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

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

560 reviews

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book has been on my TBR for years and I was excited to finally read it. Bookstagram told me it would be good, but I feel lied to. It read like a mashup of Beauty and the Beast and Howl’s Moving Castle—two stories I love—but I didn’t love this. I didn’t like any of the characters and the story was just… blah. It was slow, I didn’t really care about what happened to any of the characters, and I predicted the plot twist close to the end.

All that being said, friends and family have assured me the series gets better as you go along, so I’ll give the second book a try. The jump from 400 pages to 600 makes me nervous it will be a giant waste of time, but hopefully I will like Mist and Fury better.

ACOTAR gets 2.5/5 for me, but I did finish and I am willing to give the second book a chance.

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ariel_is_a_dreamer's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The first 70% of the book was... quite bad and slow. Then the last 30%, although rushed and requiring a bit of an infodump from one of the characters, was pretty good, written in an earnest fairytale-like manner, with an almost jarring tone shift. That, and the fact that I'm not the target audience for the book, made me give it a generous 3 stars.

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cozyykittyy's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Been on my TBR since 2020…don’t know why I didn’t pick it up sooner! This was such a fun story that I couldn’t get enough of. The pace was perfect — not too slow, not too fast — and I didn’t get bored. The enemies-to-lovers was also executed very well, and it was believable! Feyre’s conflicting emotions about falling in love with a faerie was perfect and said a lot about her character and the rift between fae and humans. The climax was well-done, each chapter leaving me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. Can’t wait to start ACOMAF next!

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kpham16's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

louise_french_rider's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark 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: Complicated

ACOTAR pulled me out of a massive reading slump—and for that alone, it deserves praise. But what really gripped me were the characters. I loved them all, even the ones I suspect I’m not “supposed” to. Feyre is fierce and flawed in all the right ways, and her bond with Tamlin had me completely invested. (Yes, I’m a proud Tamlin defender.) But if I had to pick a favorite? It’s Lucien. His loyalty, sarcasm, and hidden depth made every scene he was in stronger.

The plot was darker and more emotionally charged than I expected, and it hooked me fast. Maas builds a world that’s both enchanting and brutal, and she doesn’t shy away from consequences. This isn’t just a fantasy romance—it’s a story about sacrifice, survival, and hard choices.

I’m in. Fully. This series has my focus now.

Content Warnings

fiona_reads2's review against another edition

2.5

slow-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

Oof brutal read - I had to grit my teeth to get through this one so I could feel a part of the hype but oh my lord talk about a Mary Sue fantasy story. I was pretty down with the plot and the forbidden romance through the first half of the book, but the whole second half threw me for a loop and I could not wrap my mind around any of the character’s motivations.

My friend said the second book and the rest of the series is better. Thankfully the second audiobook is available on Libby to rent immediately!

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fliptheshrimp's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

Content Warnings

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.

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