Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

260 reviews

orakuruno's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I kinda like that bat man

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Body horror, War, Torture, and Sexual content

Moderate: Trafficking, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief, Bullying, Animal death, Classism, Confinement, and Death of parent

corallydeer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I got physically mad by the time I finished reading this book. The amount of emotional whiplash it gave me by the end was enough to make me vibrate, have a racing heart, and feel like I wanted to chuck the book against the wall. The first two-thirds of the book was spent being fairly bored with the book and even struggling to get through it a bit (even though I'd been warned all over the internet that it could be a bit of a slog), but by the last 200 pages or so I was hooked and on the edge of my seat. 

Feyre's stubbornness and inability to make decisions that seemed to make rational sense,

along with the hot and cold start to her and Tamlin's relationship

, was mildly offputting and prevented me from getting into any kind of consistent flow. It lulled me into a sense of boredom that got 180'd into edge-of-my-seat reading within just a few chapters that didn't release me until I finished the book.

I loved Amarantha as a villain; I thought everything about her was incredibly well done, from the way she acted to her visual description perfectly showing her as a cold and cruel beauty who loved torture

.

I also loved Rhysand as a character (despite everything he did to Feyre in this book) and can't wait to read more about him

. I guess I'm gonna have to go and get the second book asap, dang.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

Death

(Feyre's mother died when she was young, death and killing of various fae in varying levels of detail)

| Gore

(Feyre has nightmares of killing Andras in human form and skinning him, summer fae gets his wings cut off with details about his condition, decapitated fae head staked on a fountain, detailed killing of Amarantha)

| Murder

(a number of fae and some humans are murdered at the whim of Amarantha, Feyre murders Andras and is later forced to murder innocent fae outright with lots of internal dialogue)

| Violence

(bouts of violence throughout the book related to survival and/or defense until the last third of the book where there is considerably more and graphic violence)

| Alcohol, Drug Abuse, & Sexual Harassment

(Feyre gets drugged with fae wine every day for a few months by Rhysand and forced in her delirium to do sexual dances)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(injuries related to fantasy violence and murder)

| Sexual Content

(a handful of instances that are usually no more than a page and mostly "fade to black" style with the focus on foreplay)

| Animal Death

(Feyre hunts to survive which is referenced in a few spots throughout the book)

| Vomit

(a few depictions of vomiting, typically in reaction to murder/death)

avacyn731's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Murder, Death of parent, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death

keephoenixler's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: War, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Vomit

nikimorr's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I started this book and HATED the main character and questioned the hype surrounding this story. Essentially, the main character, Feyre, starts a woman willing to make herself small and quiet for the benefit of her (very ungrateful) family. A meek female main character is not one that catches my interest. 

But as the book goes on, the better parts of her personality come out and I begin to root for her. Feyre is bold, stubborn and commits wholeheartedly to any goal before her. 

Feyre’s love interest, Tamlin, is a complexity. BookTok has definitely ruined him a bit for me with all the commentary I have seen regarding his character in future books, so I may be prematurely critical. But there is nothing about Tamlin that makes me swoon (and I am fairly susceptible to book boyfriends). Besides being a nice character, there is no part of the story where I’m cheering for Tamlin or their love. Tamlin, from start to finish, comes across as fairly weak and complacent. Weak, clearly, is not a character trait I like to read. 

Lucien, Tamlin’s best friend and emissary, is a character who is complex in the best ways. I am more excited to read about Lucien than Tamlin and am excited to see what the future holds for him. 

Rhysand - both hate and love him. But at least he is ruthless and not weak. 

Although a bit of a slow start, the plot itself is pure adventure, especially the ending. Learning and exploring the new fairy world with Feyre is an exciting journey. At times, a bit confusing - is ash required to kill a fairy? How can Feyre kill fairies without using ash in certain situations? I definitely got caught up in some of the confusing details. But overall the story unfolds relatively seamlessly. 

The ending is what made this book worthwhile, and everything comes together in an amazing way. This is definitely the kind of book you re read just to recognize all the foreshadowing and details missed. 

The ending plot is chef’s kiss. The motive of all of Feyre’s actions being for love and dying for her purpose is frankly inspiring. Although, I definitely questioned whether Tamlin individually was worth it. The ending was strangely realistic - the challenges Feyre faces do not come easily and it’s only from significant intervention that she succeeds at all. Mentally and physically, Feyre barely makes it through. She does not easily “win” and in fact dies, only with the help of others making it through. I had a feeling her being/becoming a fae was coming, and it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.

All in all, I’m definitely very excited to continue on through the rest of the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Gore, War, Murder, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence

darkpizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Grief, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Racism, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and Sexual harassment

rsagarin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Classism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Alcohol, Drug use, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture

j_day's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, and War

a_novi's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

I got all the books in this series as a gift before I learned that the author is problematic and there’s a boycott on her books. I won’t be purchasing anymore of her books for the time being but I won’t factor any of this into my review. The following review is my honest opinion on the book:

This series is extremely hyped up on social media and amongst reader communities lately. I went in looking for some good high fantasy with some very thorough world building. Unfortunately this book didn’t quite meet that mark, I’m hoping the rest of the series builds the world up more and doesn’t seem dragged out. This book was basically a beauty and the beast retelling, a poor human girl with a disabled father agrees to be the prisoner of a beast like creature, to save her family. She then falls in love with the “beast” who in this case is a faerie royal leader. She then has to break a curse to free him and his subjects from an altered state of living. The curse of course being broken by love. So if you liked beauty and the beast and you want to read another version of the same story except NOT family friendly then this is for you. Beauty and the beast with sex scenes and the “Belle” like to paint instead of read. With all of that being said, it’s not a bad book, it WAS interesting but it was definitely not worth the raving on social media. It’s severely over hyped, and there are some cringy repeated lines like “my bowels turned watery” and a few cringey watpad fanfic style “pick-me” female main character moments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Death

cassiebee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The use of mythology and faerie stuff could be so much more in these books, but nonetheless, SJM knows how to write compelling characters. Started feeling a bit bored around halfway through, but everything Under The Mountain™️ pulled me right back in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Confinement, and Death