Reviews with content warning for Sexism - A Court of Thorns and Roses (Parts 1 & 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

A Court of Thorns and Roses (Parts 1 & 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Sarah J. Maas

69 reviews

kfrogpath's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Super easy to read and enjoyable but lots of dumb decisions from the main female character, almost ignoring advice for the sake of being contrary in some cases. The relationships developed very quickly too, though that could just be my demisexual viewpoint! I just didn't really fully believe in it, especially to the level of the things they endured for each other.

I do get why it's popular though, it delivers the action and sexual tension people look for in YA novels, but it definitely didn't feel wholesome.

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sageypants's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Spoiler review below:

I struggle to be genuinely mean to this book because at the end of the day I was turning pages, I was laughing, I was groaning, and I finished it without too much struggle, but I have…. Issues lol.

First I’ll start with the nice. The world building was actually decently interesting to me. I liked the variety of creepy faeries that Feyre encountered. I appreciated how, despite her weakness and vulnerability as a human she found ways particularly early on in the book to not only survive certain encounters but to get the upper hand in them (will return to this later though because that was not always the case….). I appreciated Nesta’s development later in the story although it seemed a little too much like the book wanted me to forgive how nasty she’d been before too quickly. I thought the pacing of the scenes was enjoyable for an easy read, it never lingered too long on something that bored me or cringed me out. The story also did a decent job of building dread for the first half.

But. This book was verrrrry tropey and predictable. At times it seemed like it was using its darkness and its goriness as a shield against its simplicity instead of trying to be more creative. I can understand that for a first book in a series with (at least?) five others, this one may not have the strongest writing or the most compelling plot, but there were some things I felt were rather unforgivable.

Firstly, the book wastes all of its built up dread on a villainess that inspires exactly zero emotion in me. She comes off as a bratty wannabe evil person. She gushes about how much she loves torturing and killing people but it’s all just /explained/ to me. “Perhaps my darling Clare had to die in order for me to have some true amusement with you.” And lines of this variety were so shallow. Hee hee look at me and how much I love torturing WHEEEEE!!! She was nothing but this distant figure that was visited for scenes where Feyre had to do something. Amarantha never had a moment alone with Feyre to really be nasty, maybe because Maas was just avoiding having to write Feyre out of situations her human body clearly wouldn’t have been able to handle, which leads me to my next gripe.

Early in the book, although it’s made clear how out of her depth she is, Feyre is able to survive and in some ways dominate parts of the faerie world. It didn’t seem Mary Sue to me at all that she caught the Suriel or that she was able to take out a few of those faeries because based on her history she /is/ a very skilled hunter and she shows it. But later on in the book she is constantly being bailed out by other characters which I’m less inclined to forgive the more and more and more it happens. Whether it was Tamlin saving her or Alis just explaining everything to her instead of her figuring out what happened on her own or the Attor leading her straight to the throne room she was never going to find or Lucien and Rhysand both healing her or Lucien’s mom helping with the water bucket. These are all things which I understand functionally serve to show she can’t do this all on her own and her actions and tenacity which caught the attention of allies are the reason she’s made it so far, but this was all for me at the cost of a lot of her agency and it didn’t start when she was a captive under the mountain. I felt as though this character was supposed to be having glorious breakthroughs but they always fell flat because she never really made them on her own. The worm fight was the only saving grace at the end.

The end… like. What was that. I knew the answer to the riddle the second it was said… she did ALL of that for nothing. I mean come on it was on theme for the entire book 😭 the existence of the riddle at all just saps so much out of the gravity of the stakes. I’m supposed to feel terrible that she’s going through all this torture when I literally have the answer to the riddle that would end it all in my head? Just get rid of the riddle entirely!! This is also what makes Amarantha such a lame villain in my eyes, why would she risk SO much on such a simple question? It seems out of character from what I’m /told/ (again, not shown) about her. She even gives Feyre the answer? A cop out defense would be that she assumes all humans are stupid beasts who don’t know anything, but again. To risk SO much on that knowing just how many of the people in that room would want to rip her to shreds? Unbelievable. I would be more willing to believe in these fallible traits of hers if we spent any modicum of time alone with her to reveal herself beyond the mask she puts on in her throne room and even just to have Feyre interact with another goddamn woman alone for more than one page.

There are more things I could mention but it’s almost 3am and I’ve expelled most of my thoughts.

All in all, not terrible. The dialogue was a bit clunky (god they say WHORE a lot) and literally everything was predictable, but sometimes there’s something about a simple and predictable book that scratches a kind of “ha I knew it” itch. So not the worst thing in the world. Sometimes you want the predictable thing to happen and can’t imagine it being anything else without being terrible, but that would have been an excellent time to subvert my low expectations and deliver something truly great. I wonder how the next book in the series will fare.

Edit: there wasn’t a good place for me to add this but I had to mention

It also just isn’t a good premise curse-wise. If you have to explain everything about the curse to me in 3 straight pages of non stop explanatory dialogues from a character who, by the very bounds of the curse, shouldn’t even be able to say anything about it, then maybe it’s not a good curse, or maybe you just needed to think of a more creative way to deliver the truth because man… even from the start it was just so bizarre which doesn’t have to mean bad of course, but I want the explanation to be way more satisfying than hurriedly explained so the plot can move forward to the next thing.

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mrshays's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

A Court of Thorn and Roses is one of those books on the "how have you not read this yet" list that everyone seems to judge readers by. It was far better than I was expecting, based on my last few experiences reading total duds, recommended by BookTok. It's not a romance novel by any means, and it's not a Beauty and the Beast adaptation, not really. The elements are there, but there is way more than the Belle et Bete story. I enjoyed it, and I like that it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I'll probably read the next book in the series.

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taliatalksbooks'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? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Re-entering my Sarah J. Maas era with A Court of Thorns and Roses. It took me SO long to start this series because I just KNEW I was going LOVE it and Maas did not disappoint. I’m completely obsessed with the characters and their dynamics. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this being a bit of a beauty and the beast retelling, but I actually think that framework helped focus the reader on the differences, since we had a good understanding of where the plot was going (at least in part). This allowed the reader to take in the aspects of Prythian, and comfortably place themselves into this new world of the fae. I really loved the pacing of this book and thought the development felt natural. I definitely got some other classic literature references/inspirations outside of beauty and the beast as well—which I was really excited about. Overall, if you’re a fan of Fantasy, Romance, and mild spice, this book is definitely for you. I know I cannot WAIT to see where the rest of the series takes us.

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pjbu's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.5

Loved this book. Intro to fantasy. VERY violent. I’d prefer less violence and no more torture please.

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strubbries's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

i only give it a 5 because this is the book that got me to dive head-first back into books and this whole series had a chokehold on me for a very long time.
other than that, this book is a fae beaty and the beast with the variation at the second half of the book. not a bad book, if you want an intro to fantasy i do indeed recommend this book as well as the series (ACOMAF is my fav in the series)

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