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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

658 reviews

adventurous dark relaxing tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous dark 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: Yes

Alright, I’ll give it to the ACOTAR girlies and admit that this was entertaining. I mainly liked the supporting characters over the protagonist, but sometimes their voices blended together. Hopefully throughout the series as each of them develop they’ll become more fleshed out as individuals. The beginning was ROUGH in terms of writing style and dialogue (so much so I genuinely thought she was making fun of the YA fantasy genre), but the further I got the more the dialogue and pacing evened out. Liked it better than Fourth Wing though.

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

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

This book is ok. It's pretty standard YA fantasy. 

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

So I don’t know what to say. It wasn’t that bad but I don’t understand the hype. The story was good but most of it was cliche and a bit predictable. The writing was not that good either. There was a lot of repetition when it came to describing things, like I dont want to know that her bowels became watery for the 15th time!

The riddle that the FMC had to figure out was soooooo easy (and cheesy) that it was unbelievable that she wasn’t able to figure it out sooner. There was plot holes and a few things I questioned but I powered through.

Don’t really find the main character interesting shes boring and it’s droned into us in nearly every chapter that she likes to paint. I knew I didn’t like her when she had to be all “quirky” moaning that she had to wear a dress. I switched off through some of it because it was boring and was hard to make sense of a few things.

I feel like I MIGHT read the second book if I can get my hands on it as I have heard that it is better so I’m not giving up this series yet. 

Overall it was a good story with a few twists and magical elements and a whimsical setting that was immersive.

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dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The world is interesting and the viewpoint character is perfectly situated to allow exposition and discovery without it feeling contrived. The characters are interesting and complex, and Maas nicely weaves in elements of Beauty and the Beast, Eros and Psyche, and a little of Theseus and the minotaur. 

I've only given it 3.5 stars for a few reasons. First and foremost, I find it incredibly frustrating when I (an intelligent but by no means exceptional thinker) am smarter than the protagonist. Her naivety I can overlook as a symptom of her youth, but there are points where her reasoning power comes into severe question.
I figured out Amarantha's riddle after aproximately two minutes of idle thought. Granted, I have the advantage of understanding tropes and knowing how stories work, but it systematically destroyed much of my respect for Fayre to see her puzzle over it and come nowhere close. When she finally got it, I was not shocked or satisfied or pleased; rather, I found myself exclaiming "about time!"


To circle back to Fayre's naivety, perhaps that's the wrong word. She just seems...very black and white in her thinking. Despite falling in love with a member of a race she once despised, she seems incapable of applying the maxim "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." My view of
Rhysand
went rapidly from "who's that?" to "threat" to "the enemy of my enemy." Do I trust him? No farther than I could throw the Eiffel Tower, but do I think he can be made use of? Absolutely!

Final point, but the rising action/climax has Fayre remembering a lot of things verbatim in a manner that I am far from convinced she is capable of. If there had been even one mention of an uncanny memory, perfect recall, ANYTHING! I would have accepted it, but there is no such figleaf for a key element of the resolution. 

The prose is good, and the construction (apart from what I mentioned before) is fine. My main issue is ambivalence towards the heroine. I'll read the next book and see if Fayre grows on me. 



Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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: No

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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

Very adventurous and engaging. I really like the storyline and the contemplation on the relationship development. I love everything. Tricky, creative, touching, enlighten me

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