User Profile

Pretty good! The pace was a bit slow at times, but I liked the ethical dilemmas presented. My one big complaint would be that most characters lacked depth in personality. I think they were interesting in terms of narrative (hidden past, secrets etc), but personality wise they all seemed a little one dimensional. However, I think the dilemmas were enough to keep the book moving forward. Also, parts of it weren't realistic, but I can live with that

The Bebe v McCullough case This was super interesting, and I wish it was featured more. We know the judge spent a lot of time on this case, and it would have been cool to see this back/forth. In my opinion, the doll argument in court wasn't great and not nearly as powerful as shown in the book.

Mia As much as I'm supposed to like her, I don't. She consistently made pretty poor choices, and the book somehow praises this as her "care-free" spirit? I think carefree turns into messy pretty quick. I loved the tug between order and freedom, and had it been more open-ended like the Bebe/McCullough case, it would have been interesting. Unfortunately, it felt like Celeste had already decided for me that carefree was the right answer, and I didn't appreciate (or agree) with that perspective. I also don't think Mia was a great parent, and was made out to be perfect in the book.

Connections I feel like the thing this book lacked in terms of emotion and heart was how the characters were connected to each other. We hear so little about how Trip and Pearl actually feel about each other. Same with Moody and Pearl, Pearl and Mia, Mia and her parents, Elena and her kids, Izzy and Moody or even Lexie and Serena. Sure, some characters like izzy and elena might be a bit more aloof, but it felt like nobody had any real connections. Everyone felt kinda like one of Mia's paper dolls

Overall good read though, made me think about a ton of stuff

Great addition to thg collection- I think it provides Haymitch a lot more depth. I agree that the fan-service was a bit much, but I did enjoy Betee's appearance. The book supports a lot of fan-theories, like no one from district 12 was reaped fairly (until the 75th) or won fairly. One sentiment I particularly like is the idea that if Katniss was the girl on fire, Haymitch was the spark. I think the strongest part of the book was after Haymitch won his games and came back home, which really highlighted just how manipulative and powerful snow was. Lenore was an important character, especially at the end, but I also think she was a side character. I would have preferred more development of Lenore as opposed finding out that Katniss's dad and Haymitch were besties.

[SPOILER] For a boy so young to accidentally kill the love of his life though poisoned gumdrops, and seeing his family burn while the last thing they asked of him was to fill up the well was TRAGIC. If the game itself wasn't bad enough (with double the deaths) Haymitch's homecoming fully justifies his drinking. I also think (hope) that the Haymitch/Effie ships are done...

This book really explored ambition, pride, and privilege. One of the most interesting things is seeing who readers would side with between William Kane and Abel. I personally would side with William Kane, since the rivalry was initiated by Abel. However, it was interesting to see how severely clingy both men were to their positions and their "reputation." Kane fought fiercely to protect his legacy, while Abel had something to prove. Both were driven by different types of ambition, but it ultimately centered around their image, influence, and power in society. A large part of why Abel wanted to take Kane down was to prove that he had made something of himself, and "show" the upper-class like William. How much of Abel's actions were actually driven by Davis Leroy, and how much of it was about himself? Another very interesting thing was how good both characters were at subtle, backhanded insults. One of my favorite exchanges between Kane and Abel was when Kane called to set up a meeting with Abel, and Kane suggested to meet at a neutral location where no one would recognize him. Abel snaps back, saying the only place no one would recognize Kane is in heaven. Similarly, even when Kane was a boy, his remark to one of his trustees was that he would call her if he needed to lose half a million overnight. While banter is shown and normal, both Kane and Abel have the ability to say genuinely hurtful things, especially when someone wrongs them. This is further seen by both of them quickly firing people they do not trust: they do what needs to be done. Overall, this was a great read that highlighted the impact of ambition, and referenced several historical events and people of note (I thought it was quite interesting to hear mentions of Henry Ford, the Titanic, and both world wars, although I'm not 100% sure about its accuracy)

There are some books you read just for a story line, and some books you read to question every single thing around you. Suzanne treats that line like a jump rope. Even in THG's original trilogy, we get fast paced plot accompanied with observations about society. However, the ballad takes it one step further. While the original trilogy explores a themes like political power, war, and (obviously) hunger, the ballad explores things that apply more to individuals instead of societies: want for power, climbing social/political ladders, and weighing morals to make decisions. The most fascinating aspect of this book is that, even though we know Snow's villainous traits, we start out the book rooting for his success. And by the end, he did do some awful things, it's hard to say when Snow became "evil" and who contributed to his descent into a power-hungry villain. At what point did Snow cross the line of "I'm trying to protect myself and my family" to "Nobody else matters?" I think this book speaks volumes on the theme "villains aren't born, they're created" (and you could use this book to argue either way) and the lengths people will go to for power. If you didn't like it, read it again.