Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

23 reviews

cameronmh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Great story, classic Sarah J Maas combination of court intrigue, romance, magic, and combat. Almost gave it 4.5 but then subtracted a quarter star because of all of the anti-corset bits that really rubbed me the wrong way. I listened to a solid 3 hours of the audiobook while wearing a corset, and I can tell you for dang sure my ribs were not being crushed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Torture, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Violence, War, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Cursing, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, and Drug abuse

There is poison! Both a theoretical poisoning (a controlled environment, but still theoretically very dangerous) and a second scene with a purposeful poisoning with an agent that can cause death. There are also hallucinations (which end up to be technically real) caused by the poisoning.

heathersinkwell's review against another edition

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

4.25

This book was super enjoyable. It was mysterious and had excellent character development. I read this as the first book of SEVEN. I'm not expecting it to move quickly or be wildly engaging right off the bat. I'm expecting it to lay the foundation. 

Also, keep in mind this is a YA book, not an adult fantasy book. It's comparable to GoT but it's not GoT (which is adult fantasy). There is a decent amount of telling, not showing. Again, I expect that in a YA book. 

People complain about Celaena being whiney or "not assassin-like."

She acts like a CLASSIC 18-19-year-old girl. She didn't WANT to be an assassin. She STILL doesn't want to be an assassin. She had no choice and then was surprised with her training bill. She explicitly states this - she wanted to be a healer, but then her family was slaughtered and Arobynn found her frozen in a river. She wants legit freedom and being the best assassin was her only way out. Of course, she's going to act like a normal 18-19-year-old and choose to behave like an atypical assassin. She never wanted it in the first place and still doesn't want it.

So, despite the hype, I tempered my expectations and enjoyed the book for what it is. I'm excited to read the rest of the series!

Tropes:
-enemies to lovers
-love triangle
-chosen one
-banned magic 
-good vs evil
-reluctant hero
-orphan hero

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Grief, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual harassment

aklovekorn's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, and Misogyny

csmall73's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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

It’s human. It has the emotional turmoil and rough but accurate flows of processing traumas experienced. Losses of very personal relationships. Dimensions to each character that are not always evident in other writers work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Racism, War, Drug abuse, Vomit, Gore, Child abuse, and Violence

sdemo08's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted 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

Re-read. This is the series that got me back into reading for fun after college...little did I know what an avalanche it would become.

I devoured these first time I read them and I still enjoyed the strong female protagonist this time around. I can't wait to continue.

[Eye of Elena on "black currant" crocheted blanket.]

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Gore, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, War, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Grief, Medical content, and Slavery

chloe_silk1810's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Genocide, Murder, and Death

Moderate: War, Torture, Drug abuse, Vomit, and Drug use

nerdkitten's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Torture, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Physical abuse, Body horror, Drug use, Medical content, Slavery, and Addiction

Minor: Animal death, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Genocide, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

arys_library's review

adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

Great start to a hopefully amazing series!
Another Sarah J Maas book that was pretty good. I'll be honest, I am still waiting (very impatiently) for some more diversity to be added to her books. I feel uncomfortable buying so many books from her when the diversity is so low. Because of that, the rating of this book has gone from probably a 4.5 to a 4-star book.

Overall, I really liked this book. I loved the characters and their relationship, I feel like we got a great glimpse into what's to come, I felt so immersed almost instantly into the book. I read this pretty fast, it's definitely a gripping and intriguing book, and one that I'll most likely recommend soon!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Vomit, Murder, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Confinement, Violence, and Slavery

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Gore

paulaks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.5

First read (2022), original review:
This was my first book by SJM and I quite enjoyed it! The world building was stunning and the plotlines interesting. My only problem are the characters: Celaena, Dorian and his father were just flat and annoyed me quickly. I had no big problem with everyone else but these three got on my nerves. Excluding them, I had fun reading and started to ignore these flaws. Because of that I will be giving the second book a read too! 4 stars.
Second read (2024):
Had to reread the first book before starting the second book. Definitely worth it because I underestimated the amount of plotlines this book had. I agree with most of my thoughts from 2 years ago. The plot is the strongest aspect, even though it felt really spontaneous and not planned. Great atmosphere. The characters weren´t as deep as I wanted them to be but this time Celaena wasn´t as annoying. It just suffered from telling and not showing a lot. Dorian and his father continued being unpleasant, and my "favorite" characters so far are Chaol and Nehemia, even Kaltain has potential.
Knowing that I had forgotten most of the plot tells me a lot about the book: It´s forgettable. However, it works as a fantasy setup and I´m excited to see what the next books have in store. 3.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

matt_1984's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Drug abuse