Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

23 reviews

baileymalaylee's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

2.75

this may have been bad but it was certainly a good time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Ableism, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

yaoipaddle's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

3.0

 -5 ★ for Feyre’s constant stupidity 

-5 ★ for that corny ass riddle 

+5 ★ for one of the best buddy reads of 2023 

+3 ★ for Lucien 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism

sspaghettiboness's review against another edition

fast-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

1.0

I know that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything. But. Wow. 

This was the most predictable mess of a knock off fairytale I’ve ever read. This was “Why buy Beauty and the Beast at the store? We have it at home”. All of the interesting characters were ancillary and painted as villains. The main character never takes any shred of responsibility for her actions, nor does she have any actual struggle. I kept reading, hoping to find some modicum of a fully realised person, but nothing emerged. She felt more like a lackluster plot device than anything else. Feyre was only cunning when she had to be, only resourceful when she had to be, only fearful when she had to be. There was no consistency to her emotions or reactions. At times, she was this emboldened warrior and provider, yet when trouble came around, she tucked her tail between her legs (save hurling dumb insults their way) - unless she tried to stand up against a struggle, and ultimately was saved by a man. Every. Single. Time. 

The concept of the faerie courts was interesting, and never well explained. If only the author hadn’t wasted so many paragraphs describing which flowers grew where, we might’ve spent some time learning more about the fae world and how it works. The different kinds of fae and creatures, again, seemed so cool. Yet we only focused on the “hot” ones. Boring. 

The author seems to cling to certain words and motifs, not in a stylistic way, but in a “this is the only way I can describe that, but isn’t this word great!” way. Additionally, the use of - and … was so - so… overdone. Words such as: growl, snarl, hissed, crunched underfoot, feral. I have a list, but brevity is the soul of wit (and I’m not very witty, judging by how long this review has become). 

Oh! And there’s a great blink and you miss it moment where Feyre points out there’s both men and women at the fire party, and implies with a flustered blush that the possibility of men having sex with men existed. Her fears were quickly righted by Lucien basically saying the guys would have sex with the girls. Not each other. Because, Cauldron forbid, anything outside of heteronormativity would be an affront to their precious court. I assume. Based on how it was presented. 

I’m unsure if these are real spoilers, but:

the whole thing about Feyre being illiterate was so insensitive and dumb. The way they mocked her for wanting to learn (I guess Tamlin didn’t, but he also wasn’t really nice about it), and how she beat herself up for being illiterate, I found to be excessive and elitist. But, luckily for our precious MC, not even being illiterate is her fault! Because Mummy died and no one had the time to teach her. 

I solved that riddle as soon as I read it. It wasn’t hard or groundbreaking or special. It was LITERALLY the same thing she’d made Tamlin suffer over for years. Was that supposed to be a twist? Awful.

 

I’m just gonna stop here. This was terrible. I was spurned on to keep reading the same way I can’t help but rubberneck a car crash. In fact, I can’t wait to get the next book and eviscerate that too. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Ableism, Murder, Vomit, Blood, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

jmeier's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense

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

1.5

the protagonist is incredibly unlikeable. the other characters are poorly fleshed out, and the plot is absurd.

3/4 of the way through this incredibly slow beauty and the beast adaptation, there's suddenly a hunger games plot? completely bizarre shift. We are also supposed to empathize with a character who threatens sexual assault, and to forgive the torture and murder of a bunch of innocents for the "greater good" . the greater good being the protagonist getting to have sex. 

sex scenes were a bit silly, but still somewhat stirring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Kidnapping, War, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Animal death, Colonisation, Drug use, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

bri__'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this book as much as I did. I found some of the writing to be a bit cringe/odd but I had alot of fun reading it. Maybe it's just because I haven't read a fantasy book in a while but this book was exactly what I needed and im anticipating the events of the second one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Confinement, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Vomit, Alcohol, and Excrement

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, and Chronic illness

paigeinabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Grief, Excrement, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Xenophobia, Blood, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body shaming, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Ableism, Body horror, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Chronic illness, and Infidelity

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

 Oh boy, so many things to say here. First of all, this was the first series in over 10 years that I DNF'd (never got past the first book). The writing is mediocre at best, the descriptions are trite and cliche, and it reads like fanfiction written by a middle-schooler. The main character, Feyre, is whiny, unlikable, and overall bland and annoying, she reads like a textbook self-insert mary sue who is the best at everything, except being girly because she's "not like other girls". The plot makes no real sense, and the story takes forever to move forward, usually with more focus on the smutty romance bits than the actual storyline. This story has just taken Katniss from the Hunger Games, poorly reskinned her, and dumped her in a wannabe dark and raunchy beauty and the beast ripoff. I could maybe see how it could be enjoyable for a horned up middle schooler/ early high schooler, but this book is not for anyone who wants actual substance to their stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Death, Body shaming, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Stalking, Alcohol, Abandonment, Ableism, Misogyny, Cursing, Blood, and Classism

icy_queen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Sexual content, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, and Death of parent

mandaraffe's review against another edition

emotional slow-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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, War, Classism, and Sexual content

Minor: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

heidishartrandnewell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

For an avid reader, the tropes that seem evident in this first book do not continue throughout the series. This book gave me tons of Twilight vibes which made me very uncomfortable, but that dynamic changes as the series continues! Keep reading!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Classism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Slavery, Death, Confinement, Blood, Ableism, Abandonment, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse