Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

5 reviews

elntastic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.75

The story was very gripping and entertaining, maintaining quite a fast pace throughout the story. I really liked the FMC. The MC is definitely a dark/grey character with questionable morals, but he didn’t cross any lines for me (yet).  I also loved the dynamic and slow burn between the FMC and the MC. 
However; the story was definitely nothing new. Everything that happened was more or less foreseeable. The world-building wasn’t very detailed.

The seemingly „good“ king who saved his people turns out to be an evil man who uses his folk? Heard that before. The MC is not who she thought he was? Read that before. She has to make a bargain with him after learning the truth about him? Def read that before. She has powers that were somehow hidden from her her entire life? Read that many many times. So all in all, nothing in this book felt new to me.  

It’s definitely a good story but if you’re looking for something new/different, you won’t find it here. This book feels like a lot of other books I have read before. There were so many parts where I saw direct similarities to other stories. If you’re looking for something different and new I’d suggest reading Carissa Broadbents books or Beck Michael’s „Guardians if the Maiden“ series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

knottygeek's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

The first half with the mercenary group was great and I loved it. The second half of the hook felt like a lot of almost too convenient things were put into place for the FMC. The end got predictable as well as some of the ending plot twists. Overall though wasn't a bad read and I plan on reading the next in the series asap.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Blood, Torture, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Medical content

altarbunny's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Super enticing read. I loved the fact that when the love interest separated the MC actually performed and executed a plan. The romance was definitely in the back burner until about 80% of the way through the book. My biggest peeve was that the clothing descriptions lacked and what I imagined(especially court attire) was impossible to execute some scenes in. I loved the dialogue and the plot and was kept on the edge of my seat for most of the book. People who enjoy series like ACOTAR would likely love this, although I wish a different title would have been chosen. I get that they’re trying to get Maas readers, but the court scenes was less than 50% of the book, and I feel like this book could easily stand on its own against ACOTAR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault

jaedee09's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed this book. It's a fun adventure, but reminded me of other stories as well. I found the world and magic structure unique with humans also having magic. The pacing felt weird at times, such as when

three major moments happen in the span of about an hour/a walk down a hallway.

Spice was good, and the slow burn was burning. Heart fluttered several times. Some plot twists were predictable, but others weren't. I'll continue listening/reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Cursing, Child death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

wickedgrumpy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

So many tropes were checked off in this book.

The world building is interesting and mysterious enough that I will probably eventually continue, if only because it's an easy read with low personal stakes since I didn't really care about the characters.  The banter was amusing and the plotting was fun.  There were some pacing issues, but it was kind of necessary plot-wise so I'm not bothered by it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Classism, Slavery, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body horror, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Stalking, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Outing, Police brutality, Sexism, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping