Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Nälkäpeli: Balladi laululinnuista ja käärmeistä by Suzanne Collins

27 reviews

islayfraser's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This surpassed all my expectations. I'm always a little skeptical when an author goes back to a series after so many years but I heard everywhere that this prequel was worth it. The character development especially was SO well-done, and tied into the complex plot, the cause-and-effect got so complicated that all I could do was appreciate the completely insane but realistic reaction to so much trauma. I now need to reread The Hunger Games because I don't how I could forget if all of Collins' books are this phenomenal.

(I apologize if this review kind of doesn't make sense, I am quite sleep-deprived because of school but also I could not put this book down tonight until I finished it.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Vomit and Stalking

melongin's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Police brutality

Minor: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dementia, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

luna_is_superior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

Coryo is a HUGE unreliable narrator, how'd he make me love him until like the last chapter????

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Genocide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative 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

5.0

Collins lands on top! So glad this prequel has kept its fire 5💥 

APKAB All Peace Keepers Are Bastards

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

astrangewind's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If Veronica Roth killed the genre of dystopian fiction, Suzanne Collins has revived it.

The Hunger Games take on a whole new meaning in this book - only ten years after the war, before all the pomp and flair, from the perspective of not only a mentor, but Corionalus Snow, the Big Bad Villain Man in the original Hunger Games trilogy. Here, we see the televised nature of the Games as an awkward affair, which provide the barest suggestion of what they will become by the time Katniss gets to them. The Games themselves are distanced; we only see the violence that happens from the mentors' eyes, who are largely interested in their tribute's survival only inasmuch as their fame and recognition depend on it. So much unlike the original trilogy where the reader, too, is inside the arena. 

It's 500+ pages of following around the future president of Panem; of course we know it doesn't end well. That's what makes this book so captivating - Coriolanus is not a hero. He's a bystander, only caring about others in terms of how they affect his long-term goals, willing to step on those he deems subhuman.

When I read The Hunger Games for the first time, I was barely in high school. Back then, the draw of the books for me was that a bunch of teenagers were killing each other. Now, as I read Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I wonder if the trilogy was this damn obvious. The reaping on July 4th, Coriolanus's hatred of Sejanus as a district-born Capitol citizen whose family has more money than his, the way he talks about the tributes other than his, the one he can use. 

The Hunger Games were books about rebellion, revolution, fighting against oppression, no matter the cost. And there were costs. But this is a book about suppression. About how apathy and self-interest turns you into a monster that you don't care about becoming. About how the circumstances of your birth and life informs how you see others - that even though you might be eating cabbage soup inside of a penthouse with marbled floors, at least you're not district poor.

Coriolanus's obliviousness, selfishness, and downright sociopathy make him so unlikeable, but I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to see him punished - but, of course, why would he be? He gets the top spot in Panem's hierarchy.

Everything Collins does is clever: Sejanus's name, rooted from Janus, a god often portrayed with two faces; Coriolanus's abject hatred of the mockingjays as soon as he encounters them; the funeral of the Ring twins, where several tributes were dragged behind horse-drawn chariots, conjuring images of Achilles's dragging of Hector during the Trojan War. Her treatment of Coriolanus's PTSD from the bombings is superb and accurate. The characterization of Tigris as a mother figure, too.

Really just an incredible book that makes me want to reread The Hunger Games. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, Grief, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

I had high hopes for this because I loved the trilogy and I was curious about President Snow's origin story. The story started strong but went downhill from there and I was so disappointed. Even the romance part didn't save it that made me sad because Coriolanus and Lucy Gray were so cute, but yeah, it didn't work well. All I could say was that at an early age, the villain tendency was apparent. LG and her disappearing act must be a poetic way of her way out, but even that, I hated. I love music, but I didn't like the lyrics in this book (except for the song dedicated to Coryo.) I liked the twist that Coriolanus' dad stole the idea of the Hunger Games from his friend and passed it on as his own. It was evil and gutsy. But, tbh, there were a lot of times that I want to DNF this because I was so bored. I guess, the third POV was a mistake as well. The saving grace of all this chaos was the narrator of the audiobook companion, Santino Fontana. He's a great narrator. You're an awesome writer, Suzanne, I devoured the trilogy, but this wasn't for me. I'm sorry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

greenmind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed this book enough as an audiobook to have on while doing other things, but it needed a throughly good editing - it’s overlong and completely loses it’s impact for this. 

Coriolanus isn’t a hero or even particularly likeable here, which makes this book a little harder to find the groove into - and sadly we see him as a young villain, more this way by nature than by design. Weak and snobbish, confused by his emotional responses and only ever “in love” in a shallow, possessive sense, rather than being fully present in his own life. Lucy Gray is more interesting than him, and yet we never really get to know her because Snow isn’t actually capable of deep human connection. It means the book doesn’t live up to its true potential and feels confusing to read, with shallow character and a lack of tension if you haven’t already enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy before this. Snow really is just a boring psychopath after all - and it’s all the more disappointing to have that revealed when you’re looking for something with more conflict and bite. A manipulative and manipulating loner with only the drive to feed his own narcissism and personal survival driving his actions. Disappointing generally, even if I did enjoy dipping into this world again. I imagine the upcoming film of this could also be equally disappointing… or it might be significantly better, considering the much needing edit this bloated book needed will be delivered in film script form. We’ll see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Stalking and Alcohol

cait's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hayleyvem's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Medical content, Dementia, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Medical trauma