Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

7 reviews

hannalizzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

A great first book to kick off a series, very engaging from the start. The love triangle had so much potential, but I feel like it wasn’t explored enough, though I suppose there’s still plenty of time in the series left to flesh it out. If someone only wants to read this book for the romance, they’d be disappointed, since not much happens aside from like two scenes with just a kiss. Overall, this book does a great job setting up a really dynamic and interesting plot web for the next few books to explore. I’m already starting the next one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Body horror, Gore, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cannibalism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Vomit

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Vomit, Sexism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Deportation, Genocide, Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

kenzaett's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Slavery, Abandonment, and Deportation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, War, and Gaslighting

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

I have to say that I was expecting something a little different from this read. It was really good but was not amazing.

This world created by Sarah J. Maas is very interesting, and the storyline is very appealing and makes us want to read more, but I was expecting something more. I don't know how to explain it better. Maybe the hype around this book made me thing that this book was something else. Somehow I feel that this book did not needed to be this big to tell this story. Maybe a shorter book would have been better for me, I found some parts quite boring.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and want to read the second one to discover what kind of adventures are awaiting for Celaena.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Colonisation, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, and Toxic friendship

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I was very intrigued to start this series. I have never been a huge fantasy lover, but I read all of the "A Court of Thorns and Roses" books last year, and I was curious about Sarah J. Maas's first series. I was also curious because I read "House of Sky and Breath" earlier this year and (spoiler) it reveals that all of Sarah J. Maas's universes are about to be connected when the third book comes out. With all of this in mind, I was excited to dive into this series, but I did not have high expectations because it is Sarah J. Maas's first book AND it was published ten years ago. 
This first book lays the foundation for an epic fantasy novel about a young assassin who is trying to gain her freedom through adverse circumstances. Celaena Sardothien is a powerful young woman who is visited by The Crown Prince who makes her the deal of a lifetime. She can leave her hard labor, slavery life behind and compete to become the King's champion. If she is successful and she works for a few years, she can then have her freedom. Celaena knows she has the skills to defeat anyone, so she accepts and is taken to the castle to start training and competing. However, she soon discovers this arrangement is much more than anyone of them could have bargained for. The competitors are slowly being murdered one by one, and there are no leads to figure out why. It is also clear that the King is rooting against Celaena. Can Celaena prevail and continue on her quest for freedom?
I thought this book was very approachable to read as a fantasy and very interesting. The magic system is not overly complicated but, it was still really enjoyable to read about. The "action" scenes are high-stakes and often times had me at the edge of my seat. My one qualm is that this has the cliche YA trope of an unnecessary love triangle. I am sure for the target audience, and if I had read this ten years ago when it came out, this love triangle would be really exciting to read about, but I was more focused on the competition than I was about Celaena and her gentleman callers.
Overall, I am excited to continue in this series soon! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, and Toxic friendship

tiredtori's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Confinement, Classism, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, and Vomit