Reviews with content warning for Trafficking - Una corte de rosas y espinas

Just meh! This series is so hyped up. I have been hearing about it for years and years. I guess I was expecting too much, but for me, it was just on the side of not bad. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts I didn't much care for. I mostly read rom-coms, so let's just take these things through that lens.

1) It was remarkably violent. I've skimmed the reviews of others where they said they wish it was more gruesome and gory. Obviously these people must read some hardcore violent books, because to me, this almost put me over the edge of what I was able to tolerate. A couple descriptions that happeed while I was eating a snack made me literally spit out my food and stop eating because they grossed me out so badly.

2) It wasn't really original...clearly meant to be Beauty and the Beast like, I didn't get the chemistry from our mains at all. I have no real reason to believe that Tamlin and Feyre would have fallen for one another, let alone been "in love".

3) I do think she did a good job with some of the mystery of things. At least, I didn't guess where stuff was going on some of those major plot points.

4) The cruelty and different social conventions of the fairies was well written I feel like. It didn't feel like they were just slightly mean humans to me. I did gather that they had an entirely different set of morals governing them.

5) Let's just talk about the spice for a minute. I've seen people slam this book as basically just erotica or porn. Did I accidentally read an abridged version that only left out the "erotic" scenes? Again, I mostly read stuff in the romance realm and this book was as vanilla as it gets. I barely noticed that their were (2) sex scenes in it at all. In what world is this considered spicy? Is it appropriate for young adults, where I have heard it has been shelved? No, absolutely not. But to call it erotica would indicate to me that you are incredibly prudish in your view of literature.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to continue on with the series. But it never ceases to amaze me which mediocre books become rock stars while absolute fantastic pieces go by unnoticed.

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scotia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

...I liked this more than I want to admit

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ethandouglasshogue's review against another edition

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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

0.5

I hated this

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orakuruno's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

I kinda like that bat man

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miagic_tome's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

I loved it! Immediately picked up the second one. enjoyed the hints at beauty and the beast. A few things is with the amount of characters I would’ve liked more diversity in appearance, and it seemed like a big world to tackle and I want to explore it more. A pet peeve was using “male” and “female” to describe everyone but that’s a personal preference

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redheadsuperpowers's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

I had been avoiding this book because all the hype it was getting. I was like, Twilight got this much attention and wasn't great, so i was being stubborn.

I was wrong. This book was a retelling of the myth of Tamlin, with a bit of Beauty and the Beast for flavor. It is amazingly well written, compelling, and entertaining. If you liked Holly Black's Far books, you will like this one. I started this book at midnight last night, fell asleep while reading it, and jumped right back in on waking.

Feyre is a strong female lead, who is disinclined to taking anyone's crap due to being the only thing seemingly keeping her family from starving in the years before the story starts. She is dealing with realistic dangers for her environment, and the care she has for her family shines through. Tamlin is a pretty male lead, but I did find the other male characters a bit more interesting. Tamlin is dealing with his own problems mostly, and the need for secrecy does drag on the plot a bit. The only real downside I saw, was the leads falling in love felt rushed. She did a lot of character and world building in the beginning, stuffed them falling in love in the middle, and that made the driving force behind Feyre's decisions seem a bit hollow. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series though.

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tierneymichele's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

This book- and entire series, are the best of every fantasy/romance series without the worst of it. The world-building is astoundingly detailed, without boring the reader with too much. I've found my new favorite series.

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lillythebluepaladin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I am honestly disappointed.
ALSO I WAS TOLD THIS WAS A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL, but the sex and the violence and the toxic relationships (platonic and romantic and sexual) really beg to differ.
I really wanted to like this book, with its beautiful cover and chapter page art, but I was just annoyed in all of the characters throughout the entire thing (I did really like Lucien tho).
The villain was a bit too much of a classical Disney villain. “HAHA I HAD YOU FOOLED ALL ALONG YOU PITIFUL HUMAN”, she says while twirling her evil moustache.

I really like how some of the violence was written, and believe that the universe and the book itself would have worked a lot better if it didn’t go all in on the “romance”, I am so sorry but are the straights okay??? and went from a Beauty And The Best retelling to a tale of a woman fighting for her life against an evil far overlord.

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