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risaleel's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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.
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…
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
ailerua's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Gun violence, War, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Genocide, Slavery, Police brutality, Classism, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Addiction
ellaticonstellation's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Violence, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Murder, and Physical abuse
nellsir's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Police brutality, Torture, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War
Moderate: Dementia
aliyas_encanto's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
seren'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War
mattiedancer's review against another edition
- 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
- Fans of The Hunger Games trilogy
- Death, murder, child death, parent death, illness, cannibalism, blood, injury, medical trauma, gore
Graphic: Police brutality, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and War
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Sexism
tabbed_reads2much's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Classism, Child death, Child abuse, and Confinement
Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Slavery
Maybe I just hate snow but this book was not itbefrazzledenby's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
I was really worried in the first half of the book because I was starting to...like Snow? He was relatable, he felt human and just very real. I was mad about that, but then I realized that's part of the brilliance of this book. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say Snow's downfall in the last ~200 pages is just amazing character development (devolvement? lol), especially given my feelings at the beginning.
So much happened in this book, so much so that the first half almost feels like a different book entirely. Collins moves through the plot pretty well, though, I think, knowing when to give us more character drama vs. plot drama and not overloading so much, which helped me with the length here. Very excited to talk more about this with Am especially given its really heavy social and political themes. Whew. What a ride this one was.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, and War