Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

924 reviews

zoeelora's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alex_wordweaver's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

A great start to The Hunger Games series, from what little I know of it of having seen part of its movie and this movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Vomit

leiftheuncanny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

When I first heard of this book, I was hesitant. I had grown tired of stories that turned terrible villains into poor wretched victims, asking the audience to believe they hadn't had a choice, that trauma and circumstances had forced them to become the vile person they were in the original story. 
So it took me a few years to warm up to the idea. I must apologize for not trusting Collins to know what she was doing when she gave us Snow's backstory. 
This novel is a fascinating study of privilege, trauma, propaganda, and core beliefs. Snow is not without his troubles, despite growing up in the capital and coming from a rich family, his circumstances are dire and he is always one bad day away from complete ruin. The face he presents to the people around him is always carefully curated, and he has developed an ease with lies and manipulation that have kept him and his family afloat. It's clear there are seeds of goodness in him, and a desire for happiness, comfort, friends, etc. However, enough lying to others and it becomes far too easy to lie to oneself, to make up stories and rationalizations that are easier to live with than the truth. And watching his descent, tracking his decisions, his justifications, and his motivations, as he becomes closer and closer to the man we see in the original trilogy, is fascinating, terrifying and tragic. 
I could talk forever about Coriolanus and his merits and flaws, the moments he could've tried another way, the pieces of beauty he cut out of himself to be the person he thought he needed to be. I wish he could've lived another life, but the tragedy of prequels is knowing how the story ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cannibalism

boink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-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: Child abuse, Death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mattimacca's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• 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

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and War

spttsn's review against another edition

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

4.0

This is the first book that made me cry this year, so it gets bonus points just for that.

Coriolanus' internal justification for his actions starts almost acceptable and spirals into truly psychotic - or maybe sociopathic is more correct.  An insight into intense radicalisation that you can't help but keep reading. 

Some say there are pacing issues, and maybe that's true, but I like to believe this was intentional to reflect the story. Everything happening in quick succession leading up to the games, the slowing down in

district 12, almost the calm before the storm

, and the way the end speeds up as

the rest of this man's sanity unravels and he seemingly loses the plot entirely

.

Go into this as spoiler free as you can - I think it will hit different if you don't know certain events are going to happen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Cannibalism, and War

emily1256's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder

aberlonerose's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

lotte_on's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad fast-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

This was perfect. Perfect in every way. The foreshadowing, the writing, the character development, the scenery, the pace, everything. I don’t think I haver ever read something quite as captivating and amazing as this book, I truly want to write a 10 page essay about this. No further comments. This is my favourite book of all time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Classism

_ren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Confinement, Torture, and Vomit