Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Regatul spinilor și al trandafirilor by Sarah J. Maas

384 reviews

tiredtori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

olivia_russell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

fairynanook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Just meh! This series is so hyped up. I have been hearing about it for years and years. I guess I was expecting too much, but for me, it was just on the side of not bad. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts I didn't much care for. I mostly read rom-coms, so let's just take these things through that lens.

1) It was remarkably violent. I've skimmed the reviews of others where they said they wish it was more gruesome and gory. Obviously these people must read some hardcore violent books, because to me, this almost put me over the edge of what I was able to tolerate. A couple descriptions that happeed while I was eating a snack made me literally spit out my food and stop eating because they grossed me out so badly.

2) It wasn't really original...clearly meant to be Beauty and the Beast like, I didn't get the chemistry from our mains at all. I have no real reason to believe that Tamlin and Feyre would have fallen for one another, let alone been "in love".

3) I do think she did a good job with some of the mystery of things. At least, I didn't guess where stuff was going on some of those major plot points.

4) The cruelty and different social conventions of the fairies was well written I feel like. It didn't feel like they were just slightly mean humans to me. I did gather that they had an entirely different set of morals governing them.

5) Let's just talk about the spice for a minute. I've seen people slam this book as basically just erotica or porn. Did I accidentally read an abridged version that only left out the "erotic" scenes? Again, I mostly read stuff in the romance realm and this book was as vanilla as it gets. I barely noticed that their were (2) sex scenes in it at all. In what world is this considered spicy? Is it appropriate for young adults, where I have heard it has been shelved? No, absolutely not. But to call it erotica would indicate to me that you are incredibly prudish in your view of literature.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to continue on with the series. But it never ceases to amaze me which mediocre books become rock stars while absolute fantastic pieces go by unnoticed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Trafficking

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dpmarvelous's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Though slow at times, i found this book really enjoyable and i look forward to continuing the series. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

radtj's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Bad summaries: 

500+ y/o guy falls for a 19 year old with an educational disability who doesnt know what to do with her life and then introduces her to royalty hell and forces her to save him from his eternal doom at the hands of a sadistic evil woman who kills for fun 🤷🏽‍♂️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

coffinqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

Solid, expertly written book. Some issues with depictions of trauma.

New Adult Dark High Fantasy about a young woman who accidentally kills the friend of a fae lord while hunting. He forces her to come live in the fae world for the rest of her life. They become romantically involved and other faeries find out he's with a human. This enrages the jealous queen, who then tries to kill her and destroy his house by making him her slave. She even has another man she keeps for her own enjoyment already while terrorizing the entire kingdom and just slaughtering everyone who gets in her way. It's clear she enjoys toying with people and lashing out when she doesn't get what she wants. Things go from 0 to 300 quick.

ACOTAR has an initially slow start that really picks up in the middle. Full of action and a badass female protagonist who is also fragile emotionally and physically in comparison to the immortals around her. It's a little spooky and gritty. Lots of monsters and mystery. It's violent and dark and has a lot of great twists. Even the ending of this book is a twist in itself for the rest of the series. Book 1 is sort of: "What had happened was..." in a way that genuinely feels like immersing in a fairytale and then later seeing it has gone very very wrong. You get more and more of some great character building as it becomes less Disney and more reality, making it a really fun read.

Great intro to the series. Though a little flawed for the more serious themes it explores and how they are represented in book 1, (I feel they aren't remedied until

the start of

book 2) but they are mostly remedied by a large percentage when they are. That's a dangerous game when depicting a high fantasy that is realistically depicting so much trauma. There are a lot of themes which may offend or trigger but the characters just sort of live in it... So, read on! But just be aware this book may insinuate it is actually ignoring the important subjects it means to talk about... attention to them just comes in late.

You can tell that Maas is a smart writer who has seen many fairytales she was really fed up with. She takes every opportunity to bring in the rage she wishes those characters showed. And she is an expert writer who hides some really sweet details throughout her books. You may come out with an even better perspective and deeper appreciation on a second read because it does such a good job of upsetting the reader on the first read.

Definitely recommended. I just feel that an important part of the readership might fall off before the series really gets into what it's largely about, which was frustrating as a reader and as someone who can closely relate to some of those issues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, and Slavery

Discussions about abuse, neglect, etc are less prevalent in book 1 and more prevalent in book 2. For the worse in my opinion. Because it doesn't allow for discussion ABOUT the abuse and that it is abuse until this book has ended. The characters just live in the abuse in book 1 and not much is done about it or contextualized. It's very realistic and well-researched but the handling isn't very delicate to start. However, the abusive bits also aren't graphic and book 2 has more delicate handling and continued light mentioning coupled with a more serious discussion. Disappointing weakening of book 1 a bit. But hey... surviving trauma also teaches you that we can't expect perfection. The year was 2015. I'm glad it was talked about at all.

liezie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

disasterdump's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.5

i enjoyed the last 10% of the book, the rest of it made me want to bang my head continuously into a cinderblock wall. 
i get that she had to set up the world and make the ~love story~ make sense but jesus it was slow.

and the set up with rhysand just feels so out of place in the situations.

this put me in the worst reading slump… i wasnt able to finish anything since i picked this book up in MAY and i had to basically hold myself at gunpoint to finish it. it’s AUGUST.
feyre is illiterate as a plot point but she’s also an idiot. being uneducated and being an imbecile are different things, and she is both.
tamlin is boringgg, and worse, he’s blonde. i cannot bring myself to gaf abt him. blond men are a plague.
amarantha is a drag, she could’ve been a really interesting villain but instead we get these weak little challenges. like…

that riddle was the easiest thing i’ve ever read (and CORNY, especially with it coming from someone who is supposed to be so heartless and wretched…)

☹️
other “villain” is interesting but i have to say…

i know that rhysand is the endgame but jfc chill w the descriptions of his beauty while you’re ~enduring deathly trials bc you are so unbelievably in love~ lmao

🤨🤨🤨
also, the phrase “my bowels turned watery” needs to die a fiery death... why did she say it three times😭😭😭 GIRL now i’m sick to my stomach😭 
whatever, i’ve now read it and i never have to endure it again and i’ll know wtf my friend is talking about when she references it. that’s enough for me  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

samanthas92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

very slow start if you can make it to chapter 30 its worth it smooth sailing from there 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder