Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

229 reviews

hrose0208's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Police brutality, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Cannibalism

benegesserwitch's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Slavery, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

britwalsh16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the hunger games trilogy, but this book about Snow, just wasn’t it for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s well written and everything; but it’s just Snows character, we all know he’s a villain, but he spends the first 75% of the book pretending to be the good guy, & it just doesn’t fit him, it was driving me crazy! The book started out trying to paint him as a good guy. He’s not! Like Snow in this book doesn’t understand why they keep doing the hunger games, yet he’s the biggest supporter in the trilogy!! & he’s not a fan of the manipulations that come from those in power; but in the trilogy he’s the KING of manipulations. We’re supposed to believe it’s the same character, but it doesn’t feel like it, his personality is so diff. I love a good villain origin story, but this one seemed so far fetched. Atleast until the last quarter of the book where he finally started showing his true colors & became the heartless villain. 
Maybe it’s just me cause Snow was never a villain I loved to hate. He was always on par with characters like Umbridge from Harry Potter. They don’t deserve redemption, & that’s what this book seemed to try to convey for most of the book atleast. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elisalasater's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

kate_arts's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

elenabluenette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Drug use, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Dementia, and Alcohol

mle11's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Torture, Vomit, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rhiannonhoward's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

theirgracegrace's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Quite literally judging a book by its cover, I had originally written off this one as a cash grab by Collins due the success of The Hunger Games. I have never been so pleased to be proven wrong in my life.

The story follows a tense summer in the life of Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical president that we meet in the main trilogy sixty-odd years later. He is eighteen years old and slated to be mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a Covey girl living in District 12. He develops an infatuation with her early on, and much of the book is given over to how he tries to keep her safe before and after the 10th Hunger Games. 

The characterization of Coriolanus is incredibly moving, showing how the idealistic teen has his critiques of and subtle attacks on the Capitol used against him and against Lucy Gray. It crushes his spirit, and turns him into the monster who betrays everyone and trusts no one that we later see. Nostalgic nods exist to the main series are plentiful, as it appears that the young Coriolanus was instrumental in the implementation of much of the horror of the Games. 

All-in-all, a wonderful (if stressful!) book that played with my expectations just as cleanly as the Games themselves. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the main series and wants to hear a tale of how it started!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity and Excrement

Two of the tributes contract rabies and it is described in detail when they suddenly show symptoms in the arena. Snakes (including snake attacks, one of which is fatal) are common in the book, as the title suggests. There are two hangings of criminals that occur in the book in the latter portion