Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

A Balada dos Pássaros e das Serpentes by Suzanne Collins

51 reviews

avazee's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

maddielags's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

My 14 year old self is absolutely screaming that this series is still something I’m enjoying 12 years later. I honestly thought that the trilogy would be all that we’d see but this book just adds so many more layers to the story that I’m so glad it exists. 

Going into it after the first three and how much of a bad guy Snow is, I really wasn’t sure if I would like it but I loved the character of Lucy Gray. Snow is… hard to like, but that’s kinda the point. 

This book had little nods to the trilogy and explained the back story of some pivotal stories from the trilogy, such as seeing the story of the hanging tree and how the song came to be. 

All that’s left for me to say is… read the book, if you liked the trilogy, you will like this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, and Classism

rainydaysinautumn's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? Yes

2.5

It pains me to rate this book so low but after two re-reads and watching the film adaptation my rating remains the same.

It needed a dual POV and it needed a likeable love interest. 

It felt lackluster after the awesomeness that is The Hunger Games.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lauren625's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, and Alcohol

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

hrose0208's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Cannibalism

neurospicy_mama's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism and War

kmsander4's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was not at all what I was expecting.

I read the Hunger Games series many, many years ago and really loved it. So, I was excited to dive back into this world but, if I'm honest, I found it really slow.

While Collins does a good job to get the reader to buy into Snow as a sympathetic character and then absolutely destroys everything in the final few pages. I didn't expect her to light the character on fire like she did. 

But the worst part? I didn't even really care. I found that all of the characters irritated me by the end. I don't know if that was the intention because of our narrator or not, but that's what I felt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

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

4.5

Quite literally judging a book by its cover, I had originally written off this one as a cash grab by Collins due the success of The Hunger Games. I have never been so pleased to be proven wrong in my life.

The story follows a tense summer in the life of Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical president that we meet in the main trilogy sixty-odd years later. He is eighteen years old and slated to be mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a Covey girl living in District 12. He develops an infatuation with her early on, and much of the book is given over to how he tries to keep her safe before and after the 10th Hunger Games. 

The characterization of Coriolanus is incredibly moving, showing how the idealistic teen has his critiques of and subtle attacks on the Capitol used against him and against Lucy Gray. It crushes his spirit, and turns him into the monster who betrays everyone and trusts no one that we later see. Nostalgic nods exist to the main series are plentiful, as it appears that the young Coriolanus was instrumental in the implementation of much of the horror of the Games. 

All-in-all, a wonderful (if stressful!) book that played with my expectations just as cleanly as the Games themselves. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the main series and wants to hear a tale of how it started!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity and Excrement

Two of the tributes contract rabies and it is described in detail when they suddenly show symptoms in the arena. Snakes (including snake attacks, one of which is fatal) are common in the book, as the title suggests. There are two hangings of criminals that occur in the book in the latter portion

tuc39033's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty