Reviews - A Court This Cruel and Lovely

4.01k reviews for:

A Court This Cruel and Lovely

Stacia Stark

3.97 AVERAGE

itsrachelman's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

emily_claire_'s review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional 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: No

Content Warnings

shelfaddictjules's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lostinmoonlitpages's review against another edition

3.0

This was okay, maybe a little bit disappointing if I'm being honest. I liked the premise of the story and I was intrigued about it, but I felt like the world building and setting could have been stronger. I was very confused at times, and even now, I'm not sure I completely understand how the world is organised or the plot of the story. Prisca and Lorian were not bad characters, but unfortunately I just didn't feel like there was any romantic development between them; instead, they were suddenly fooling around and I felt like that came out of nowhere, so I wasn't very emotionally invested in their relationship. Their relationship is meant to be passionate but I sadly felt none of it, and even found the spice to be a little bit cringy... Also, so many things that happened throughout the story should have had a big impact on Prisca, but instead she just kind of rolled with it without a second thought and was completely unbothered. I also felt like she learnt to use her powers way too fast and easily, and I just didn't find it satisfying, I didn't even have time to root for her because she managed to do everything immediately. This is a personal things as I prefer when there's more challenges that the main characters have to overcome, and it felt like there were not enough here.

My main issue with this book was that it was full of inconsistencies, plot holes, and pacing problems. From timeline issues (at one point, something that happened days before is referred to as happening "that morning", even though the chapter clearly starts by stating that a few days had passed), to logistic issues

Spoiler

Prisca has to stop time to get the keys from the guards and enter the dungeons, and that's the only way to get her and her brother inside... so how did her brother manage to go into the dungeons to heal Asinia and Demos and tell them that Prisca had been poisoned, if she was unconscious for days!? How did he get the keys to get inside??? This probably bothered me more than it should but it just doesn't make sense...

, to being predictable

Spoiler

OF COURSE she's the heir to the hybrid kingdom, how could she not be! and of course he's the fae prince, is anyone surprised??

, or things being mentioned once and never thought of again (are we not going to talk about the fact that Prisca dreamed of Lorian for years? Apparently not). I just ended up being annoyed every time something didn't make sense!

I listened to the audiobook and I think the narrators did a good job, and despite what I said above, I am still intrigued by where this story could go, so I might end up listening to book 2 to see if it gets better and some of the issues that I had with this book get solved. I'm rounding up to 3 stars here, although it's really a 2.5 stars for me.