Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

55 reviews

michaelholdenismyhusbandtyvm's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Alcohol, Genocide, Grief, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide, Kidnapping, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

eveningreverie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I feel completely comfortable calling The Hunger Games, and its accompanying sequels, modern classics. The ease with which Suzanne Collins is able to directly comment on consistent, overarching themes while simultaneously weaving an immensely thrilling story is captivating. Each decision heightens the tension without a moment to breathe until the end of the final book. It's beautiful. It's horrifying. It's a hyperbolic expression of capitalist subjugation and the necessary ways moral panic can be coopted to change ingrained power systems. It even has fairly successful film translations—something few and far between. It's The Hunger Games, and for all its references, it is now a permanent part of American literary canon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Series: The Hunger Games, #3
Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: August 24, 2010

T H R E E • W O R D S

Dark • Haunting • Contemplative

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Every now and then I decide to pick up a YA novel for a quick, palette cleanser and when the mood stuck this time I decided to close out The Hunger Games series with Mockingjay. I didn't quite know what to expect heading into the final book of the trilogy and since I am reading these years after all of the hype, I hadn't really seen any reviews.

My main takeaway after finishing was a feeling of unsatisfaction. Throughout books one and two there is a forward progression of characters development, particularly when it comes to Katniss. However, in book three there was a sense of stagnation, which seemed odd and just disappointing. There isn't a whole lot of hope, rather this is filled with doom and gloom. I understand the reason behind all of this, but at the end of the day I'd have been okay with just one book.

Suzanne Collins has certainly created something worth reading with this trilogy. However, Mockingjay is hands down my least favourite. It felt drawn out, at times with not much going on, yet somehow the ending was rushed. It just didn't make sense to me.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the series
• young readers

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."

"Some walks you have to take alone."

"Closing my eyes doesn't help. Fire burns brighter in the darkness." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Violence, Gore, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Body horror, Ableism, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Vomit

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Pregnancy

paigeinabook's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

Moderate: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Drug use, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, War, Child death, Eating disorder, Blood, Addiction, Dysphoria, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

barnacle's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

This series should be revisited by us who read it as kids. I cannot believe the new truths and unfathomable horrors uncovered by reading it again 13 years later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Body horror, Gaslighting, Child death, and Death

saskiajva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Reading this series growing up, I really hated Mockingjay and thought it ruined the whole series. As an adult, knowing who dies and where the story goes, having experienced trauma of my own, i was able to appreciate it for how masterful it is. She describes trauma and PTSD so incredibly accurately, the types of decisions that are made and the person Katniss becomes show so many nuanced and incredibly profound experiences. Honestly, i kind of hated it a bit because of how real the trauma felt. But it’s also what makes this book incredible. This is a series you can reread 100 times and always find new meaning and understanding in.

Tatiana Maslaney is an INCREDIBLE narrator

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Self harm, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Violence, and War

caribourou's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

So dark that it got me zoning out thinking about death way too often during class and school. People died like every 30 pages it was ridiculous but oh well.

Katniss is rather annoying but from what I know she's not supposed to be relatable or likeable. Plus like I can barely even choose between Gale and Peeta can't believe we didn't get to see the choice on the spot. I would've liked that drama-

Too many deaths, hard to process..

Spoiler

Boggs, Finnick and Prim, though i didnt care much for prim

in the last third of the book, it was getting depressing, so was the ending... but whatever..

I do not regret or enjoy reading this book but oh well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Body horror, Torture, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Medical content, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

warlockdorian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Mental illness, Slavery, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

withlivjones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

A thrilling end to the trilogy, featuring realistic, un-sugarcoated depictions of war where the stakes are high and a lot of favourite characters are lost :( Something I’ve loved in this series is that Katniss isn’t presented as some bulletproof heroine. Sure, she is able to hold her own to some extent but Collins could have made her some overpowered prodigal Mary-Sue (which is kind of how she’s presented in propaganda as the Mockingjay) when really she’s still so young and she never comes away from battle unscathed and instead almost always survives out of sheer luck or through other people’s help (or sacrifice). I think this makes her a super realistic and compelling protagonist. I also really like how the romance wasn’t really the focus of the trilogy, there was a bit more love triangle content in this book but even then it takes a backseat to the rebellion, and as Katniss says, she “can survive just fine without either” of Peeta or Gale. 

Spoiler

I do think that the pace sped up a little too much towards the end - we spend so much time in Katniss’ head leading up to the end of the war and the execution, but I would have loved to have seen more of her thought process as she decided both to hold the symbolic Hunger Games and to kill Coin instead of Snow, since both of these decisions are really significant and they just kind of happen without much explanation. The ending itself and the epilogue is really sweet though, and I like that it took a long time for Katniss to have children and that Peeta was willing to wait for her, since Katniss was so terrified of being forced to bring children into Panem in Catching Fire. Overall, I loved this book and the entire trilogy and I can’t believe it took me so long to read it!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Grief, Body horror, Child death, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

wendyadarling's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Alcohol, and Alcoholism