Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

80 reviews

evgeorge's review against another edition

I LOVED ACOMAF and really like ACOTAR. ACOWAR isn’t a shadow of the quality of those 2 books. Maas could take out 350 pages and have an engaging, interesting book. I couldn’t get through all the discussion, flirting, pining, fretting to enjoy anything but the first 100 pages. I won’t be reading book 4. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

ladyames20203's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.25

I loved the start where Feyre’s basically a wolf in sheep’s clothing at the spring court. I sped through that so fast because I really enjoyed it. I’m not a big fan of war though and found the rest of the book a struggle to get through. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Confinement

prunella's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.5

 Just bleck. I finished because I truly did want to know how the final battle ended...but that is the only reason this got 2 stars. Otherwise, this is a one star book.

I read book two, and liked it well enough to go right into book three. But - oye. I'm done with this series, maybe with SJM books in general. Why you might ask?

1. The writing is SO BAD. SJM needs a thesaurus or an editor, likely both.
I wish I knew how many times that someone's 'throat bobbed' or how many times a character made a 'vulgar gesture' at another.

2. NO likeable characters. I ended this book disliking basically everyone (the firebird queen seems cool... but she had like 2 lines, so). It's a sad day when you find yourself hoping for the demise of main characters. People (and fairies) die, can we just have a character die and deal with the loss? Apparently not.

3. The steamy scenes feel gratuitous and just more bleck. I don't want to read about people licking each others tears. gross.

4. What was happening here with gender? Why are we constantly using the word male to represent description? Which leads to a larger question, in a book that is SO excessively LONG, why is there no true character development? Also, the token bisexuality that's tossed into the story seems like a marketing ploy more than true character development.

5. Lastly, the whole concept of 'mates' in this series is inconsistent and tiresome. Can a female actually opt-out to a 'mating bond' which is always 'snapping into place' around them? The answer here is not clear. Yes? No? Is there free will in these relationships? Which plays into themes of co-dependency, and just more yuck.

Goodbye ACOTAR. I wanted to like you, lose myself in a fairy world.

Instead I could use a palate cleanser. Onto better books! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and War

Minor: Sexism

kmthorson2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abandonment, and Alcohol

littletiramisu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rosiem1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, and War

strange_abalone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

krosebooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.5

The ending of the book had a lot happening. My brain kinda hurts. But I also couldn’t put it down. Great book kinda long. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gpfot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, and Colonisation

Minor: Slavery