Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Balada dos Pássaros e das Serpentes by Suzanne Collins

244 reviews

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This books starts on July 4th, so what a fitting day to finish it! I loved The Hunger Games series when I first read it, devouring each book within just a couple of hours. Still, for some reason, I wasn’t all that interested when I heard about this prequel. Who wants to read about the man we know becomes the ultimate villain? Turns out, I do.

Even if I hadn’t known the future of Coriolanus Snow, I would’ve hated him. From the very first page, he is vain, selfish, and entitled. There are plenty of new characters to love and root for in this book, but never once did I find myself rooting for him. Collins does an incredible job of giving us a look into the mind of a narcissist. 

Like the other Hunger Games books, this one is easy to binge. Even when there’s not a lot of action on-page, it spurs you forward and you’ll look back and wonder how you just blew through 200 pages at a time without realizing it. I’m glad I decided to read it, and I’m looking forward to the next prequel she has planned!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lucyford's review against another edition

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

4.25

Honestly, this is probably my favorite Hunger Games book yet. I loved the world-building and connections to the previous books, and the character depth of all the characters was amazing. Everything about it is so creative and I was continuously shocked by the genius ideas of the Author. Definitely worth reading (and watching the movie)! 

The only thing I didn’t like was that you were never super attached to the characters because you generally know where they’re going to end up (could also be a result of watching the movie first though).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

essypierrot's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

oceanbluetay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Cannibalism

ashleygreene03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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: Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

benegesserwitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Slavery, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

britwalsh16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.0

I loved the hunger games trilogy, but this book about Snow, just wasn’t it for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s well written and everything; but it’s just Snows character, we all know he’s a villain, but he spends the first 75% of the book pretending to be the good guy, & it just doesn’t fit him, it was driving me crazy! The book started out trying to paint him as a good guy. He’s not! Like Snow in this book doesn’t understand why they keep doing the hunger games, yet he’s the biggest supporter in the trilogy!! & he’s not a fan of the manipulations that come from those in power; but in the trilogy he’s the KING of manipulations. We’re supposed to believe it’s the same character, but it doesn’t feel like it, his personality is so diff. I love a good villain origin story, but this one seemed so far fetched. Atleast until the last quarter of the book where he finally started showing his true colors & became the heartless villain. 
Maybe it’s just me cause Snow was never a villain I loved to hate. He was always on par with characters like Umbridge from Harry Potter. They don’t deserve redemption, & that’s what this book seemed to try to convey for most of the book atleast. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nia_readsalot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, and War

marissaam12's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Was similar to the movie, and was still engrossed in the book despite knowing what will happen. Explains a lot about the character for the other books - Suzanne Collins is so smart

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship