Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

76 reviews

maddalenacesco's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

protagonist has the holy grail of mental illnesses: blond, manic pixie dream girl as love interest, man.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Animal death, Death of parent, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

leedolee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

While I hate Snow, it was cool reading about the past. I liked learning more about past Panem and the early developments with how the Hunger Games would eventually pan out. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, War, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Classism, Gore, Genocide, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Cannibalism

biab00's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Cannibalism

theuncannydani's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Gore, Slavery, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Body horror, Torture, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Vomit, Addiction, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use and Terminal illness

ghostboy99's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Violence, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Genocide

achay91's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: War, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Genocide, and Police brutality

Minor: Death of parent, Torture, and Vomit

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Addiction, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Gore, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Vomit, War, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Torture, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Kidnapping, Slavery, Body horror, and Bullying

Minor: Body horror, Stalking, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

c_dmckinney'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Classism, Xenophobia, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: War, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Deportation, and Trafficking

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Murder, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, War, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Grief, Police brutality, Bullying, Classism, Medical content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

Not as good as the original trilogy, but a good read regardless. I think my biggest issues are with the fact that its central character is someone we already know from the future. I

t seems like Collins had to go back on quite a bit in order to make this narrative fit in with what she already told us in the original trilogy. 

I’d say that some other issues with this book are that most of the characters are just…flat. Dr. Gaul with her ridiculous nursery rhymes is too cartoonish of a villain, Lucy Gray is a manic pixie dream girl (which on the one hand makes sense because we’re seeing her from Snow’s POV, but that doesn’t make her any less grating), the rest of the Covey and their weird country bumpkin way of life are equally as grating and Snow himself has zero shades of gray. He’s awful all the way through (I’ll get back to this).

The most interesting characters by far are Sejanus Plinth and Dean Highbottom, both of whom I kind of wish had been the POV characters for this prequel.

BUT I will say that in terms of politics and big picture ideas, this book is way more ambitious than the original trilogy. Yes, Snow is a bit one note but I *do* actually appreciate that. He’s a fascist, point blank. He’s an elitist bigot whose family has fallen on hard luck but we don’t ever have to feel sympathy for him because he STILL clings to that bigotry even though it’s glaringly obvious that The Capitol is to blame for his family’s trauma. It’s also VERY interesting that Collins doesn’t even attempt to hide the links between fascism and misogyny. 

Let’s talk real world for a second and how commonplace it is for alt-right young men to be drawn to their worldviews because of an innate sense of entitlement not only with wealth and the economy but with women as well. A big part of fascism is controlling women. It’s never a surprise when an alt-right extremist has a history of domestic violence. Never.

And Collins making it abundantly obvious that Coriolanus doesn’t truly LOVE Lucy Gray but seeks to own and possess her is actually really great. There’s no love story here. We know Lucy Gray is doomed from the moment she’s in his clutches. He wouldn’t have done ANYTHING for her if he didn’t want to fuck her so badly tbh.  This was so obviously going to end one way and I’m glad that Collins didn’t chicken out and went for it and avoided giving him a change of heart although I wish she wasn’t so ambiguous with it. 

The ending as a whole was another issue for me. It felt a bit rushed and convoluted and I wish Snow’s meeting with Highbottom was stretched out just a little more as opposed to stuffed into the epilogue.

All in all though, this was a solid read and I’m sure I’ll be seeing the movie in the Fall. I’m curious if Collins will be expanding even further on this world or not… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Gun violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Misogyny, Police brutality, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Mental illness, Addiction, and Medical content