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

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Reviews tagging 'Gore'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

798 reviews

emmalaure's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I finally decided to read this book to see what the hype is all about. It's not as good as I was expecting. To put it simply, the love interest is not at all interesting, the romance feels superficial, and there is no action for two thirds of the book. Why am I giving it 3 stars then? Because the ending was actually good. The last third of the book had lots of action, it had our heroine in peril and having to fight for her life and the lives of others, and the villain turns out to be quite terrifying.

The first two thirds of the book are centered on the romance. Feyre is captured and is forced to live with Tamlin, one of seven High Lords of the fae courts. Although she initially tries to escape, Feyre quickly gives up on finding a way out and settles into a life in a grand home with faeries. Tamlin's character fell flat for a love interest. He does not disclose any information about his life, his hobbies, his passions, except for the fact that he did not want his role as High Lord. He keeps a great many secrets from Feyre, and all he really does is keep her safe and give her supplies so that she can paint. This lack of personality made him very superficial to me, and the romance even more so because of it. It is implied that the two spend a lot of time together, but as a reader, I was not given any information on Tamlin that resulted in affection for him. I truly was not convinced by their relationship,

much less that Feyre had actually and truly fallen in love with him. Additionally, given the fact that he manipulated her to lift his curse, I cannot help but wonder if Tamlin actually loves Feyre or if it's all just an act to him.

Feyre's character was not great either. She was raised to put others above herself, but while she does so without complaint, she still spends a lot of time feeling sad over it. And because she's been raised this way, she has no backbone at all.

Upon discovering that Tamlin lied to her, her initial reaction is not to be upset that the man he loves had been lying about a great deal of things, but instead that she let him and many others down because she did not say 'I love you' to him.

It's great for a main character to be selfless, but Feyre ignores a lot of red flags. Even if Tamlin had his reasons

and he still tried to tell her without being able to, this does not excuse the initial and biggest lie of them all,

that she was indebted to him and was forced to live the rest of her life with the faeries.

So yes, he tried to tell her about the curse, but he still manipulated her.

I will read the next book, so I hope that in the next, her confidence in herself grows, and that consequently her self-worth grows as well. I hope she'll be able to tell when a relationship is toxic or built on poor foundations. She deserves better, especially after all she has endured.

To give credit where credit is due, however, the last third of the book was actually entertaining and--dare I say--captivating.

Feyre goes to rescue the Spring Court and ends up facing Amarantha, an evil queen who seeks to control all of the fae courts. In this part, Feyre actually shows how intelligent and resourceful she is. She comes across many hurdles, but still manages to get through them with some help but, more importantly, sheer will and determination.

Poor girl goes through a lot and she definitely deserves a rest, but to me this part of the book really was a redeeming arc for her character. Suddenly she was no longer the helpless and self-pitying girl, but instead a strong and tenacious young woman.

Content Warnings

attackfox's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark 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: No

I was frustrated with the pacing of the first half of the book. The author mixes exposition/backstory with events happening real-time in the book so much that it gets dizzying at times. Some phrases are used repetitively, but I found her descriptions to be helpful in picturing people and places.
Characters are diverse and their motivations are clear, or unclear in acceptable points in the story, which is often times difficult for authors to portray in Fantasy.
I laughed in points in the story and cried. I forgot to mention I listened to this via audiobook, the standard version. I quickly jumped to the next book to continue the story.

Content Warnings

phoevincent's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

hanhuff's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

evelynnnn33333's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging emotional 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

Content Warnings

lex223427's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

tyraisreading's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Beauty and the beast but sexy and violent and bloody and gory

Content Warnings

ruska_777's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

karlin0336's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a reread for me (it's been so long that I decided to stop reading A Court of Wings and Ruin and go back through these so everything's more fresh in my mind). My original rating was 4.25 stars, but I definitely enjoyed it more the second time around. Not at all a fan of the amount of spice in this series, but this one is quite a bit more tame than the others. (Definitely skippable if you want to go that route.)

If you're a fan of books about the fae, you will love this. Worldbuilding and characters are great. The story from start to finish is captivating. The ending is mind-blowing. Plus, it's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but with fae! What could be better?

Content Warnings

latsin's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark tense fast-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

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