Additional Review B - Should I trust BookTok recommendations?
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I've been vaguely aware of they hype surrounding these books from BookTok and in other social media, so when I visited England last summer and saw my Sister-in-law had the whole set I asked her about them. She insisted I borrow them and read them and I would love them.
Sorry Caitlin, can't say I agree. To begin with, I liked Freya. She was ballsy despite being downtrodden by life, she had a modern seeming friends with benefits relationship with a local young man and was generally a badass. Unfortunately I struggled with the writing which at times felt like I was reading KS2 creative writing assignments.
I felt the rot really set in about 3/4's of the way through. Suddenly Freya wasn't so badass - she was a weak illiterate human in a world of super powerful fae. The realtionship with Tamlin had zero chemistry and I was honestly super surprised they were having sex. Where did that even come from? Freya had more chemistry and banter with Tamlin's best friend. I just didn't get it.
So we get onto Rhysand. Yeesh, so they don't have sex but Freya makes a bargin when she's literally scared she will die and he dresses her up, has her painted all over (including intimately) and parades her nearly naked. Yikes! That made all my hackles rise and my consent banners stand up and start waving and shouting from the rooftops. This is not ok.
I just don't understand how in a post me-too world that this type of power imbalance coercive relationship can be sold (mostly to women) and seen as good, or at least a neutral part of the storytelling. There's plenty of reviews out there saying the same thing as me but for each reviewer who mentions concern, there are 20 more raving about the series. There is even a fandom subreddit!
Poor writing and iffy consent 1/10