Reviews tagging 'Violence'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

275 reviews

heyitsmealondra's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

i cannot be the only one who hates bryce & hunt. i love every single other character but the two that i feel i’m supposed to love and support i could do without. it’s not that i hate bryce’s story either, i just feel the romance is forced. 

ruhn & lidia are the saving grace in this book. when this series continues i would love to be apart of any other character’s story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and War

Moderate: Sexual content and Slavery

josxphinchen's review

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Torture, Excrement, Misogyny, Body horror, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, and War

jpoe_16's review

I spent so long reading all the other SJM books only for this one to have me baffled at every turn. SJM switched POV’s so often with a “soap opera” type cliffhanger at the end of each POV. When it comes to the characters, it felt like we needed 2-3 more books of building relationships with them to really care about them. Do not get me started on the joy-sucking and utterly moronic character that is Tharion. 
Maybe one day I will come back to this, but after the reveal of HOSAB, this was such a let down I couldn’t keep going for now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, War, and Body horror

novel_nibbles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy House of Flame and Shadow as much as I had anticipated. I think the main reason was I just couldn’t connect with MC Bryce is the same way I had in the previous books and I wasn’t really interested in her romance with Hunt. I was invested enough in the story to finish the book but I have to admit to listening to the audiobook at 1.5 (something I’ve never done before) to just get through it! 

Despite my disappointments SJM is still an auto buy author 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Cannibalism, Blood, Confinement, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Grief

Potential spoilers ahead… *I loved the romance between Rune & Lydia and could have read about them ALL DAY * I need a marriage of convenience book about Tharion and Sathia. She was such spunky character and I would have loved to know her better and while we’re at it I need a HEA for our girl Hypaxia. *I didn’t mind Ithans ARC but honestly if I have to hear him mention sun ball one more bloody time or the scent of a particular omega one.more.time * I liked how SJM touch upon the potential chaos follow the change in management and power vacuum. It’s definitely something I’ve seen neglected in other books

esageser19's review

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture

snickies's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.0

No book needs 102 chapters.
This book is a hot mess with too many characters, a slow dragging plot, and no consequences for the main characters. It makes me want to retroactively lower my ratings for her previous books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

melissat's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Woof. Okay, I've loved SJM for 10 years. But this book was a slog. 

Going from how much I loved Crescent City 1, and how I was starting to get annoyed with Bryce and Hunt in book 2, I thought 3 would have a lot of room for redemption. Instead it was almost 1000 pages of self-flagellation from the male characters, and gaslighting and narcissism from Bryce. Internal and external dialogues, infodumping (but not about anything interesting), and more of Bryce being incessantly full of attitude that really grated on my nerves by about halfway through.

I wish the editors had been allowed to do their jobs and cut so many unnecessary POVs and chapters. The characters all acted in toxic ways under the guise of "doing it for love". Meanwhile, what they were doing was just abuse and control. I essentially hate-read this til the end. 

I really hope that we get better character arcs and plot for the next ACOTAR book, otherwise I'll be so sad!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, and War

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Child abuse

Minor: Addiction

rhiannon_burden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

I enjoyed this book at the root of it but Bryce was absolutely insufferable for the most part, she spent half the book complaining about the fae being selfish and callous and then proceeded to do exactly the same. She is essentially a hypocrite and I have no idea how Hunt puts up with her considering how horrible she was to him throughout. But despite what appears to be the popular opinion I enjoyed Ithan and Tharions stories as they had intricacies that others were lacking. There are some clear set ups for the next book namely the return of Ariadne at the end but otherwise the story felt finished as most ends were tied up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Excrement, Genocide, War, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

lintonen's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder

lohannabux's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

I ll take 0.50 of for the cringe male/female talk. Otherwise I was super entertained.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Torture and War

Minor: Slavery