Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

122 reviews

katie0528's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. I grew up with the Hunger Games and really thought Mockongjay was messy and not clearly thought out. I avoided this, thinking Collins had lost her touch. She certainly has not. This book follows Snow before his presidency, as a young high school senior as he participates in the Hunger Games as a mentor and discovers his personal limits and what lines he is willing to cross for his own personal power.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

lochnessbookster'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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Fire/Fire injury

wild_rabbits's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

thesecretsapphic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

chavonnwshen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a haunting book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism and Abandonment

jdgammons's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I enjoyed this book as a character study of Snow but in my reading I was well aware it was written for a younger audience of middle age to high-school age reading level. I found it too perfect how Lucy Grey's music fit perfectly with the music of the next book, like every song she wrote then became a folk song within district 12 and then influenced Katniss. 

I was pretty much annoyed with Sejanus and Snow the entire book and found only Lucy Grey as the only semi enjoyable character but was consistently frustrated with her doe eyed complacency and ignorance. In comparison to Katniss who is one of the strongest women characters in teen fiction I found Lucy Grey lack luster in comparison. 

Snow was the only person who had any sort of character development in the book and non of it good. I found the epilogue where suddenly Snow has no care for consequences very out of character suddenly when he spent the rest of the book careful of any repercussions that may come to him as well as the Plinth family adopting him as well as an easy way to wrap up loose ends with the Snow families low income and the Plinth's loss. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

9/10. I really enjoyed this book. Coriolanus is a very complicated character and an unreliable narrator which makes him so intriguing. However, I was worried that he was going to come across as the hero of this story (considering how awful he is from the original trilogy) but thankfully his paranoia and selfishness permeate every page. Essentially, he is the main character but he is still a villain or at the very least problematic. It is fascinating seeing things from his point of view and even understanding his actions while also recognizing that he could have acted more humane. Coriolanus is more humanized because of this book since we get to see his hardships and emotions, but his putrid personality still affects everything he touches. Additionally, I love the Covey and addition of songs with their meaningful lyrics embedded in the story. It helped that I could listen to the movie's soundtrack, though, to actually grasp the songs' tunes.  I knew how this book would go because I saw the movie first but I enjoyed the book so much more because I could actually understand his motivations and thought processes. Suzanne Collins does a great job of portraying him while also writing him in a way that clearly does not excuse his behavior. As always, I am in love with her writing and will always praise her work. 

SPOILERS:

As I said, I watched the movie before reading the book so I knew the events of the book. While watching the movie, I wondered if Coriolanus actually loved Lucy Gray like he said or if he felt attracted to her but was manipulating her for his own benefit. I guess both could be true, but the book makes it clear that he does actually love her even though his own paranoia, selfishness, and manipulation spoil even the most pure thing in his life.  The concepts of trust and love come up in this book quite a lot, especially at the end, and I think it is fascinating to examine what those concepts look and feel like. Coriolanus claims to love and trust Lucy Gray (even to himself) but ultimately proves that while he may love her, he is incapable of truly trusting anyone. I think the only person Coriolanus ever truly trusted was Tigris and we know that he ended up having a falling-out with her later in life. Considering his actions throughout the book (causing Sejanus's death, murdering people, becoming a Peacekeeper/cop, horrendously improving the Hunger Games, turning on Lucy Gray), I take deep satisfaction that he grows up to be miserable and alone. Snow may land on top, but tyrants always fall eventually.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and War

caelix's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

The first time I picked up was right after watching the movie if I’m not wrong, and I don’t know why but even though I was super excited to read it, I dropped it after reading not even a chapter. 
This was in December 2023.

Now, August 2024, I picked it up again on a sunny day and started to read.. and then didn’t stop. I ate the whole book up in a total of less than 24 hours. It was another masterpiece by Suzanne of course, I don’t know why I doubted her pen the first time around! 

Having now both watched the movie (though now I’m definitely due for a rewatch) and read the book, I can confidently agree with the people that complained that the movie was too different from the book. I have to say, though, it’s not changed I disagree with necessarily. All around, considering the director inability to see the anti-war statement in Suzanne’s books, I think it’s a good adaptation. Very enjoyable movie, really good cast (I love Rachel and Tom sm), dynamic change between the different parts of the story.  It makes you like Snow, and then leave you with an awkward feeling toward him, which is what the book also goes for. But I think what the director missed was once again, the myriad of little things Suzanne adds in her writing that add this special touch to it, a certain humanity.

I did like Snow in the book, he’s funny, sharp, you can feel why people would feel interested in him, but he’s also just a boy. He has friends and he has family and he has morals that he follows because that’s how he was raised, even if some of them are questionable. All the moment where he interact with people he genuinely considers his friends, or all the time he talks about his childhood with those people around him; all the times those people talk to him and show their characters, and His character through this interaction, those are the bits that the director cut and changed, and I think it’s a big lost.

I personally think the arena scene was more interesting in the movie for sure (and it is my favourite version of the scene) but I do feel like there was another sense to the scene original. That this wasn’t a spectacle, no matter how much you try to make it one. Thats it’s just children killing each other’s.

Anyway, all of this to say, I loved the book and all the added details about the Capitals during the war and the political aspect of things! And I loved seeing Snow interactions with people throughout the whole book!

I would recommend 100%, but be wary of some gruesome scenes here and there!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Death

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ratchetang's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.25

Watched the movie before I read the book. Very descriptive. Great at exploring the insight of a characters thoughts. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail

xtinareally's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I read another review who said it best (@nataliya):

You don't root for young Hitler to find love and success... Coriolanus Snow cannot be redeemed. But he can be understood, to a point, and thats what Collins did well here.

I struggled to get into this prequel story knowing full well I would not sympathize with Snow, but I wanted to understand how history unraveled itself into the world we see by the 74th reaping. The level of foreshadowing Collins does within this story alone, as well as tying things into the original trilogy, is phenomenal. I am still constantly thinking back to how every action by the rebels in the future, knowingly or unknowingly, packs a bigger punch to the gut against Snow/against the capitol. Although I enjoyed the overall message, I really didn't care for a lot of the characters nor the games they played. 

What I thought was originally just a love story gone wrong developed into more of a study on the human psyche, and for that, I did enjoy this read slightly more than average and more than what I expected.

For all these reasons, I am also glad I borrowed this from the library rather than spent the money as it would not have met my original trilogy Hunger Games expectations.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and War