Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

785 reviews

nebulamarcus's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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readwithsophsx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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joshykb's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. The fact that I was able to go 4 years without spoilers from the book or movie is wild to me. It was great to revisit Panem and my childhood memories of reading the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins always does a great job of finding a way up the ante in a world that already has such high stakes. My only complaints about the book have to do with the pacing. While the story moved rather fluidly, I felt like the pacing of the character arcs — particularly Coriolanus’ — seemed a bit rushed. But, so much happened to these kids in what was essentially one summer that rushed character changes isn’t too unexpected.

I did not particularly enjoy Snow’s final encounter with Lucy Gray, nor the quickness of his descent into evil. I also wouldn’t liked to see a bit more of Sejanus before he was executed. I think there were also a few more loose ends — particularly the allusions to Coriolanus’ mother and her relationship to the Plinth’s, and the future of Coriolanus & Tigris’ relationship that warranted some exploration.


However, it was still a fun read that reignited my love for the Hunger Games series.

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panaceaenthusiast's review against another edition

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

5.0


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nixoneshoe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

4.0


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camilaeg's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

the ballad of songbirds and snakes is a challenging tale of war, death, and sacrifice. 🐍🐦🌟

we follow the story of coriolanus snow, a young boy born into the prestigious snow dynasty which fell in panem's dark war days with the death of most of the snow family.

SPOILER WARNING!

the story starts by introducing us to a young coriolanus, who's sole purpose is to thrive and excel in the academy in order to ensure a stable financial future for himself and his family, which consists of his cousin tigris and his grandmother. after learning of his opportunity to win a prize entrance into university by excelling as a mentor in the 10th annual hunger games, he makes it his goal to make lucy gray baird, an unimpressive young girl from district 12, as desirable to the public as possible. coriolanus introduces the concept of sponsorships into the hunger games, which further increase his chances of winning with his district 12 tribute by making her as interesting as possible with the use of her singing. coriolanus has to balance his school life and being a mentor in the hunger games, all the while maintaining his family's reputation and gaining lucy gray's trust in order for him to utilize her talents for the public's pleasure. 

long story short, this story is divided into three acts; the first act tells the story of the reaping, coriolanus's mentorship to lucy gray, his family's monetary struggles, the development of a budding romantic relationship between coryo and lucy, and finally leads up to the start of the hunger games. the second act relates everything that is the actual games, with lucy gray participating within the arena as her opponents are eliminated and she eventually wins with the help of coriolanus's and her own cheating. lastly, the third and final act is coriolanus's punishment for cheating in the arena as he is sent to be a peacekeeper in district 12 and reunites with lucy gray, only to eventually lose her to his own greed for power and prestige.

SPOILER ENDS!

this is an intricate tale that shows us the true origins of the infamous president snow from the original hunger games trilogy. i found that it was a very interesting tale that gave us a look into how snow's dark mind worked in contrast to sejanus or lucy's pure minds. i also found that placing two undeniably good characters in relation to snow's complex one made us understand that snow was always twisted in his own way, but he only contained himself at the early stages of his life because of different key factors such as wanting to make tigris proud, wanting to fit in with his classmates, or even wanting to impress lucy gray. 10/10 would recommend! ✨️

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wild_rabbits's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.0


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lacyleereads's review against another edition

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

4.25


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georgiaabigail's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the original trilogy, I adore the hunger games universe and learning more about the earlier games and how Snow became who we know him to be. I struggle reading books when I dislike the main character but I was too invested in the plot to stop!

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robotnik's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

5.0

My sweet, stupid son Sejanus deserved so much better.

Fuck you, Snow lol.

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