Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

356 reviews

vreyna20_2004's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Coriolanus is fucking insane. The things he would come up to rationalize his actions or the feelings he was having were mind boggling. There was times that I thought maybe he would change that he was going to finally give up the whole Hunger Games thing and forget/to free everyone from the Capitol and join forces with Sejanus as if hoping would change the outcome.

I cried when he had betrayed Sejanus after he was excited to see him when he was sent to become a Peacekeeper and that he recorded Sejanus confided to him about his plans before tossing everything so that Dr. Gaul could hear. The one person that had Coriolanus shivering in his boots, that was the person he wanted to hear the confession as well save him. Then the spiral Coryo had when he escaped with Lucy Gray made me pray that even if she was alive that she would never step foot near the small house they stayed in. And then Coriolanus poisoning Casca Highbottom (which I kept reading as Caca Highbottom cause I’m mature like that) broke me. He wanted the Hunger Games to never exist and now is drinking and doping himself to death just like Haymitch and that hurt me. Fuck Dr. Gaul and fuck Coriolanus Snow (I still like those edits).

My only real complaint is how little impact the tributes had or at least how Suzanne just wrote something quick about them to then fully expand on Lucy Gray which I get it’s because it’s in Coriolanus’ point of view and he only cares about Lucy Gray but it’s just a me thing that’s all.

It was different from the series following Katniss and the beginning of the second rebellion. I was going to dnf the book cause I felt so annoyed with Coriolanus bitching and moaning but I trekked through it and I’m happy I did cause now I don’t know how to feel about the book. It wasn’t bad obviously since I gave it a good rating but it’s the fact that he went through all this and then became the horrendous person that he is during the 74th to 76th Hunger Games. And I liked that Suzanne Collins didn’t write a sad story for him excusing his actions and instead wrote a story about how he was never going to change despite him questioning himself about changing it was fitting for him. But I also don’t think the book was necessary to read or be written but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Death, and War

Moderate: Vomit

hangings

kymboh78's review against another edition

tense slow-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: Death, Torture, Blood, Toxic friendship, Child death, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, War, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cannibalism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

domocampo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Police brutality, Classism, War, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cannibalism and Gaslighting

mconroy9137's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Gore, Body horror, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Deportation, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Dementia, Animal death, Alcohol, Misogyny, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Colonisation, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Cannibalism

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Cursing, Excrement, Miscarriage, and Eating disorder

zghutcheson01's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot and if you want an intro into philosophy about the human condition and role of government (think Hobbes, Locke, etc.), this is the perfect book for you. I wish I got to see more of Lucy Gray and the Covey from a perspective other than Snow’s but that would defeat the whole point so can’t complain too much about that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Murder, Gaslighting, Bullying, Grief, Dementia, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Vomit

Minor: Body horror, Misogyny, Addiction, Gun violence, Blood, War, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Trafficking

ari_oreo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Poor Sejanus. Poor sensitive foolish Sejanus

I’m in actual pain but Suzanne Collins never disappoints. She rolls out banger after banger 
I don’t usually like prequels focusing on a villain but this? This was amazing. I would go higher than 5 stars if I could. This is a wonderful addition to The Hunger Games series not only for the character but for the worldwide lore. Amazing 

My favorite character died though. It was necessary like Finnicks or Prims death in the main trilogy. Still hurts. My poor boy Sejanus didn’t deserve that!! Katniss is Sejanus’s revenge

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Cannibalism, Misogyny, Grief, Sexism, Body shaming, Addiction, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use

booksandbesitos's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This is the type of book that made me go “what the actual f***” once I put it down.

Oh my God, I knew to expect snows evilness going into this book and having read the description, and being an avid hunger games, reader, when I was younger.

But oh my God, the last few chapters are intense. Suzanne Collins did it once again it was beautiful, writing, and so much song.

Seriously this song lyrics are amazing and I can’t wait to see the film adaptation so I can listen to them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Gun violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cannibalism, Drug use, and Vomit

julells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Snow lands on top.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: War, Cannibalism, Blood, Death of parent, Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, and Medical content

agirlnamedellie's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• 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

As a huge fan of the original trilogy, I really enjoyed the prequel. I decided to read it before seeing the film as i always feel the need to read the book first. I really liked all the nods to the original trilogy and reading the theories afterwards that Lucy Grey is related to Katniss. I found it an interesting character study of how Snow starts off as a seemingly 'good' person and slowly turns to evil throughout the course of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death of parent, and War

justreads93'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
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Normally with sequels and prequels of major franchises I get nervous that they will be hastily produced cash grabs. But this is so well thought out and fleshes out the world of Panem through a lens we never really saw in the original trilogy. Snow was an interesting choice for the main character and narrator of the novel but through his perspective we see the Capital, the Games, and the Districts in a unique way. This book is more of a character study of how entitlement and prejudice and paranoia can become even more corrupt especially in the presence of an influence like Dr. Gaul. Snow has so many chances to change for the better but the way he justifies his actions to himself and the audience is an excellent example of an unreliable narrator. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Gun violence, Death, War, and Murder

Minor: Cannibalism