Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Una corte de rosas y espinas by Sarah J. Maas

9 reviews

sandramarinis's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I truly didn't want to like this book, but I did. In fact, I was never bored. I was entertained, especially towards the end where it truly felt like I was watching a movie. 

I was judgemental because it was recommended on booktok and also because I find magical creatures titled "High Fae" a bit tacky. But I managed to look past that, so that's something. 

Positives:
The detail! The world building! I managed to imagine how everything/everyone looks. Things that happened early in the book will suddenly be mentioned in chapters waaay later, and still be relevant to the story. Being able to bring everything together like that shows true talent. 

Negatives:
There were certainly things I didn't like, but I almost don't care. For instance it wasn't necessarily logical how fast Feyre got over deeply traumatic things. Everything she lived through would've given her severe PTSD, and yet she seems to get over it in three pages every time something bad happens. I don't believe for a minute that

a woman would ever fall in love with someone who basically held them hostage and stole them away from their family, ESPECIALLY AFTER SHE FINDS OUT THAT HE HAS KILLED SO MANY WOMEN BEFORE HER TRYING TO SAVE HIS OWN ASS, LIKE WTF?! I can't tell you a single fact about who Tamlin is, what he likes and dislikes and stuff. He seems mediocre to me, but oh well. I was still entertained. Idk about you but that's not love, that's called delusion and desperation I hope Tamlin gets more interesting or that Feyre gets a new and more charming love interest

. Another thing that bothered me was that

SHE KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE, WAS INVOLUNTARY GIVEN ETERNAL LIFE, and she forgot about that the moment sex with Tamlin was an option? Girl! Same thing after the confinement and torture at the party, like ... I don't believe that's realistic, but I guess people cope in different ways!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, and Dementia

Minor: Gaslighting

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Terminal illness, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

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

mangofraiche's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark lighthearted mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kotashomelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content and War

Minor: Terminal illness

jcrawford31's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement and Sexual content

egurgens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve owned the whole series for over a year now, but I never read them until now I’ve heard such good things about it on BookTok, maybe I was just afraid to be disappointed. I was not. 

I’ve heard a few things about the characters, so I was surprised that I disliked Rhys up until the last few chapters, and I greatly enjoyed Tamlin. There is a slight ‘Beauty and the Beast’ aspect, in the hidden curse, but this is so much darker and sexier than that story could ever be. Torture, death, loss, challenges, sacrifices, this book has it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

want2readmore's review against another edition

adventurous relaxing 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: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

keresian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-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

3.75

A few things kept me away from this book at first - I thought it was YA (I was wrong), I thought it wouldn't up my alley (I was very wrong) and I thought it was... too popular, and was worried I wouldn't like it (I was very, very wrong).

This review contains spoilers from here-on out - you've been warned!

I have to admit, I flip-flopped on Feyre a bit throughout the book. One second she's this cool, calculated hunter, then she's an irrational mess, then she's facing what can only be described as stockholm syndrome (at least until they actually talked). She switches between loving and hating the world around her, leaves, forgets everything she's been told fairly often, then remembers herself and comes back. In saying that, when she was good, she was great - her quick wit and kind heart drew me in, and despite everything above, I truly wanted her to win.

The story took a hot minute to get into - it started slow, and really made me hate Feyre's family, if I'm honest. She may love them still (deep down) but I certainly don't. There was a bit of waffling in the middle, and the time-skips are a bit hard to follow, but when things start to come to a head, it really knuckles down. Everything after

Feyre decided to return to Prythian

moved quickly, but not at the expense of the storytelling - I wolfed it down, constantly thinking ahead to what might be next. Maas' plot beats are good, and once they get going they are incredibly enticing.

Rhysand was an unexpected and delightful twist - he's the complex sort of character that I'd been expecting, and I am very fond of him, even if

he is an ass for most of the time he's on-page. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the incoming love triangle I can feel sitting in the wings, but I have hope that it'll work itself out to great amusement/drama

. I love Lucien and, to a lesser extent, Tamlin, but I'm always more fond of minor characters so that's nothing against Tam!

I will note that I'd been told of faerie porn and I have to admit that this didn't particularly live up to that - though as an erotica writer myself my perception of "faerie porn" is probably not in tune with others.

I'm curious to see how the rest of this series plays out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

A bit stockholm-syndrome-y