Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Un Palais de flammes d'argent

Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Un Palais de flammes d'argent by Sarah J. Maas

21 reviews

emilyrainsford's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging slow-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

1.0

So. It took me two dang weeks but I finally finished this massive tome of a book. And I have some thoughts.

Oooh boy, do I have some thoughts.

This book is not good, folks. It’s not good. I’ve read almost every SJM book (except CC and Catwoman) and this was hands down the worst.

In short, the pacing is way off, the plot is absolutely RIDDLED with holes, the sex is transactional and empty, the vast majority of it makes NO sense, and SJM’s toxic masculinity problem seems to be in overdrive in this one.

In long.

Maas books have always had problematic elements - in this series it seems to be more pronounced than in Throne of Glass, to me. But usually they’re such a fun, addictive read that I kind of just let that stuff fly for the sake of a bit of escapism. But never have I read a book of hers that was just SO poorly plotted. The Maas magic was just missing in this one.

The first 200 pages, I was pretty into it. Sure, it was slow and character focused, but I was enjoying being back in the world and seeing where things would go with Nesta. Granted, the entire premise on which this book hinges - Nesta being sent to the House of Wind - is incredibly stupid and makes no sense. Okay, she’s depressed and traumatised and (most important apparently, even though Rhys and Feyre are absolutely crapping money) costing them money (how rude of her to need to like, exist, in this place she never bloody asked to be in the first place) - so is their solution is to isolate her in what is essentially a prison and force her to do physical labour. ON WHAT PLANET is this an acceptable way of dealing with someone with PTSD and trauma?? By taking away all sense of her own agency?? I literally CANNOT with this entire thing, and given that’s the whole premise of the book, I probably should have known it wouldn’t go well, but hey, I guess I’m a sucker for punishment.

Okay, but then we spend like 600 - YES, SIX HUN.DRED. - pages in the House of Wind, training and going to the library and being rutted like a damn animal by Cassian. Six hundred pages people, in which VERY little actually happens. And yes, I know the stans are all like “it’s characterrrr developmentttttt” - firstly.. not really. Secondly, it’s BORING. The entire middle 50%, I was struggling to make myself pick the thing up, and just wanted to push through the dang thing so that I could have a fully rounded opinion on it.

Lets talk about the sex. I grant you that I personally do not like sex scenes in books in general. Just not my thing. But it’s not necessarily in and of itself going to make me think badly of a book. I’m more than capable of skim reading for my own comfort, I accept that other people enjoy it and that’s fine. But the vast majority of the sexual content in this book was very transactional and devoid of any kind of connection or emotion. I guess some people like that but it was very much not to my taste at all. People are really out here swooning over a guy who has never heard of the most basic of aftercare. There’s a quote I saw on IG, that said “when you’ve spent your life in the basement, it’s easy to mistake the first floor for the penthouse. Raise your vision.” Cassian isn’t the penthouse people. He’s like the first step out of the basement. (The basement being Rhys ohhhhh yes I said it). You can have a “just sex” type arrangement with someone and still give a modicum of care for their wellbeing afterwards. I HATED how it was all like “oh Nesta never asked him to stay”, as if that was her bad. It kind of reminds me of when you’re like “I”m sick of cleaning your pee off the toilet seat” and dude’s like “oh, you should have asked me.” No no, I shouldn’t need to ASK you to clean up your own damn urine. You should know to do that because you’re a grown ass adult. That’s how I feel about Cassian pissing off the moment he’s spilled his “seed” (gag) every time. “She never asked him” to stay or even just give her a hug or a gentle word after… okay, she shouldn’t have to ask. Can we normalise aftercare please??

I have to also add that I decided to really give one of these sex scenes a decent read to see if I could get into it like others do.... and I just ended up laughing and rolling my eyes. Multiple times a day I have that “silken balls” bit come into my mind and I crack up laughing. His “silken balls” whacked into her and that made her come lmaooooooo omg I just can’t. Don’t get me started on “her drenched entrance” GAG. Or the fact that Cassian’s “cock” is mentioned about a million times, but for her we get “her sex” or “her pleasure”. IT’S A CLITORIS SARAH, YOU CAN SAY IT. We do get the C word one time - so we can call it such a crass word, but not just like… vagina?

Okay, next let’s talk about the fact that darling beloved Rhys is a grade A abuser. Rhys showed us exactly who he is in the first book, where he’s absolutely awful. Then, when he’s winning the girl in the next two books, he softens his edges, and both the fans and Feyre fall for it hook, line and sinker. Now he’s got the girl, he lets go and becomes his true, toxic self again - this is CLASSIC abuser 101 tactics right here. This is what they do. Sure we see Feyre standing up for herself against him, but he still spends the entire book being moody, possessive, aggressive, NOT INFORMING FEYRE ABOUT HER OWN HEALTH what the ACTUAL fork, I cannot with how mad I am about that bit. He keeps her in a protective magical forcefield to the extent that she can only hug or kiss her friends when he deigns to let it down. COME ON PEOPLE. I would GENUINELY like the next book to be about how Feyre escapes from yet another abusive relationship. I was mad with her in the beginning for the whole “punish Nesta” plan, but by the end all I could see was a woman under the thumb of an abusive man. I actually like Feyre more now, and I want better for her.

Now I need to get to the plot holes. Even though SJM’s other books have always had problems, they’ve always had a pretty zippy, addictive plot to see you through. I am genuinely shocked at how much of this book makes absolutely NO sense. I repeatedly felt like the author wanted characters to be in a certain situation, and therefore had to manipulate the plot to make it happen, even though it actually made zero sense and the reasonings given were flimsy. As mentioned before, sending Nesta to the prison/House was a pretty abysmal premise to begin with. The thing with

Feyre’s baby having wings is NONSENSICAL, I cannot deal with how much it does not make sense and is clearly just there to add drama. Rhys doesn’t have real wings and Feyre is Fae, and somehow she manages to conceive an Illyrian baby. The explanation given is that she shapeshifted into Illyrian form while they were having sex, but somehow a) she can’t just shift back to have the baby because *reasons*, and most importantly b) RHYS DIDN’T THINK TO MAYBE MENTION that maybe they shouldn’t have unprotected sex while she’s Illyrian because an Illyrian baby would KILL HER??

This entire plot point is STUPID.

Then when Nesta is the ONLY dang one who tells Feyre the truth about

HER OWN BODY AND LIFE, she gets punished by being forced to hike in the wilderness for days on end under a heavy pack. WHAT THE FORK???

And somehow this physical torture ends up being some kind of healing process for Nesta, which is just so weird and stupid. If I were her, I would have told all these dickheads to go get f**ked, honestly.

I feel like this entire book is that person who hears about your mental health problems and says “have you tried yoga??” The whole way through the book, I kept thinking - really, these 500 year old beings haven’t invented psychotherapy? AND THEN the absolute KICKER…. right at the end, we find out that

THERE WAS A THERAPIST AT THE HOUSE THE WHOLE TIME omggggggggg what the actual fork people, I cannot dealllllll??? Gwyn says that she did talk therapy with a priestess therapist. NO ONE THOUGHT TO MAYBE SEND THE GIRL WITH MAJOR PTSD AND DEPRESSION TO THE THERAPIST???? No no, we’ll just make you fight and run up and down a staircase. What the FORKKKKKKKK????

Now, in the last 200 pages, the plot picked up, and was actually page turning and exciting. BUT it still made no sense and was littered with problems.

The three girls being thrown into the Blood Rite was obviously contrived because it would make for a fun plot, but it made no sense at all. Secondly, the Blood Rite itself makes no sense at all. All of their best warriors are literally being slaughtered by each other, how in the world does that make sense?? It’s kind of addressed at one point but not satisfactorily. Thirdly, hugely powerful and wonderful Rhys is so dang powerful but he can’t get the girls out of the Rite because *reasons*. Because it’s a “rule” that if they’re rescued, they and their rescuer will be killed. A rule by WHOM?? Big powerful High Lord Rhys can’t overcome this random rule by *gestures vaguely* someone?? That makes no sense.

Fourthly, and very importantly - Cassian is Illyrian. Azriel is Illyrian. Clearly, not all Illyrian males are complete trash. And yet, I’m somehow supposed to feel awesome and empowered about Nesta absolutely slaughtering swathes of them in a blood bath?? Yay, go you, you can kill innocent people thrust into the same situation as you… girl power?

I’ve probably ranted enough now, so I won’t get into how much I hate the entire “mates” concept. Or how it makes no sense that

this magical “mates” decider, whatever it is, would pick a Fae and an Illyrian to be mates, given that they wouldn’t be able to have babies without killing the woman wtf??? I could also get into how these female fantasy writers seem to struggle so much with letting a woman not just be powerful, but KEEP her power. Aelin loses her power in the end. Alina in the Grishaverse loses her power so that she can live her quiet little life without making darling Mal uncomfortable. And Nesta gives up her power too. HEAVEN FORBID a woman be powerful, keep her power, and learn to live alongside it - and screw anyone else’s discomfort with it!

Phew. Okay. I think I’m done now. I have always felt a little uneasy with this series but this book has really tipped the balance. I literally want to get rid of the whole series so I don’t have to look at it on my shelf.

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