Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Nälkäpeli: Balladi laululinnuista ja käärmeistä by Suzanne Collins

777 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.

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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

nebulamarcus's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse

readwithsophsx's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

joshykb's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. The fact that I was able to go 4 years without spoilers from the book or movie is wild to me. It was great to revisit Panem and my childhood memories of reading the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins always does a great job of finding a way up the ante in a world that already has such high stakes. My only complaints about the book have to do with the pacing. While the story moved rather fluidly, I felt like the pacing of the character arcs — particularly Coriolanus’ — seemed a bit rushed. But, so much happened to these kids in what was essentially one summer that rushed character changes isn’t too unexpected.

I did not particularly enjoy Snow’s final encounter with Lucy Gray, nor the quickness of his descent into evil. I also wouldn’t liked to see a bit more of Sejanus before he was executed. I think there were also a few more loose ends — particularly the allusions to Coriolanus’ mother and her relationship to the Plinth’s, and the future of Coriolanus & Tigris’ relationship that warranted some exploration.

However, it was still a fun read that reignited my love for the Hunger Games series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and War

panaceaenthusiast's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

nixoneshoe's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

camilaeg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

the ballad of songbirds and snakes is a challenging tale of war, death, and sacrifice. 🐍🐦🌟

we follow the story of coriolanus snow, a young boy born into the prestigious snow dynasty which fell in panem's dark war days with the death of most of the snow family.

SPOILER WARNING!

the story starts by introducing us to a young coriolanus, who's sole purpose is to thrive and excel in the academy in order to ensure a stable financial future for himself and his family, which consists of his cousin tigris and his grandmother. after learning of his opportunity to win a prize entrance into university by excelling as a mentor in the 10th annual hunger games, he makes it his goal to make lucy gray baird, an unimpressive young girl from district 12, as desirable to the public as possible. coriolanus introduces the concept of sponsorships into the hunger games, which further increase his chances of winning with his district 12 tribute by making her as interesting as possible with the use of her singing. coriolanus has to balance his school life and being a mentor in the hunger games, all the while maintaining his family's reputation and gaining lucy gray's trust in order for him to utilize her talents for the public's pleasure. 

long story short, this story is divided into three acts; the first act tells the story of the reaping, coriolanus's mentorship to lucy gray, his family's monetary struggles, the development of a budding romantic relationship between coryo and lucy, and finally leads up to the start of the hunger games. the second act relates everything that is the actual games, with lucy gray participating within the arena as her opponents are eliminated and she eventually wins with the help of coriolanus's and her own cheating. lastly, the third and final act is coriolanus's punishment for cheating in the arena as he is sent to be a peacekeeper in district 12 and reunites with lucy gray, only to eventually lose her to his own greed for power and prestige.

SPOILER ENDS!

this is an intricate tale that shows us the true origins of the infamous president snow from the original hunger games trilogy. i found that it was a very interesting tale that gave us a look into how snow's dark mind worked in contrast to sejanus or lucy's pure minds. i also found that placing two undeniably good characters in relation to snow's complex one made us understand that snow was always twisted in his own way, but he only contained himself at the early stages of his life because of different key factors such as wanting to make tigris proud, wanting to fit in with his classmates, or even wanting to impress lucy gray. 10/10 would recommend! ✨️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child death and Gun violence

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

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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

lacyleereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

georgiaabigail's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the original trilogy, I adore the hunger games universe and learning more about the earlier games and how Snow became who we know him to be. I struggle reading books when I dislike the main character but I was too invested in the plot to stop!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and War