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cady_sass's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Nine. Hundred. Pages. For what?? Tracy, my girl, this is unnecessary.
I said in my last review (covet, #3) that the writing was getting marginally better with each book and I’d now like to formally retract that statement. Grace has become insufferable, but it’s not ALL the characters fault, it’s just bad writing. Her internal monologue is so painfully repetitive that it’s near insulting to the reader. If an editor had cut out all the rendundant content you could literally remove hundreds of pages. Having finished this book, I wish there weren’t more. I will read them, of course, but I’m not overly happy about it. I will see this through!
A few of the most heinously abused and repeated phrases in this book that I hope I never have to read again:
“My Mate” - we get it. Stop saying it every other sentence
“You’re ridiculous, you know that right?”
“Force a smile/grin that I’m far from feeling”
“Smile/grin that doesn’t reach his/her/their eyes”
“Choke back bile in the back of my throat”
“Laughs without humor”
Side note: for all the novels in this series up until this one I have switched back and forth between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook to get through them quickly. Don’t listen to this audiobook - the narrator regularly gets the characters accents mixed up mid dialogue and it’s SO confusing. (For example: They’ll say something in Hudson’s voice that Hudson did NOT say, and I’d have to go back to the book to figure out what actually happened in conversation). There’s also continuity issues with pronunciation that is not earth shattering but bothered me to no end (for example, Mehki’s name is suddenly pronounced entirely differently in this book versus the first 3). I had to stop listening and just trudge thru this one the old fashioned way, this perhaps lent to me being more triggered by the writing 🤣
I said in my last review (covet, #3) that the writing was getting marginally better with each book and I’d now like to formally retract that statement. Grace has become insufferable, but it’s not ALL the characters fault, it’s just bad writing. Her internal monologue is so painfully repetitive that it’s near insulting to the reader. If an editor had cut out all the rendundant content you could literally remove hundreds of pages. Having finished this book, I wish there weren’t more. I will read them, of course, but I’m not overly happy about it. I will see this through!
A few of the most heinously abused and repeated phrases in this book that I hope I never have to read again:
“My Mate” - we get it. Stop saying it every other sentence
“You’re ridiculous, you know that right?”
“Force a smile/grin that I’m far from feeling”
“Smile/grin that doesn’t reach his/her/their eyes”
“Choke back bile in the back of my throat”
“Laughs without humor”
Side note: for all the novels in this series up until this one I have switched back and forth between reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook to get through them quickly. Don’t listen to this audiobook - the narrator regularly gets the characters accents mixed up mid dialogue and it’s SO confusing. (For example: They’ll say something in Hudson’s voice that Hudson did NOT say, and I’d have to go back to the book to figure out what actually happened in conversation). There’s also continuity issues with pronunciation that is not earth shattering but bothered me to no end (for example, Mehki’s name is suddenly pronounced entirely differently in this book versus the first 3). I had to stop listening and just trudge thru this one the old fashioned way, this perhaps lent to me being more triggered by the writing 🤣
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Mental illness, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Cursing, Abandonment, Classism, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, War, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.0
WHY WAS THIS BOOK SO LONG?!!?
I truly picked the worst week of all time to read Court, that's for sure. I was honestly really excited about it. It's the latest installment in the series and after not totally loving Covet, I hoped for something that would make me fall in love with this story again. I adored the first two books and wanted to get back to those vibes.
Well, this was not it. If I thought Covet was long and cyclical, this was triple that. 941 pages and for what? Grace to panic and then act like she had it all together and then panic and then fight with Hudson and then have it together and then make out with Hudson and then fight with Hudson in a loop?!?! I was so irritated.
There was one point in the story where they actually made fun of the name of the trials because they'd already gone through a few other "impossible," "unkillable", etc. events and this one had a similar name. Needless to say, it felt as though the characters were just as fed up with the repeated story as I was.
I found the first two books fun and cheesy because they made fun of themselves. This one took itself too seriously and repeated the same formula as the last book, but longer. I want more gargoyle court goodness.
Anyways, I guess I'm kinda looking forward to Cherish? I don't even know anymore. I think I am though because it's taking a turn by going outside of Katmere Academy and all the characters are graduated and living different lives, so I'm interested in seeing how that changes the story a bit. I hope it's for the better.
I truly picked the worst week of all time to read Court, that's for sure. I was honestly really excited about it. It's the latest installment in the series and after not totally loving Covet, I hoped for something that would make me fall in love with this story again. I adored the first two books and wanted to get back to those vibes.
Well, this was not it. If I thought Covet was long and cyclical, this was triple that. 941 pages and for what? Grace to panic and then act like she had it all together and then panic and then fight with Hudson and then have it together and then make out with Hudson and then fight with Hudson in a loop?!?! I was so irritated.
There was one point in the story where they actually made fun of the name of the trials because they'd already gone through a few other "impossible," "unkillable", etc. events and this one had a similar name. Needless to say, it felt as though the characters were just as fed up with the repeated story as I was.
I found the first two books fun and cheesy because they made fun of themselves. This one took itself too seriously and repeated the same formula as the last book, but longer. I want more gargoyle court goodness.
Anyways, I guess I'm kinda looking forward to Cherish? I don't even know anymore. I think I am though because it's taking a turn by going outside of Katmere Academy and all the characters are graduated and living different lives, so I'm interested in seeing how that changes the story a bit. I hope it's for the better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, War, Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
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