Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

A Balada dos Pássaros e das Serpentes by Suzanne Collins

281 reviews

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.

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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

jessiesnoww's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I LOVED the first 2/3 of the book, but then the pace slowed way down and the stakes were much lower. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

reenashenoy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, 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!

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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

polyanarchist'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

eli_drottningu's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

No estoy segura de si este libro era necesario, pero hace un gran trabajo explicando cómo es que los juegos del hambre llegaron a ser lo que vemos en la saga original, además de aportar una mirada a la visión de la gente del capitolio, la "común" y la que tiene el poder.

Ciertamente hace un gran trabajo desarrollando el personaje de Snow, mostrando su manera de ver el mundo, su lealtad al capitolio, su lado más calculador, y cómo definitivamente sus prioridades están en el poder, el control y la reputación.  Es un poco un "coming-of-age" en el sentido que muestra cómo pierde la "inocencia" en más de un sentido, aunque principalmente creo que se deshace de la ilusión de "ser una buena persona", aunque, desde luego, manteniendo la reputación de serlo, al menos a ojos de la sociedad del capitolio.

La parte del romance no me es tan "creíble", pero tiene sentido porque en realidad no es un romance, es posesión, es infatuación, pero no es romance, aunque quizá sí una búsqueda de conexión. Y se hace claro cuando toca elegir, huir o quedarse por la oportunidad de poder. Que de todas maneras, sus ideales eran demasiado distintos para que funcionara, era más que al inicio Snow veía cómo lo beneficiaba Lucy Grey y era con quien podía confiar/en quien podía recurrir para lograr sus objetivos, además de que se encaprichó con ella, se alineaban esas dos cosas, el momento en que el encaprichamiento y los objetivos se dejaron de alinear, adiós "amor". Pero claro, Lucy Grey algo tenía para haber podido sobrevivir a la arena, así que pudo ver a través de eso último.

Me gustó bastante todo el contexto que da, de la guerra, de los juegos del hambre, del capitolio y los distritos, lo que definitivamente no me esperaba fue el giro de la tercera parte,

que enviaran a Snow a ser agente de paz, pero, sobre todo, no me esperaba la muerte de Sejanus, aunque tampoco era tan sorprendente, su instinto de autopreservación era de -14, y claramente es un testimonio de las prioridades de Snow, de, a la hora de la verdad, qué pesa más.

Eso sí, el último capítulo pasaron demasiadas cosas, se sintió algo apresurado.
Y es curioso, como se desarrollan las cosas en el epílogo, particularmente, como pasa de

"tres muertos son suficientes para toda la vida" a "mataré a quien tenga que matar (pero sin que me puedan conectar con ello")

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Medical content, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, and Death of parent

courtneys_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

Another book where the movie adaptation is almost identical. I guess I enjoyed more of the commentary from Snow's thoughts, it did give me more context for some scenes. But still it's enjoyable, you know you are going to get a solid story from the Hunger Games series.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and War

Minor: Addiction and Cannibalism

princess_marie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Gun violence, and War

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

bubblybelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

meh?? this was fine i guess? snow’s personality felt very all of the place and wishy washy which made it hard to get any sort of grasp on him as a character. also for it being a villain origin story, it just didn’t work imo. we knew he was evil going into it, so 500
pages of him mostly just doing more cruel things wasn’t surprising. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Cannibalism