Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

94 reviews

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

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

The plot felt like it was ignored throughout most of the book and just randomly jumped back in towards the end. The writing was really repetitive and some of the word choices were interesting.  

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dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It had smut (definitely quantity over quality, but some where good), it had cute, bonding moments and angst, banter. It's more character driven, which I liked. I had a lot of fun. Realistically it's more on the lower end of four stars. But I didn't read this and expected quality. And if I can give ACOMAF five stars, I can certainly do it again for characters I actually like.

For a book that's not about Feyre and Rhys they sure get mentioned a lot. They decided what's best for Nesta, how she'll get better. Hmm that really reminds me of a certain someone who we despised for exactly the same reason. Someone who locked Feyre in the house where she can't escape, like how they put Nesta in House of Wind where her only way out is down thousands and thousands of steps.

Pacing is horrible. It explains everything in excruciating detail for two weeks and then bam - time jump 4 months followed by short recap what they did in those 4 months. How they trained, where and how many times they've fucked. If I don't get description of that scene, I don't care that it happened.
Whole fourth part could be a book on its own. This way it felt rushed. If someone stopped and looked around first, they would get in so much less trouble. And I fully expected a magical rabbit with wings to fly down and rescue them at some point. If everyone and everything else can save them already, why not that?
They sat on a tree, for three hours and shared their deepest darkest trauma... And it just felt like a long recap of everything we knew already.

I'm glad that Nesta needed some time to get over her trauma and wasn't just magically healed by having sex with Cassian. There was a bit of that too, but they also had bonding moments and she worked through some stuff so I'll let it slide.
First of all, if Cassian could keep his mouth shut, I'd be grateful. There's no reason for him to talk during sex scene, especially to say the lines he did.
Also they fucked right after Nesta got assaulted by a kelpie. And it was just brushed off like nothing happened... But that almost rape scene did blend with everything else that happened during that time.

SPOILER

Rhysand–IT'S YOUR CHOICE–Rhysand decided not to tell Feyre she'll die at childbirth. But told everyone else. And when Nesta told Feyre, she's made the villain. At least Rhys knows he's controlling bastard and told Cassian to take Nesta away. The way she told Feyre is wrong, and at that moment it's done for the wrong reason but she still deserved to know from the beginning. And make her own decision about it. At least Nesta showed regret over how she'd done it.
So Feyre got pregnant while she was in "Illyrian form" and that's why baby has wings and can't pass through her birth canal.. I guess abortion wasn't option. Because it's your choice doesn't apply to your body.
I almost forgot that Rhys used forced shields around Feyre so that no can even touch her or smell that she's pregnant. And that's okay, he's just overprotective hihi. But when Tamlin does it, it's not okay.

I hate that Nesta gave her powers away so she could bring back Feyre, Rhys and the baby. They were dumb enough to make a bargain to die at the same time, they should deal with consequences. But at least she changed all their anatomy so we won't have this stupid drama again.

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emotional fast-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

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lighthearted 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: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional funny medium-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

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

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reading_ray's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

DNF - 12%
 The only thing I liked was the map.
I could not get past the first 5 or so chapters. How Sarah had the Inner Circle leave Nesta on her own to deal with her PTSD and get mad at her for not getting better is so aggravating. Mental illnesses, for most people, don't get any better without help. Her family should have reached out sooner, not when they were embarrassed by her behavior. 
 They didn't reach out because they were concerned for her but embarrassed when she spent their money. Which I feel the need to point out, they have been paying everything for her for a year. I also find it unbelievable that none of the Inner Circle are sympathetic towards Nesta with her PTSD. The fact that the Inner Circle can't relate to her PTSD after having gone through what they did in the first three books and what others are said to have gone through before is completely unrealistic.
 There were also better ways to get Nesta up to the mountains. The Inner Circle didn't need to trick her out of her house, steal all of her things, condemn her building, and give her an ultimatum where both options are threatening to her life(go to a place that is known for its misogyny or to a place where Fae are hated).
 On a final note, A Court of Wings and Ruin had an ending. There was not hint of another book, besides it being listed on Goodreads. This reeks of an author only continuing a series for more money. I know authors get their money but I feel that if an author is going to continue to write about a world different characters should be the focus of the story. Yes in the first three ACoTaR books it was about Feyre and Rhysand and this was about Nesta and Cassian, but Nesta and Cassian also had important roles in the first three books.

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