Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Das Reich der sieben Höfe - Flammen und Finsternis by Sarah J. Maas

347 reviews

achi1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and War

spacecadetlav's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

This book balances character development with world building in a way that makes every chapter purposeful and compelling. This  was the book to get me to fall in love with the world of Prythian and what it has to offer Feyre as a result of the previous book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, and War

Minor: Stalking

lizzanator's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Confinement and Blood

a_familiar_place's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and War

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

catastrophiclyss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

krystalw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Classism

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

0.75

Don't read this review unless you're ready for me to be unnecessarily harsh. I don't like this book and think it's a travesty in so, so many ways. I understand I am not the target audience nor is it written to be a profound work of classic literature, but the fact remains that I feel it fails even within that tapestry of perspective.

ACOMAF picks up three months after ACOTAR and you are suddenly hit with the realization that in those three months SIGNIFICANT character development has occurred!! Offpage, offscreen. Tamlin is now major dickhead dumbass and Feyre is very sad. Reminder, this is NOT how we left them. Feyre was happy to have freed Tamlin from a curse and is getting married to him.
But in the back of her mind, sexy, sexy Rhysand (known dickhead in the first book) made her make a deal. However, he seems to have "forgotten" that deal until her (dreaded) wedding day when he whisks her away, finally reneging on her deal. They trade barbs, she bites her thumb at him, etc. When she returns, Tamlin in response to this becomes jealous and overprotective.

Right away, if you are familiar with the first book, this entire sequence should seem odd. Tamlin was sexy, sexy understandy man who valued Feyre and Rhysand was sexy man but also evil and he killed innocent people. Now the two personalities have flip-flopped--Tamlin is sexy with a bad side and Rhysand is soooo understanding and empathetic. 

I'm not against this dynamic, but for 600+ page book more time could've been clearly spent on that development instead of just throwing us in the first page. Instead, we get tons and tons of scenes of characters who instantly befriend Feyre, talk about her vague powers, "training," and will-they-won't-they dynamics between the two MCs. 

At the end, Rhysand's

murderous behavior in ACOTAR is justified as a combination of being misblamed/killing people who deserved it

and while it works, it's too late. 

The biggest thematic issue of this series is in its inception--it is not fantasy romance, it's just romance with a high fantasy setting. Many of the fantastical elements seem to revolve around Feyre's relationship and warp to meet her expectations. The magic system in particular has effectively no rules yet it goes to be the crux of nearly EVERY plotline in the book. Yes, including the romances!

This is not really a story, this is a trope payoff with 550 pages of fluff to justify said tropes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

geekgoddess1221's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

The saga of romanticized Stockholm syndrome and trauma bonding with sexy undertones continues. Definitely nothing problematic here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

gabriella_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Before I finished the first book I immediately went and bought the rest of the series, and can I say, BEST DECISION. This book has been my favorite of the whole series, thus far. The pace of this book was quick, wish it was slower so I could've kept enjoying it. The character development of the old character was just chefs kiss. I was glad that we got introduced to a whole new set of characters with the night court.  The one thing I enjoyed most was reading the difference between Feyres relationships and how each made me feel. For me, as much as I liked Tanlin in the first book, Rhysand takes the absolute cake. The best thing about this book was Feyre. I felt like reaching out to give her a hug with all the PTSD she was going through. I love that she went from a frail girl who was being controlled to a strong warrior and High Lady. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Torture