a lot.
On a more positive side, I appreciate how Collins continues to explore how the trauma the main characters have suffered and how it affects their mental states. Unfortunately one place where this is not as well handled is the sexual trauma one secondary character has experienced. I thought the way the discussions of his trauma and experiences of sexual assault and trafficking were poorly done and would probably be triggering for most survivors, this is exacerbated by the character in questions violent death later in the book.
Overall I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It definitely isn't as good as the first book but I do not regret reading. I'm glad I can now say I have finally finished reading this trilogy. (And, no, I will not be reading A Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes.)
Content Warnings: addiction (alcohol and drug addiction), body horror, child death, confinement, drug abuse, drug use, gore, grief, gun violence, medical content, panic attacks, police brutality, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, violence, animal death, excrement, references to genocide, medical content, mental illness, references to miscarriage, sexual assault, trafficking, torture
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence