Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

231 reviews

avornell's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The first half of the book was harder for me to get through. The main character seemed to be very stereotypical and somewhat annoying with her stubbornness and attitude. The books pace picked up and introduced lots of twists by the middle making it much harder to put down. I was not fully prepared for the spicy parts and some of them felt awkward to read and a bit forced. I enjoy romance, but it felt like there was less “romance” and more like everyone was just lusting after each other (to put it lightly haha).
All that said, I enjoyed the overall plot and did purchase the next book in the series because I hear it gets better as it goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, Violence, Grief, Gore, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.5

I am now a very firm and ardent lover of the Maasverse! I can’t believe I’ve had this book for 9 years and just now read it! I loved every bit of it and cannot wait to continue with these characters and fall even more in love with this world! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Slavery, Vomit, Animal death, Classism, Gore, Violence, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

nix_87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Torture, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Bullying, and War

Minor: Torture, Death, and Blood

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Alcohol, Death, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Torture, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity

miwandie's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

Feyre is a little bit of a pick me but we love her for that. Lucien is my little angel and I would kill for him, the rat bastard. 

Some of the word choices and descriptions were a bit immature and YA, but not too distracting that it ruined the read. Just a lil cringe at times. The world and creature building was fantastic. 

I recommended to my boyfriend who is much more well-versed in fantasy stories, which says a lot in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Cursing, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Violence

gpfot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Bullying, Sexual content, Death, Gore, Murder, Blood, Grief, Confinement, Slavery, and War

druzyquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Confinement, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Blood, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

ekcd_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

2.0

This is a very mixed review - I started it as a hate read, so I could properly roast it. But I wound up devouring the book, really. It is essentially beauty and the beast meets twilight, with a double scoop of toxic relationships on top. 

The MC is incredibly bland and at first none of the plot or relationships made any sense. I had a LOT of eye rolling and it wasn't until the end that I realized that MC is bland for a REASON. Having  a blank canvas character allows the reader to project themselves into the story more easily...which is probably why people like it so much. Yearning, romance, sex - its all much more fun when you can imagine your self as the recipient. 

And for that the book did its job. Its a wonderful YA y/n self insert self indulgent book. The spice level is pretty low - the 1.5 scenes were short, laced with metaphors and not particularly racy. But I come from the land AO3. 

The plot was kind of weird, especially the last third with the trials. It seems the second and third books are better BUT i will not be reading them because there are more compelling love stories with muh better sex, slow burn and enemies to lovers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Slavery, Terminal illness, Vomit, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Body horror, Blood, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Chronic illness

bookshelf20's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

I felt like this book was well done. I had been told about this book a lot over BookTok, and finally picked it up to read it. I felt the pacing of the book was pretty good, I really liked when things picked up towards the end with the events and trials that Fayre had to go through. I liked the character development of Fayre, how she went through a lot of emotions and trials to prove herself and change her approach to things and different situations. I liked her curiosity to the world around her.  I liked the push and pull of the relationship. I liked that Fayre had to depend on others to help her through different events in the book. I'm all for female empowerment and strength, but it was nice to see that even though Fayre was strong, quick witted, and clever, she was also able to get some help from fellow male characters throughout the book. It created a nice symmetry that allowed for a push and pull. 

I really liked that the first book sets up the assistance between Rhys and Fayre. She saves him from the curse, he saves her life bringing her back from the dead, heals her arm, helps her through the trials when she can't read. I really liked that they depended on each other.

Another thing I'll mention is that I knew a lot about the series and the plot development and the characters before I read this book, so the whole time Tamlin did anything 'nice' or 'sweet' or 'romantic' etc. I couldn't help but gag and get frustrated. Mostly because I knew how he'd be later on and that Rhys was her true mate. So I wish I could've enjoyed this book a little more honestly, without that knowledge, oh well.

I will say that I had a lot of people recommend this series, stating that the smut in it was great and it would be "a nice spice to your marriage" but as I read through it, I felt that yeah, I guess the spice was nice...but it wasn't fantastic. I've read spicier books that were more exciting. So I'm definitely reading this book for the romance/plot, not the smut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death

maxthedinosaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Blood, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexual content, Confinement, Slavery, Colonisation, and Vomit