Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins

77 reviews

maite_moonchild's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Death, Body horror, Classism, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, War, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Child death, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Colonisation

mattiedancer's review

adventurous dark 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

4.5

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

As with much of Collins' writing, the book thrives on its visually stunning and well-described settings. What any artistry in her writing might have lacked, she made up for with the impact of the world. And, even with a few stumbly sections in her writing, much of it read cleanly and beautifully–an intriguing insight into a poisonous mind.

Characters: 4.75⭐️/5

A few characters felt a touch jarring, but otherwise, like the setting, the world came alive with the characters. The way in which we understand Corionalus’ thoughts and mental state without overly empathizing with his goals is stunning. The side characters felt explored in their relationship with Coriolanus, meaning the people he liked we knew the most about and the people he thought ill of, we also felt the toxicity of his opinions. 

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

While the plot overall is intriguing and fascinating to watch unfold (believe me, I was slackjawed at several moments), I did feel (SPOILERS HERE) that the resolution of his attempted escape with Lucy Gray was rushed and unclear. Had the book been written in first person, I would’ve accepted this section gleefully as a possible blip in our narration due to an unreliable narrator, but I would have loved more of this section to focus on his mind unravelling a bit slower – as well as Lucy Gray’s realization moving a bit slower – so we could understand this section fully. And, even though I loved all the symbolism that ties us to the original trilogy, the added details connecting Lucy Gray to Katniss’ rebellion and how personally it integrated into Corionalus’ life felt too on the nose. The moment in which Lucy uses the excuse of finding katniss (the plant) to leave him felt a bit too heavy-handed for the analogy that later Katniss (the person) will cause his undoing. The song, The Hanging Tree, being written for him by Lucy also felt too coincidental, especially when tied with his heavy hatred of the mockingjays around District 12 during his time there. I wish some of these tie-backs had been removed or made less vital to slowly grit on his nerves, rather than to so obviously connect him to Katniss. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of The Hunger Games trilogy

Content Warnings? 

• Death, murder, child death, parent death, illness, cannibalism, blood, injury, medical trauma, gore

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

I wish it had gone on a bit longer, but I was happy with the conclusion.

Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Bullying, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Sexism

tabbed_reads2much's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Oof bro I didn't like this one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Slavery

Maybe I just hate snow but this book was not it

sarahflanders's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, War, Gore, and Toxic relationship

jmyers1's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: War, Murder, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism

reverieevening's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Grief, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Gaslighting, War, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Addiction and Abandonment

befrazzledenby's review

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Okay, so, I've not read any Hunger Games book since, like, the 8th grade, but wow was this an amazing prequel. Am and I prepped by watching the series on Netflix, then buddy read together all 500 pages. It took me over a month but I am so glad I persevered, lol. 

I was really worried in the first half of the book because I was starting to...like Snow? He was relatable, he felt human and just very real. I was mad about that, but then I realized that's part of the brilliance of this book. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say Snow's downfall in the last ~200 pages is just amazing character development (devolvement? lol), especially given my feelings at the beginning. 

So much happened in this book, so much so that the first half almost feels like a different book entirely. Collins moves through the plot pretty well, though, I think, knowing when to give us more character drama vs. plot drama and not overloading so much, which helped me with the length here. Very excited to talk more about this with Am especially given its really heavy social and political themes. Whew. What a ride this one was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, and War

ellieb09's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When I heard the announcement of this book, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of following President Snow as a youth because I feared it might have taken the route of making him a sympathetic villain like many prequels following villains do. I was pleasantly surprised that the story didn't go that direction. However, it made it hard for me to engage with his story. Most of my attention, instead, went to the stories of the characters around him. I almost wish it had been a story from the POV of a character who was close to him but wasn't him. Someone who could witness his growth into villainy without being the villain themselves. 

That isn't to say that Suzanne Collins did a bad job with this POV. It was really well done. I'm just not a fan of following someone grow into the level of villainy we see in the original books and wearing that growth like a badge of honor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Death, War, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Murder, Suicide, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

smalljoys's review

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Death, Blood, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Animal death, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, Dementia, Medical content, Suicide, and Grief

ericaburns1's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, War, Alcoholism, and Cursing