Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - A Court of Silver Flames

Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

53 reviews

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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shewh0was's review

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slow-paced

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

2.5

Overall, I have a few issues with the book. The fact that Cassian loves Nesta is what makes him tell her she needs to apologise for her actions feels… wrong. Loving someone shouldn’t be the reason you tell them they’re being an ass. Caring for them, yeah, but if you even consider someone a friend, why would you have any reason to wait until you realise you love them romantically to tell them “by the way, you’re kind of a shitty person.” Loving someone too much shouldn’t be an excuse for hesitating to tell them when they’ve messed up. It can be a reason, but never an excuse.

The sudden shift to third-person in the last book of the series threw me for a loop, but everything being about Nesta also feels… off. As a stand-alone book that could be disconnected from the series, I feel like it would have done well, since this feels like a lot of extra filler plot that doesn’t really move on the story of ACOTAR, ACOMF, and ACOWR, & ACOFS.

I also have a small issue with the complete LACK of communication 95% of the time between love interests. Instead of sitting down and talking like adults, they resort to fighting and then… doing the dirty tango. That’s… not communicating. That’s just pushing away a problem. Half of the issue with the plot would easily be solved if the characters simply TALKED TO EACH OTHER. The fae’s political issues also highlight this. GUYS. SIT DOWN AND TALK INSTEAD OF POINTING FINGERS. HOW HAS YOUR EMPIRE LASTED SO LONG WHEN ALL YOU DO IS POINT A FINGER AT A DIFFERENT COURT AND SAY “this is your fault.” THAT SOLVES NOTHING AT ALL.

Spoiler

Discussing Nesta’s issues is essential, yes, and the crew’s response to her problems may not have been the best choice, but it was better than nothing (if a bit of a shitty response to how to deal with alcoholism and complex mental health issues that could stem from a poor situation or lack of information and research on SJM’s part). Towards the end of the book, it felt rushed, and the whole segment with Feyre giving birth to Nyx felt incredibly out of place. The whole pregnancy felt out of place and rushed, especially when Feyre said herself a few books back that she wanted to wait to have kids, but I guess that didn't matter when she stopped fighting a war. Feyre being pushed down to becoming what’s essentially a housewife feels so out of place with her entire arc and that really irks me.

I’m also going to say that it’s a bit weird to dedicate a book that’s mostly awful smut scenes to your husband and 2-year old son.

Maybe I’m being overly critical of the books as a whole, but ACOTAR as a series is absolutely not a read again in a month series for me. It’ll be a read-it-once-a-year kind of series. It didn’t hit in the same way that other books I’ve read have and doesn’t necessarily have the specific spark of a book that is really, really good.

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always_lion's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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banscout's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

if there is one thing that sjm can do incredibly well, it is writing mental health, it is writing the worst lows that have no apparent end and how those lows do not have to be constant. how suffering does not have to be experienced alone. that all of it begins when you come to that grave realisation that something is terribly wrong, and that there is a life we are all worthy of experiencing. that there is hope, and that hope will guide us, through whatever it is that we battle. no battles are fruitless, and nesta is the embodiment of that. whilst trauma will lay upon us open wounds, those open wounds will one day scar. and those scars that may never fade with age will only be just that - scars. this book is a symphony for those who one day thought they'd never make it. but you did. there will always be another tomorrow. the sun will always rise again. so breathe.

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sp00ky_n3rd's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.5

I am SO conflicted on how to rate this book.
On one hand, Nesta is such an annoying character, and I disliked her for most of the book. On the other hand, Maas has written trauma, addiction, mental health, and the road to recovery SO WELL.
I was also so frustrated reading this because the story was drawing me in and kept getting interrupted by an unnecessary amount of really explicit sex scenes. Both the amount of them and how explicit they were was unnecessary. In some way, they were relevant to the story, but it was not balanced well with the story at all.
How badly balanced the book is had me so sure I was gonna rate it 3 stars max all the way through UNTIL the last couple of hundred pages. As it got to the end, Maas actually gave us the meat of the story and the tension and drama that made the rest of the series so good.

I tentatively say 3.5 stars, but it's a hard one to rate.

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dandelionsanddragons's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

review contains spoilers

I thought I’d enjoy this book more since it deals with PTSD (something I can relate to) and while I felt connected to Nesta and loved watching her development, the book made me uncomfortable or bored too often.

The training scenes were so dragged out and repetitive that I often skipped parts of them.

The dialogue in the sex scenes made me so uncomfortable it was so cringey and it only got better towards the end when it wasn’t just driven by lust.

the blood rite scene at the end was so dragged out I actually skimmed through. lot of the pages.

the ending made up for a lot of it so I still give this 3 stars

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