Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

128 reviews

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

amyhamilton's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

abbybiegs's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-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

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oh my god this book was literally so good. i listened to it as an audio book and wow i couldn’t pause it. it was the only audio book that i’ve ever listened to completely and i am just amazed at how much love i had for the characters and the plot. the first half made my heart swell. tamlin was absolutely wonderful. and the second half felt like a second book in itself. there wasn’t one part of the book that i hated. i cannot wait to read the next book in the series!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Animal death, Slavery, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol

bookish_78bookieluvr's review against another edition

1.0

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Rysand is the bare minimum. Hated how Sarah J. Maas didn't address the problematic things that Tamlin and Ryhsand did to feyre for thier own gain. I hate that thier actions were romanticized and not show in the true light of negativity that it was. Feyre deserved better and just because a dude taught her how to read and treated her like an equal human being didn't make Ryhsand a feminist it made him the bare minimum and the bar isn't in hell it simply doesn't exsist. I feel that we can simply at least try to address these things and not romantic them and instead show what these problematic theses are are negative and not good and the reason onto why problematic and hurtful things are to be addressed is becuase the books are consumed by mass media's of people and teenagers children even. It is not something that they should normalize as normal, good, the standard, and to be expected from thier future partners. She normalises an incredibly sexist dynamic that has men universally characterised as possessive, violent and dominating, and women as passive objects to be fought over. In the case of Feysand, this is repainted in ACOMAF as a narrative of undying and ‘true’ love. Even if you enjoy the books, you *cannot* ignore these implications.  At this link and resource that I used for my own review you may go check out this creator more in depth review about this book which helped me realize exactly how problematic this book truly was and to which I am truly greatful : [ *https://howlsmovinglibrary.tumblr.com/post/160130108614/the-relationship-between-misogyny-and-romance-a *]
*[also: problematic gender portrayal, problematic tropes - traditional alpha male behaviour, such as possessiveness and animalistically coded desire, issues of iffy (and in cases utterly absent) consent, reinforced heterosexuality.]* She can do a much better job depicting trauma without sensationalizing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment

Normalized abuse and toxic relationships trope.

very_offkey_kazoo's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous emotional relaxing tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I felt like the plot didn’t appear until the last 75-100 pages. The first few hundred were just hot beings glaring at each other and not talking about things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Racism, Blood, Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment

elissareadsbooks's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

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i dont know what the hell i just read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting

Moderate: Slavery

No one in this book understands consent. Power imbalances everywhere.

taliahsbookshelf's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional 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

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 Decent book. It was hard to get through at times, but the end picked up significantly

when Feyre started having to go through the trials

. I will say that the worldbuilding didn't make sense to me, and I often found myself having to look up certain rules that didn't make sense or weren't explained well. This is pretty common in fantasy books, but it felt a lot more prevalent in this one. It didn't take long to get into the heart of the book, but the middle of it was difficult. Definitely worth the read, though, and I'm excited for the rest of the series.

Spoilers:
Mid-level spoiler:

I had some trouble determining what Tamlin really thinks of Rhysand. Obviously the courts all have differing opinions and lands that they each govern, but it just seems weird to me that Tamlin has something against Rhysand without much of an explanation. Hoping for more details in the other books.

Mid-level spoiler:

I really don't get why SJM decided to have the three trials for Feyre. This book is obviously a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but then it felt all of a sudden like Hercules? I don't know about you, but it felt a bit weird having a different legend showing up at the end of the book like that.

High-level spoiler:

Feyre at the end!!!! What?! I was shocked. I knew something was going to happen to her (because, duh, this is a fantasy book), but that definitely wasn't it. To be honest, though, the concept of how she actually becomes High Fae seems a bit thrown in as an afterthought because the magic system doesn't seem well set up for this.

Favorite quotes:

"Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all."(414)

"You didn't need to bargain with me. You could have demanded every single week of the year. Every single week, and I would have said yes."(385)

"I love you. Thorns and all."(248)

"'I love you,' I said, and stabbed him."(397)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Murder

Moderate: Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief

Minor: Cursing, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting

camryndaytona's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I started reading this book to compile a list of everything she stole from Tolkien and ended up just screaming at the wall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder