Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - A Court of Silver Flames

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

47 reviews

farmpaws's review

2.0

Like all SJ Maas books in this series, it would be enormously improved by getting rid of the over complicated plot, branding it erotica, and really having fun with the court intrigue/politics. The author spreads herself too thin trying to cover sex/rivalry/plot and ends up with a product that is just too confusing to understand. I don’t remember anything that happened in this book apart from the rampant gender essentialism and coercion control dressed up as a clash of personalities in one case, and a ‘protective’ lover in another case. Her writing is fine and the characters are at least a bit interesting, but I find that once they become the main love interest they all become the same. Unfortunate, because I originally thought Cassian was the most interesting of all the characters.

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headinthepages's review against another edition

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V enjoyable reread via audio!!

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feyreofthestars's review

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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? Yes

0.25

I don't even know where to begin. Fuck this book. I have never, in all my years of reading, been so genuinely disappointed and frustrated with a book the way I was with this one. I fell in love with the ACOTAR series last year, and I've been having so much fun with it, but this book and the way it was written just left such a bad taste in my mouth. Everything I love about ACOTAR and it's characters were completely destroyed by a weak plot with an insufferable fmc that had shitty redemption and development. I admit, I already didn't like Nesta before, but I was actually had high hopes for her story and wanted to see why she was the way she was, and how she was going to fix her relationship with her sisters, especially Feyre, whom she's been awful to practically theri whole lives.

And yet, there was none of that. What I got was an absolute pornfest with cringy YA girlboss scenes and dialogues. Nesta and Cassian practically lost all the depth and chemistry they had in the previous books where they weren't even the main couple, mind you, and Nesta was given two strangers that became her replacement sisters, and allowed her to shove aside her issues with her actual sisters. Not to mention, every other character from the series was done so dirty and written in an uncharacteristically bad light in hopes of boosting Nesta's likeability, which didn't even fucking work.

And no, don't tell me that because it was in her point of view, it means that we are finally seeing Feyre, Rhysand and the Inner Circle for who they are and that the "rose tinted glasses" that Feyre "wore" in her point of view were gone. I think it's bullshit. A clear excuse to deflect how mischaracterized everyone else was, even Nesta, and how their personalities and dynamics were ruined in favor of furthering her conflict with them and advancing the "plot" of the book in the most lazy half-assed way. I'm so done.

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vr_alyssa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? No

3.0

I've been a faithful Sarah J Maas fan since the publication of Throne of Glass. Over the years her writing has only gotten better, and very rarely do I dislike any of her works.

But, together A Court of Frost and Starlight (the novella set before this one), this is my least favourite novel by her. This can partially be attributed to the fact that for me A Court of Thorns and Roses would have been better as a trilogy, it was conclusive and beautiful. Plus, I have issues with Nesta, as much as I have issues with Tamlin. While the book has changed my view of her a little bit, I still don't like her.

Next to that, some of the sexual content was a bit much, and not evenly spread out throughout the book. It would have made more sense to me, if it had been situated in a different way.

That being said, I also think she could have put it in fewer words. The amount of pages of this book felt a bit excessive. So much more than ACOTAR, even though less happens (in my opinion). But then again, might be because I don't like Nesta.

And finally, I miss the old covers. But that's not really feedback on the work itself of course.

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