Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

34 reviews

teethmachine's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This was really interesting, uncovering these little secrets bit by bit about Snow. Every time something new happened I went "oh yep that's why he really hates Katniss so much yep, makes sense", and it was so nicely woven together to make her just The Absolute Worst Thing To Ever Happen To Him. Honestly, it makes her eventually defeating him even more satisfying. 

Spoiler for plot stuff:

Spoiler

And it's weird, going into this, I was like "I hate Snow, yucky, icky", but then I started getting into his head and his relationship with Lucy was really sweet, and I knew that something had to happen because before Katniss, District 12 had never had a victor, so I was convinced Lucy was going to die in the Games, because she had to, but then she didn't!! And they were going to live and be happy, but I knew something bad had to happen, and I just so desperately hoped that Snow wouldn't be the one to instigate it, but he was, and I still can't figure out if Lucy did actually betray him?? I just went on this wild roller coaster from "yucky bad Snow" to "awww they're in love, he's actually kind of sweet" to "YUCKY MAN BAD" so it's been a wild few days lmao.

 

But also: why the hell were there two characters with names ending in 'anus'? I spent the entire book thinking about anuses. Honestly, hilarious, would give it 5 stars just for this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Gun violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Torture, Cannibalism, and Blood

ginbat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It pissed me off so much I had to give it 5 stars. goddamn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War, Blood, Classism, Dementia, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, and Slavery

Minor: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Abandonment, Animal death, Drug use, Addiction, Cannibalism, and Drug abuse

elfghostthingy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Gosh
Coriolanus
So many emotions in one book
It took me some time to get used to it, being a big book

Spoiler

and about a character I despised in the og trilogy

There were moments where I heard my heart race
It was fun

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Misogyny

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

Moderate: Kidnapping, Slavery, Body horror, and Bullying

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

m_rain's review against another edition

YIKES. This book is awful... I barely made it a third of the way through and had to stop because of the intense classism, racism, and slavery. The tributes are continually described with animalistic characteristics and openly enslaved. Tributes are kept in a zoo, handcuffed, medically treated by a veterinarian, starved, and completely dehumanized by capital residents. 

The book is from the perspective of a soon-to-be dictator and described in way that tries to make him a sympathetic character. Snow, and the majority of the main characters, see the tributes as lesser human beings and he openly manipulates the tribute he is assigned in order to perpetuate his family's social status. 

I cannot understand why anyone would 'enjoy' this book... Collins has no excuse to be writing this miserable and graphic story or trying to make us 'feel for' Snow.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Animal cruelty

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, War, Genocide, and Gun violence

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Medical content, Grief, Slavery, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

kkalicky94's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Drug use, and Grief

katethecatlady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, War, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Bullying

ailerua's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Gun violence, War, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Genocide, Slavery, Police brutality, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Addiction

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