Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Regatul spinilor și al trandafirilor by Sarah J. Maas

398 reviews

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

spiderdrac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I honestly did love this book, very little descriptive sex scenes which I enjoyed. The ending was super well written and mostly just felt a little rushed at times. I wish we got to know more about the villain but I also understand it's the first book in a long series. 

My biggest complaints come from when Feyre and Tamlin first start the whole romance things. It felt, underdeveloped. Like he does a few nice things for her and then she's suddenly head over heals for him almost for no reason. She forgives him way to quickly and for someone who was kidnapped, kinda just looks over it and forgives him for VERYRHINF. Lucine is my fav though, and Feyre also forgives him too quickly. 

I enjoyed the ending but the middle and begining where a slight drag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

duck_24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I decided to finally read this book and it makes for a fun summer read, particularly the graphic audio. I had not realized how deeply it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I enjoyed that the story did become its own work especially towards the end. I enjoyed the characters and felt that SJM wrote a convincing representation of a 19 year old who had a lot on her shoulders. This was a fun read and I do have some criticisms. 
The author jumps around with the timeline a lot. Often it felt like some descriptions were given once and then never mentioned again which made it especially hard to go back and revisit details on audio. I was able to figure out the riddle immediately but I still felt satisfaction when my guess was correct. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lalesbianlune's review against another edition

adventurous

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

3.5

I went into this knowing that

Tamlin was not the hero

which probably changed my experience. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and Feyre as a character. I was also instantly excited for Nesta having a storyline of her own since she was so dynamic just in her few scenes. 

The Under the Mountain portions were definitely the best but I spent so much of that part thinking “I bet Rhysand is going to end up as some redeemed bad guy, but getting her drunk and touching her is just wrong.”

Sped through this, after so long not reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

musicdaph's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Laughed and cried a lot. Can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Vomit

Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

mbutler's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: War