Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

30 reviews

ladypalutena's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

I tried to read this book a few years ago, and got maybe 3 chapters in before I gave up. And now I'm not too sure why I gave up on it then - maybe I wasn't in the mood for the type of story it was going to tell. 

Is this book ground-breaking? No. A teen who, by all rights, should never have gotten to where they are in life is the "chosen one" picked up by a plucky crown prince and made to fight a ton of grown men to win the right to become an official assassin. 

To which I say,

obviously the king has issues, and most likely he wasn't even looking for an assassin to begin with, and I'm not too sure if this whole thing wasn't just a plot to pull our main character, Celaena, back into the open.

The biggest issue I found is that I never felt afraid for Celaena at any point. She is proven over and over again, in every situation, that she is better than everyone else. She's not only beautiful, but she's deadlier than everyone, and oh by the way, did you know she's only 18?

It is also so painfully obvious where this book is going to go. There's a weak attempt at misdirection with Celaena believing that one specific person is the champion-murderer, which made me roll my eyes. Maas all but crams it down your throat early on, and then dances around the lumpy blanket on the ground just to whip off the cover late in the book and go "Surprise!" But by then, it's not a surprise and the real villain has been super obvious for way too long. 

The world is interesting, and while our MC Celaena can be thorny at times, she's an assassin and this is the only way she knows she can't be hurt. 

So far, so good. I'm interested in where this is going to lead, and even more interested in how I'm going to juggle my Libby holds for this series when every one of them has a vastly different wait time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and War

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

longlostlillian's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cassiecollins's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.5

So, this isn't bad by any means, but I don't think it stands strong on its own. I can definitely see it as a good world-building/character development base for the rest of the series (hopefully), but alone it's pretty meh. I did really like Celaena as a character—she was by far the strongest part of the book. Everything else (the love-triangle, arbitrary "competition", pick-me-girl overtures, etc.) got a bit grating. I had to keep reminding myself that there was potential here. Like I said, there is definitely enough that I have hope the rest of the series can improve and build upon, but this first book is fairly weak on its own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence

aubrieanne's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Genocide and Blood

infjkiki's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape

carlyjoann's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Slavery, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

rae1ear's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Sexism, and Vomit

cameronmh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Great story, classic Sarah J Maas combination of court intrigue, romance, magic, and combat. Almost gave it 4.5 but then subtracted a quarter star because of all of the anti-corset bits that really rubbed me the wrong way. I listened to a solid 3 hours of the audiobook while wearing a corset, and I can tell you for dang sure my ribs were not being crushed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

There is poison! Both a theoretical poisoning (a controlled environment, but still theoretically very dangerous) and a second scene with a purposeful poisoning with an agent that can cause death. There are also hallucinations (which end up to be technically real) caused by the poisoning.

heathersinkwell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

This book was super enjoyable. It was mysterious and had excellent character development. I read this as the first book of SEVEN. I'm not expecting it to move quickly or be wildly engaging right off the bat. I'm expecting it to lay the foundation. 

Also, keep in mind this is a YA book, not an adult fantasy book. It's comparable to GoT but it's not GoT (which is adult fantasy). There is a decent amount of telling, not showing. Again, I expect that in a YA book. 

People complain about Celaena being whiney or "not assassin-like."

She acts like a CLASSIC 18-19-year-old girl. She didn't WANT to be an assassin. She STILL doesn't want to be an assassin. She had no choice and then was surprised with her training bill. She explicitly states this - she wanted to be a healer, but then her family was slaughtered and Arobynn found her frozen in a river. She wants legit freedom and being the best assassin was her only way out. Of course, she's going to act like a normal 18-19-year-old and choose to behave like an atypical assassin. She never wanted it in the first place and still doesn't want it.

So, despite the hype, I tempered my expectations and enjoyed the book for what it is. I'm excited to read the rest of the series!

Tropes:
-enemies to lovers
-love triangle
-chosen one
-banned magic 
-good vs evil
-reluctant hero
-orphan hero

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

aklovekorn's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail