Reviews with content warning for War - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Reviews tagging 'War'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

471 reviews

pambo's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

coffinqueen's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

Solid, expertly written book. Some issues with depictions of trauma.

New Adult Dark High Fantasy about a young woman who accidentally kills the friend of a fae lord while hunting. He forces her to come live in the fae world for the rest of her life. They become romantically involved and other faeries find out he's with a human. This enrages the jealous queen, who then tries to kill her and destroy his house by making him her slave. She even has another man she keeps for her own enjoyment already while terrorizing the entire kingdom and just slaughtering everyone who gets in her way. It's clear she enjoys toying with people and lashing out when she doesn't get what she wants. Things go from 0 to 300 quick.

ACOTAR has an initially slow start that really picks up in the middle. Full of action and a badass female protagonist who is also fragile emotionally and physically in comparison to the immortals around her. It's a little spooky and gritty. Lots of monsters and mystery. It's violent and dark and has a lot of great twists. Even the ending of this book is a twist in itself for the rest of the series. Book 1 is sort of: "What had happened was..." in a way that genuinely feels like immersing in a fairytale and then later seeing it has gone very very wrong. You get more and more of some great character building as it becomes less Disney and more reality, making it a really fun read.

Great intro to the series. Though a little flawed for the more serious themes it explores and how they are represented in book 1, (I feel they aren't remedied until

the start of

book 2) but they are mostly remedied by a large percentage when they are. That's a dangerous game when depicting a high fantasy that is realistically depicting so much trauma. There are a lot of themes which may offend or trigger but the characters just sort of live in it... So, read on! But just be aware this book may insinuate it is actually ignoring the important subjects it means to talk about... attention to them just comes in late.

You can tell that Maas is a smart writer who has seen many fairytales she was really fed up with. She takes every opportunity to bring in the rage she wishes those characters showed. And she is an expert writer who hides some really sweet details throughout her books. You may come out with an even better perspective and deeper appreciation on a second read because it does such a good job of upsetting the reader on the first read.

Definitely recommended. I just feel that an important part of the readership might fall off before the series really gets into what it's largely about, which was frustrating as a reader and as someone who can closely relate to some of those issues.

Content Warnings

anniemay011's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

scotia's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

...I liked this more than I want to admit

Content Warnings

miayukino's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Content Warnings

mhope87's review against another edition

2.25

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

While I enjoyed the world building in the first half, I just really didn’t like or feel a connection to the main characters. The graphic violence was excessive (maybe a matter of taste but I skimmed several passages).

I found myself waiting the whole time to finally connect with the story. I never really did! The plot just didn’t track for me, the logic of the treaties and curses felt weak.

Feyre is reckless and fickle and just…unlikeable? I clearly just did not like this book 😅

Content Warnings

disasterdump's review against another edition

0.5

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

i enjoyed the last 10% of the book, the rest of it made me want to bang my head continuously into a cinderblock wall.
i get that she had to set up the world and make the ~love story~ make sense but jesus it was slow.

and the set up with rhysand just feels so out of place in the situations.

this put me in the worst reading slump… i wasnt able to finish anything since i picked this book up in MAY and i had to basically hold myself at gunpoint to finish it. it’s AUGUST.
feyre is illiterate as a plot point but she’s also an idiot. being uneducated and being an imbecile are different things, and she is both.
tamlin is boringgg, and worse, he’s blonde. i cannot bring myself to gaf abt him. blond men are a plague.
amarantha is a drag, she could’ve been a really interesting villain but instead we get these weak little challenges. like…

that riddle was the easiest thing i’ve ever read (and CORNY, especially with it coming from someone who is supposed to be so heartless and wretched…)

☹️
other “villain” is interesting but i have to say…

i know that rhysand is the endgame but jfc chill w the descriptions of his beauty while you’re ~enduring deathly trials bc you are so unbelievably in love~ lmao

🤨🤨🤨
also, the phrase “my bowels turned watery” needs to die a fiery death... why did she say it three times😭😭😭 GIRL now i’m sick to my stomach😭
whatever, i’ve now read it and i never have to endure it again and i’ll know wtf my friend is talking about when she references it. that’s enough for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Content Warnings