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jennanaps's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
britwalsh16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I love all the parallels & Easter eggs to Sarah’s other worlds, & ofcourse Nesta, Azriel, & everyone from Acotar who had small parts in the story line!
The twists & turns this book took! This series takes! It’s unbelievable, there is so much I didn’t see coming, & I love books that shock me!!
I’m just so sad that it’s over, & for the moment I don’t have anymore new Sarah J Maas books to read!!
Cauldron blessed us all with Sarah & her amazing writing! I can’t wait for more of her books! If she writes it, I will read it. No questions asked.
“Wanna hear a joke?.. Two Angels and a Fae Prince walk into a dungeon..” 🤣🤣🤣
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
sarahyjackson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, and Vomit
rasbneon's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Minor: Child death and Sexual violence
readwithde's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book read like the end of a trilogy, despite the fact that there are four houses (and supposedly a fourth book coming). Most of the main characters had their story arcs conclude, and there are only a few loose ends.
Bryce and Hunt became less vital and important to me; the background characters became much more important. I love that the story focused on so many different paths and choices, all culminating in the final conflict of the book.
All that to say, it was good. I liked it. But I wanted more, and I'm not sure when or if that will happen.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
arwen_w's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
yilliun's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
This book is very very heavy on lore and world building between all three of her series. I expected more ACOTAR characters to show up and I think the connection was a bit overhyped. Granted we will be returning to the world of ACOTAR in the next year or so, and I believe we are very set on preliminary ideas of where that plot will take us.
“Live your life, Quinlan. And live it well.” This made me SOB. She really pulled out the “live Manon live” and “live Nesta” line on us
I felt very frustrated that the plot doubled back on itself quite a bit. Ithan and Tharion basically became the same characters. Bryce went on a cave journey twice in the book. There was so so much infodumping. I think Sarah tried to do something very ambitious and she wasn’t as successful as I hoped.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death and Sexual content
skillyillian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
(like for real i think this is the longest review i've ever written for a book.)
So idk what the fuck happened here but I have such mixed feelings about this book. I just. What happened here??? Let me clarify: it's not bad. It's really not. But there were a lot of letdowns for me here. And a bunch of really good moments, too. But I have some....concerns.
Bryce has a whole deal with the fae being misogynistic assholes, right? so she
sjm takes several big traditionally "feminist" stances, with bryce saying "fuck the patriarchy, we're more than incubators" and then
AND my biggest problem with the way sarah treats her female characters is that everyone is tiny. for fuckin what? I saw ONE character described as "full-bodied" and that was IT, through an entire 800+ page book. I will NEVER forgive her for how she did the ocean queen so dirty. the queen of the OCEAN, and she was described as a "tiny female." like sorry but hey what the fuck???? from my notes, and i quote, "the endless, 'depthless' OCEANS and she's tiny??? teeny tiny itty bitty little thing to represent the vast swells, deep rolling tides, and stunning, dangerous beauty of all the oceans of this world and you made her micro fucking scopic. ... the ocean queen should be big. make her plus size, make her fat, make her a TRUE representation of the beauty and intensity and power that comes with being the queen of an element that takes up more space than all the land on the planet combined. let her take up the space she deserves, the space she owns!!!!!" like why the FUCK was the OCEAN QUEEN not even past four feet tall, and when she got taller to intimidate them, she didn't even make herself taller than hunt. she was still smaller than the men in the room. NO, FUCK THAT. let her tower over them!!! let puny hunt athalar cower in fear of her!!! tell us about her fat rolls, her big tummy, the way her skin has stretch marks that are lighter than the rest of her skin, like the crests of waves!!!!
just... it feels like for every traditionally "feminist" statement she made, she negated it with weird little internalized misogyny digs at her other woman characters. it makes the rest of her feminist takes come off as performative and forced imho. making the ocean queen "tiny" is a major reason i'm docking points.
but moving on. bryce is a total asshole for most of this book. when she gets back from prythian, she just refuses to acknowledge hunt's trauma because it's making him hesitate on their mission. she says she needs "all of him" but won't give him the space to process the INSANE amount of trauma he went through.
honestly, ithan and tharion's plots were the "this could have been an email" part of this story. every time we'd be in the middle of something exciting, it would switch to one of their POVs, and i'd roll my eyes and just suffer through it. it broke the immersion SO MUCH to be in the middle of a lore dump, fight, etc., and then be like "anyway back to wolf boy and fish guy, who can't do a god damn thing right to save their lives, or anyone else's."
next, the crossover. good god. now, i am fully aware that the fandom caused a ton of hype for this and made it out to be the hugest thing to happen to fantasy since tolkien. but, that being said, sjm, her publisher, and marketing team all hyped the fuck out of this, too. all of the marketing for hofas was about the crossover, and she ended the second book with bryce meeting the whole inner circle. so why did she spend the entire crossover
and the finale.
also, i'm so tired of every single sjm character being painfully aware and yet unaware of their surroundings. please, it's in every fucking book, and you'd think after 15-16 books she would have moved beyond "could have sworn", and yet. this is probably me being a dick but the final count was 52 times (which, in an 800+ page book, isn't a ton, but it's in every single book she writes) where something happened, like for sure happened, and someone just "could have sworn" it happened. like please just say the damn thing happened instead of giving the impression that your characters are only half aware of their surroundings.
anyway moving on to greener pastures. ruhn and lidia carried the fuck out of this book. i like their romance better than anyone else's in all of CC. they're just so good despite their occasional dumb choices. i love them. plus
overall, i think this is one of sjm's weaker books for sure. it was entertaining and gripping enough, but mostly because i wanted to find all the lore connections and easter eggs, and my bestie and i read it together, which makes reading anything fun. fuck, she could make the bible fun. the plot was fine, if not drawn out in some places, but i wasn't ever, at any point, invested in ithan or tharion. the ending was a little rushed compared to the other 800 pages of the book, but i like that she acknowledged the consequences of destroying the ruling class and that there would be a power vacuum there.
also, hunt finding out about
anyway sjm is someone you read for the characters and worldbuilding, not necessarily for incredibly strong plots, prose, or descriptions.
But also, credit where credit is due, connecting three different series across nearly a dozen and a half books is an insane feat of storytelling. the easter eggs and lore connections were great. i feel like she laid a lot of groundwork for other connections. she ended cc3 as if it was the end of the series, and i think it should stay that way imho. as much as i'd love more ruhn and lidia, i have had enough bryce and hunt for probably forever. this book did a lot, and carried a lot of weight for the maasverse, but i think it ended up being kinda messy. i wish the crossover had been better and that the characters weren't so prone to poor life choices for the sake of conflict. AND THE OCEAN QUEEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN FAT.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Excrement, and Kidnapping
zanazy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The book is told through many perspectives and the scene breaks are very abrupt. There were quite a few times where the POV changed mid page that made me do a double take to make sure I was following along. A LOT happens to everyone and we see it all. We see into the dungeon Hunt, Ruhn, and Baxian are in, as well as get Ithan’s POV from his journey, Tharion also has his own bits throughout the story. The main POV is of course Bryce, but Lydia is another featured POV that adds a lot, and she has one of the better character developments in this book.
This book ends Bryce and Hunt’s storyline, giving them
As far as the impact to ACOTAR characters, I think that
CC in general has not been my favorite story, and this book did nothing to change that. I think this story made me hate Bryce as a character, and there were plenty of times I wanted to chuck my book at the wall. Bryce’s actions throughout the book show she is selfish, conceited, and only concerned about what she wants, regardless of the cost or impact to others. I will admit I was not a big fan of hers, but I ended the book disliking her even more. All the other characters talk about how selfless she is, how special, kind, good, insert other nice things throughout the scenes and story, which makes things worse. There should be no need for other characters to rave about her, the fact they do, tells you enough that her actions do not reflect what other characters think she is like. Lydia, Ruhn, Tharion, and Ithan save this story from being completely unreadable.
Unfortunately, this is my least favorite of all the Maas universe books, and I am truly hoping this was the end of Bryce’s story, because I do not care to read more about her.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Murder, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
booksandteatime's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War