Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

30 reviews

wheelyautistic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Brilliant story that had me hooked the entire time. I have never hated a main character as much as I have reading this but that's what makes it amazing. The character's we're amazing and so well explored.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

elizabethc3's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

The story line was alright at best. It was hard to as there was sooo many characters that I was constantly googling too figure out who was being mentioned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

sariereads's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use

dazzlingreader_'s review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad 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

4.5

Simply briliant how Suzanne Collins knows how to portray Coriolanus, just an incrible read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Medical content

Minor: Vomit

Definitely heavy themes like other hunger games books but didn’t feel as dark or violent as those. I didn’t noticed any cursing but the themes still make me question why this series was marketed as a YA book. I doubt teens understand the significance of these books from a critical thinking standpoint and the themes are so heavy.

kingspite618's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rip coriolanus snow you would've loved therapy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Torture, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

david_slack110507's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I was not expecting for this book to end the way that it did and for me to be so engrossed throughout but this was honestly a really fun read that had very few issues for me. I haven't read the original trilogy of books as I mainly read this book in anticipation for the movie adaptation to come out and I have watched the movie adaptations of the original trilogy but this book has made me want to start reading the original 3 books as I really enjoyed the way that the story was told in this and I would not be surprised if the movie adaptations of the original trilogy left things out of those books. 

It was such an interesting choice to centre the book around the very antagonist of the original series in President Snow, who is simply just Coriolanus here and nothing much else other than having the last name Snow and the reputation that comes with that name. This was a good way of characterising Snow more so then what was done in the original entries into the franchise, and it was done so in being able to add layers to Snow's character while also being able to show how morally corrupt he was and how he didn't suddenly become evil, rather it was a slow process that becomes cemented in the final few chapters of the book and the epilogue in particular - essentially it does not just write off his actions as byproducts of what happened to him in this book and make him a misunderstood villain but rather that the intention behind his later actions was always there but just amplified by this book's events. Lucy Gray was also such a fascinating character too as she truly is someone in the wrong place at the wrong time that brings out the best in someone as bad as Snow and gets nothing good for her efforts and contributions, I like how different she is to Katniss and how being a performer, she immediately adapts to the publicity of the Games and survives because of it. I really liked the two of them as characters but there were also many others that I really liked and/or found fascinating and wanted to see more of such as Tigris, Sejanus, Dean Highbottom, Dr Gaul and more. 

Speaking of the Games, they were really interesting to read about as we get it from the perspective of an onlooker (Coriolanus) while Lucy Gray, the one of the two that is actually in the Hunger Games, is trying to survive and fight for her life and so we don't read about any of the action that takes place other than what is seen on the monitors and yet it doesn't get boring and instead adds to the level of mystery and intrigue of the book which is something that it continues on with it's ending and resolution or there lack of for Lucy Gray's fate. It was also really interesting to have the Games as a sort of midway point in the book and to end the first half or so of the book rather than have it be the climatic battle/act that you would expect it to be instead allowing for Snow and Lucy Gray's relationship to grow following the aftermath of Games and their respective participation in it as mentor and competitor/participant, when they both return to District 12. This really solidified the strength of the book for me as it continued to thrive past its main selling point of the Hunger Games and instead allowed for more of a character study of the two to take place. 

I feel like my only issue with this really is the fact that at times the pacing felt a little off as it stayed a little too focused on something that didn't seem to have too much significance but that's only really a minor issue I had with the book and only knocks it down a little from being an actual 5 star book to one that's rounded up from 4.5. I'm really interested in seeing how the movie adaptation manages to cover all this information as there is a lot here and I'm sure that there are references scattered about, besides from the obvious ones, to the original trilogy so I really hope that it delivers as this is such a wonderfully written and engaging story that has you become deeply invested in a previously unseen and unheard of character (That actually makes sense given the context) and the central villain who appeared to be just pure evil but is much more layered than that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Cannibalism

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism