Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

312 reviews

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

This has become a new favorite series of mine.

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

Okay I really really wanted to love this book, but I just… didn’t. 

1. I didn’t like that Feyre is such a “not like other girls” girl (god I wish fantasy as a whole would retire this tired trope). 

2. The romance made absolutely no sense to me, and I’ve been told that it is explained in the next books and begins to make more sense, but considering that it’s marketed as a fantasy romance and that’s what I was expecting to get, it was just a let down. I genuinely could not tell who Feyre’s love interest was supposed to be until
she slept with Tamlin
. I felt like she had much better chemistry with
Lucien
anyway.

3. The writing style was so… disjointed. I think because it’s written as YA but with random sex and violence and gore thrown in to make it more “adult”. 
After Feyre goes Under the Mountain, things get so dark out of absolutely nowhere. As someone who finds gore very triggering I would have REALLY appreciated a warning of some kind. The violence from Amarantha just seems so senseless, and I can’t understand why all the graphic depictions of mutilated bodies was necessary.




Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense 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: Yes

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

A very consumable book. The world is interesting to be in, but it feels quite shallow. The main character is very frustrating, and for a "fiesty, strong young woman" protagonist, acts in very foolish ways that made me put the book down and sigh. She also doesn't have a lot of agency and 99% of her problems end up being solved by someone else. The power curve is absurd. The book constantly reminds us how fragile she is and how rapidly she will die, which actually strips the narrative of all tension, because you know the protagonist is going to somehow live and succeed against ridiculous odds. The love interests are quite uninteresting, and I was not really convinced of love much at all, only lust. Going back to Feyre's agency, she is lied to, manipulated, drugged and assaulted and still seems perfectly happy with the relationships. It goes to show that just because a book is popular, doesn't mean it is high quality.

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️/5 
*spice increases throughout series

If you’re reading this book/series for the first time, be careful of spoilers! So much of it got ruined for me from reviews and posts! (Including spoilers for future books in reviews of this one.) The second book in this series seems to be most readers’ favorite (including mine!) so if you’re on the fence about continuing the series after this one, do it! 

This was the series that sparked my love for fantasy. I had read Harry Potter and loved it, but as an adult, hadn’t read much of it. I’m now reading it for a second time through and picking up so many details I didn’t realize mattered before. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Danger, romance, courage, and family. This fantasy makes you think of Beauty and the Beast and more.

I really enjoyed this book and am glad that it is a series. I never read fantasies that much but this book has made me want to dive into more fantasy series. There isn't much about this book that I didn't like, as the descriptions of characters, places, and feelings were so beautifully written you could see it all play out in your head as you read.

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings