Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

74 reviews

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

the protagonist is incredibly unlikeable. the other characters are poorly fleshed out, and the plot is absurd.
3/4 of the way through this incredibly slow beauty and the beast adaptation, there's suddenly a hunger games plot? completely bizarre shift. We are also supposed to empathize with a character who threatens sexual assault, and to forgive the torture and murder of a bunch of innocents for the "greater good" . the greater good being the protagonist getting to have sex. 
sex scenes were a bit silly, but still somewhat stirring.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Okay okay, I totally get the hype around this now. 

Even though it took me a while to read as it was on my kindle, whenever I picked it up I was hooked!! Loved everything about Feyre, with such brilliant world building and a beautiful love story. The second half of the book had me going through so many emotions, and seriously levelled this up in my mind from your usual YA fantasy. 

I did guess the riddle straight away, but I’ll let our girl off, she’s not exactly super read up. 

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slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark 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: Yes

The main character is impossibly bland and frustrating. She is put through countless toxic or downright abusive situations. Both potential love interests are toxic and abusive. Her family is neglectful and abusive. This classifies, at best, as a dark romance. If you are already unimpressed by the offerings of that genre you will not have a good time reading this. The first sixty percent of the book is boring and toxic. After that it is no longer as boring but triple toxic.  
The audiobook narrator does good with the material she is given but this is definitely not a tale for me. People say the next book is better and this is the worst book in the series but I am not giving this author a second chance.

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challenging medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

okay. first to get this out of the way, sarah j. maas is an incredibly problematic author. and tbh she's not a great writer. i did NAWT buy this book. don't buy this book it ain't worth it. i only re-read the series because i wanted to properly critique the content...

and then i forgot to do the review. but i still remember all i hated in ACOTAR.

"my own bowels turned watery with fear." everyone hates this phrase and i do too, it was never-ending and just a terrible, terrible description. 

ACOTAR itself is simply a Beauty and the Beast-type story, practically everyone's read it so i'm not gonna discuss the story. i see why it appealed to so many people though. it's pretty digestible romance, and it hits all the fairytale points. the girl is taken from her humdrum life and swept into a far richer life by a fae highlord, who's inhumanely attractive and is into her. and they fuck. it's what everyone wants!

it's pretty average and of the entire series is the better book of the series.

but.

it's always annoying when white 'fantasy' authors do this thing where they invert racial dynamics by creating a system in their books where white folks experience oppression akin to real life oppression i and other black people face. having humans be enslaved by fae was so ugh, like i outwardly sighed.

i also sighed when maas had the premise be that feyre is like this tough, badass girl. feyre didn't give that *to me*. and i would expound, but i forgot the details so i'm moving on.

the answer to the riddle amarantha gave her...that riddle was so damn stupid. not more stupid than feyre but it was coming close! (the girl thought her disabled father who wouldn't move to feed her, came to Prythian to save her.)

again this story is the strongest in the series, and i only think that's because it draws from so much material we're already familiar with, which is why i haven't called it a 'good' book. it's not; it's quite boring. you know what's gonna happen, you know where the stories going because we've seen it all before. 

that's about all i got to say about this one. i did not buy this book. y'all, do not buy this book. want better for yourself, you can do so much better 🙏🏽

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

I loved this book! It has everything, faeries, romance, jealousy, political intrigue, and transformation. Minds change, laws are broken...I can't wait to dive in to the second one!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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: N/A

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