Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

153 reviews

monsarona's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.75

I cried at certain parts 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, War, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Torture

lizard800's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

Each book in the series keeps improving (which doesn't mean a lot really because this isn't a great series overall). The writing in this one is better, even though there are still overused phrases ('I could have sworn that...' being one that came up a lot). Maas backed away from overuse of ellipses and em dashes, so that was nice. Still some incomplete sentences, but again not as bad as previous books.

Writing aside, the story in this book is pretty good honestly. Lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming, which I enjoyed. I do think the book could have been a LOT shorter (a theme with this series) and still told the same story.

One thing that i still don't understand is how the Carver got out of prison? I thought the mirror was just to get him to agree, but I wasn't clear on how he actually removed himself?

I also thought that the father returning at the end was kind of stupid. Rolled my eyes at that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Grief, Death, War, Violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Gore

lakinglaze's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? N/A

5.0

This book — this book has my heart. I have never cried so much and so often with a story before — and not all those tears were sad — most of them, in fact, were of joy and love. That love, the compassion, the sacrifice — I won’t be able to let these characters go — not ever. It was all a gift. 🖤

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, War, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

treblemakeranna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Homophobia, Cursing, Vomit, and Torture

angelicalomax's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

BRO WTF. Im so disappointed. 

The second book made me so excited for this book, with the second book’s cliff hanger and amazing tension and character development. BUT this third book SLAPPED me back to reality about SJM’s writing- which is that it sucks & it’s evident in this book. 

SJM knows how to write sexual tension and plot, BUT she does not know how to write any depth into characters, her humor IS HORRIBLE, and this book in particular has INTENSE pacing issues. To SJM: For example of how to write about battle, read A Song of Achilles. 

Pacing issues: The cliff hanger from book 2 left so much possibility for manipulation and plot twists in the beginning of this third book, but Feyre did absolutely nothing. The whole first half of this book could have been deleted or AT LEAST shortened. For a 700 page book, the plot only picked up at the very end. And even the end felt like a rushed conclusion. 

Lack of tension: I think part of the reason why this book felt so long and boring in the first half is because there was absolutely no tension. I understand that Feyre and Rhys being together means lessened sexual tension HOWEVER SJM could have written in tension if she developed the side characters. THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL WITH TAMLIN! ESP IN THE FIRST HALF! 

Brings me to my next point — Lack of depth in characters: bruh. I do appreciate these new relationships - Nessa + Cassian, Varian + Amren, potential love triangle with Elain + Azriel + Lucien, and Morrigan + potential lesbian lover? I hope these are all things that are explored in the future. If they aren’t then wtf is SJM doing. Another pro about this book- I appreciate more POC characters being written in and FINALLY the introduction of queer characters (wow what an ally *sarcasm bc she doesn’t do anything w these characters and just has them exist in the background*). That being said, this book could have been strengthened so much more if SJM invested in these side characters instead of focusing so much on Rhys and Feyre. 

Last point: the ending. SJM sold out to what the fans wanted instead of sticking to her integrity as a strong plot writer. I wish she ended the book in either one of two ways : a) rhys dying, Feyre finding out she’s pregnant during the grieving, and then rhys being resurrected by some ominous power in the next book. Or b) do a “5 years later” and show F + R with a baby, no hierarchy within the fairies, humans and fairies intermingling, and all the side characters happily coupled. Then the series ending there (for option b). 

Anyways. Idk if I’ll read the next book. We shall see. Sorry but not sorry for the unhinged rant 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Confinement, and Death

druzyquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-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: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

carlyjoann's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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: Emotional abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Sexism, Gaslighting, Classism, Genocide, Gore, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, War, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

mayawata_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

Obviously there are plot points that still need to be wrapped up but the end of Hybern was so satisfying and seeing Feyre and her sisters come back together was so heartwarming. I got the chills, I cried, I gave myself a headache. This is probably my favorite of the first three books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, War, and Torture

kmthorson2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Death of parent, Body horror, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Classism, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexism, and Sexual content