Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins

67 reviews

jessicaludden's review

dark reflective 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? Yes

4.5

“The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings.”

I know a lot of people hate this book but I loved it a lot. Snow is such an evil character and it was so interesting to see him develop from a poor young Capitol boy in the aftermath of the war to a power seeking future tyrant. By no means are you rooting for him, but you do start to understand him and it was so intriguing to read from his perspective.

I also thought the commentary on humanity and the social contract was super interesting. It played with this idea of humans being inherently good or evil. Snow consciously made decisions for his own benefit and self-preservation and it was so interesting to hear his thought process and all the justifications he made for himself. I loved how it tied into the hunger games and the decisions that were made to further develop them.

I really liked seeing this early version of the hunger games and how it compares to the hunger games of the future we know. Getting to see it develop from simple games to the spectacle that it is in the trilogy really emphasizes how cruel Snow is as a leader. The hunger games became a never ending punishment for the citizens of Panem and the victors themselves because of him.

I especially liked how Snow’s supposed “love” for Lucy Gray wasn’t even enough to deter his desire for power and status and you’ve gotta love to hate Lucy’s ending. She’s a mystery even in death. Overall, I loved seeing this world in a new way and I can’t wait for the movie.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, War, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Infidelity, Murder, Death of parent, Classism, and Death

viviundworte's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Racial slurs

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

wajeemba's review

adventurous dark reflective 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? Yes

3.75

The setting is interesting if you've read the main series. I've never read a prequel that tells the backstory of the villain. Similarly I haven't seen a main character in a story that's good at intrigue and politicing, so that was a fresh perspective.

Writing was pretty well done. Characters generally behaved in a way that was consistent with their motivations, though one decision was more plot driven than believable in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Toxic friendship, and War

It's a hunger games book. The elitism and callous disregard for life are rife throughout the book. Though it's on the shorter side and classified as a young adult book, I would not recommend for an audience younger than late teens at least.

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

cepbreed's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Because of the hubbub surrounding the movie trailer release I decided to pick this up after years of neglecting its existence. My little brother even read it and recommended it to me and I still didn’t give in. Now that I’m done I’m so angry I hadn’t read it earlier. This book made me hate Snow exponentially more.  He and Lucy do not have some wonderful love story. He manipulated her, that is fact. Lucy was a girl thrust into an unimaginable position and all she could do was cling to her only support, her mentor. Snow fancied her as some manic pixie dream girl and I loathe not hearing from her perspective in the books. He thinks he owns her It isn’t only Lucy, he also manipulated Clemensia. Snow took an opportunity to pander for her forgiveness and charm her into accepting his completely falsified apology and she did. He mistreated Tigress though she did everything possible to protect their small family. She was forced to bargain with her own body at an incredibly young age and his only respond was disgust. Poor sweet Sejanus put all of his trust in his “brother” but was betrayed at every turn. Not once did Snow have a sincere, not self-motivated, positive thought about anyone. Certified sociopath. FUCK SNOW I HATE THAT GREASEBALL.

I could talk about the symbolism behind the compact and compass forever.

Songs:

• Fun - Troye Sivan 
• National Anthem - Lana Del Rey 
• Fist - Deftones 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, and Drug use

jazhandz's review

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Violence, Death, Child death, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Animal cruelty, Classism, and Body horror

Minor: Addiction and Cannibalism

katymat18's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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

I decided to re-read The Hunger Games trilogy before diving in to this one to get myself back into the mindset of the universe, and also just to orient myself. I’m glad I did because I feel like there are a lot of hints and callbacks - if you will - to the original trilogy. However as far as villain origin stories go this was a hard one to get through, I kept waiting for the inevitable iceberg that would tip Snow over into that vile, hated old man we know from the trilogy. Took awhile, but it’s such a deep dive into the inner psyche of Snow. Still not sure how I overall feel about it…

Spoiler

Would really love to know what happened to Lucy Gray in the end! I have my theories, and I think Collins left it to be ambiguous much like The Ballad of Lucy Gray is in the book. But I would just love some confirmation or an epilogue in her POV. I will say Lucy Gray’s influence over Snow does help to understand his gripes with District 12 and Katniss later on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War, Abandonment, Gun violence, and Torture

Minor: Drug use and Addiction

cait's review

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

angrynerd's review

adventurous dark reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, War, Confinement, Violence, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Cannibalism

Minor: Sexual content