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

i can’t give a solid review because i listened to a podcast about acotar before reading it and i knew what to expect going in.

that is to say, i was kind of surprised by how much of a slow burn this was. and when i say slow burn, i mean slow. the last third of the book is where most of the action happens, but that’s to be expected in the first novel of a series. personally i think it does a good job setting up the world we’re in and the stakes and you try to figure out everyone’s motives along with feyre because we’re seeing things unfold through her.

everyone raves about the world building and prose in this book; i liked it but i wouldn’t say it’s exceptional, personally. i appreciated that i could conjure up this world in my head from the book’s intricate descriptions and that’s what i like about fantasy in general. acotar paints prythian beautifully and i will be reading more!

after the second book i think i’ll have more of a concrete idea of how i feel towards the series. i am looking forward to seeing the development of rhysand (at this point everyone knows the enemies to lovers plot being set up perfectly for the next installment) though i do question the circumstances of his connection to feyre. bargaining and trickery are not good foundations for a love story but hey, what do i know. anyway, tamlin’s there too i guess (he’s fine, i don’t hate him but i feel neutral about him as well lol)

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natroze's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

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markwillnevercry's review against another edition

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3.75

Now I can finally watch all of those videos I have been saving about ACOFAR. It took me some time (like ten minutes) to figure out the star rating and how I feel about this book, so here are some mangeled notes: It was okay. I did not particularly enjoyed specific things, but there are no things that I really disliked to still remember them after finishing the book and sitting down for a bit. I liked some characters, I was kinda interested in how the story would progress. I will probably continue with the series. But I did not feel all that happy after reading it. It was okay, but I will not be rereading it, not even thinking about buying a copy for myself. Still, I get the hype. And here are my reading notes:

Why is this set in the UK?

So much not like the other girls, I swear to god.

I bet whoever she will find, they will teach her to write/read.

It was provoked tho, as they would have died from hunger otherwise.

I am really getting tired of her just being “Fairies = bad” every three seconds.

Feyre is so weird for remarking on Lucien’s metal eye.

Tamlin be like: “Do whatever you want with your life.”
But he also be like: *puts invisible bonds*

Feyre should have been fine with being killed, if her only reason to go with him was to kill him and get back. Now, that she is being told in the way that she can believe that her family is being cared for, it is weird of her to keep saying, that Tamlin is “holding [her] family’s well-being against her if she stepped out of line” since her stepping out of line would mean killing her and going against the treaty.

That was such a long description of her face. Bro, I know you write for teenagers, but come on.

I bet the painting was by Tamlin.

Girly, you have just been ready to kill him and now it is all “sheer male beauty”.

Grace? In his breathing?

Yo, they are stuck in masks? That is actually interesting.

Oh no, how could those “terrible beasts” be upset about her loss, when it is clear that she is still hurting. And there is no “I did not miss her in years”, since she is always going back to the promise and has only been able to not be very upset about it, because she needed to survive.

Me when a person is kinda forced to live with me until I die, so they try to be nice to me and figure out how to spend time with me. But no, that could not possibly be it, Lucien just wants her to get eaten by a bear.

It is honestly kind of annoying seeing her dismiss people and assume that everyone is worse than her, or at least more stupid.

Feyre expects to be killed simply for living and talking.

This is “Beauty and the Beast” all over again with her dad. That is such a trap tho, I have no clue how she pretends that everyone is so smart, when she acts like this.

Now I get why this book is this long, since it took her a couple of chapters to understand what he said, even tho he cannot lie.

This girly be like “treaty is not fair, i did not agree to be bound by it” and then be like “oh, poor fae (who i hated so much two seconds ago), they are forced into such anger by their immortality”.

I bet Tamlin will teach her to read and write when he learns about her not being able to.

I do not quite get how she finally understood that there is nothing she can do and her life is therefore meaningless, yet she still is making a plan to escape.

Yo, it’s the Sailor Moon transformation with light.

Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying.

Girly, you do not know how powerful Bogge actually is. Maybe it is like a frog.

Lucien is so nice, but I bet Feyre will still hate him for no reason.

He did not say “if” you need to escape, he said “when you free Suriel, you will need to escape”.

I thought we established that Tamlin is a High Lord long ago?

“His human woman” is because you are in his court. The same as Lucien is his, you stupid.

“ignoring how easily I could see the cut of his muscles beneath his white shirt”, cause he is so so so sexy seconds after you almost died.

Why is she now deciding how Lucien should be punished? He probably did not know a better way to trap a Suriel and was trying to help the best he could.

Why is Tamlin suddenly talking about handing out punishments to Feyre?

I see we left plot and now they are just horny.

Bonfire night. Why is Feyre so stupid? Why did she not go back to the house when the black haired high fey left?

Bruh. Chapter 21. I see we left the plot entirely and we got out "fae sex ritual, because fantasy". (to cut out the rant, this is why I abandoned Sabrina's adventures)

??????????? Bro, rape. Flashing red lights rape. There is no "if she doesn't listen, I don't have to deal with what happens". Rape. Stop it.

Why is she now wearing dresses? Is this the arc where she loses her personality, because it's time for the steamy scenes?

Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying. x2

Would she just get extremely overwhelmed from enhancing her feelings?

So first she says that there are no celebrations, but now that they celebrate the summer solstice?

I swear to god, the sex scenes are written so bad. “He sheathed into me”? Girly, chill.

This all is just set in Britain. Elaine is talking about tulips in the Netherlands.

Ah yes, a very good idea to go back to the village to give people money. Good thing there are barely any consequences about people suddenly becoming rich in this book.

Oh my god, look, now she is talking about humans like she once did about fae about how weird they look, that is so crazy.

First of all, Feyre, you are stupid, you do not know if this is not a trap. Second of all, tough love is not love, it is abuse. Third of all, you are not supposed to tell to protect yourself, so Amarantha cannot reach into the mind of your sister and figure out from her where you are and use you to hurt Tamlin.

THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. See, Feyre, you told them a different name and they attacked it. They will figure it out.

As a possibility, she should have considered that Tamlin had put glamour over it, so when she returned, she would be disappointed and would just turn back to her family.

So all of this was fixed by Tamlin. I bet this is just the conflict in the 75% mark and then she will go back to him. Or maybe in a different book. Also, they just changed from telling that she needed to get married to him, to just telling him that she loves him.

I also just noticed that the terrible place where the people got killed and everything is bad - yeah, that’s Ireland.

Tamlin sent so many of his people over the wall to get rid of the curse, maybe he is just not great. Sure, it is all for a greater goal, but it is not fair to people who trust him.

Okay, I was kinda wrong, Feyre does not hate him, because he gave up on wooing her and that makes it all okay.

Don’t worry Feyre, you keep falling for traps.

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smkelly1997's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

Stunningly beautiful. Amazingly vibrant. I had seen this book everywhere but was always concerned it didn’t live up to the hype. Well…it did and more. Cannot wait to start the next one.

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dont_look_now's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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jawscelyn's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I'm really not sure what to make of this book. Many people recommended it to me, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. I'm not sure if it's because I was expecting too much, or what.

I think my main issues are that the MC seems to be smart when it matters but also surprisingly short-sighted with things that don't make much sense. It's to move the plot around. She's very inconsistent, and many of the other characters are very one-dimensional. There's a Big Bad that I think was "relatable" enough (The MC seems to think so as well, explicitly), but we actually never get a one-on-one scene with the two, and I think that's a big miss from the book.

There's a trope of "I love the good guy, and I am falling for the bad guy", and it's easily seen from 10 miles away. I don't think it needs to be a surprise, but I didn't think it was very well done.

I think someone that is graduating from YA books would love this. It seems like the 2000s/2010s vibe, like when everyone was going crazy for werewolves and the like.

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pageafter_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

This was a reread :)

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