No strong representations of diverse characters or minority identities.
Overall: 5-stars
Safety Rating: Safe (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • No OW drama —No strong representations of diverse characters or minority identities.
Overall: 5-stars
Safety Rating: Safe (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • No OW drama — Note that Malloy does go on dates with multiple OW but nothing has happened with Hermione at that time. The dates don’t go further than the first one and he doesn’t even kiss an OW after being assigned to protect Hermione. • Does have OM drama — Hermione is completely uninterested in him. — Note that Hermione also goes on dates with OM but they don’t go further than the first date. • Does have the MCs pushing each other away • No separation (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Knife violence • Gore • Mentions of dismemberment and decapitation • Discussions of sexual assault and harassment • Medical trauma (hide spoiler)]
No strong representations of diverse characters or minority identities.
Overall: 5-stars
Favourite Book of June 2022 Featured in my blog's June Wrap UpNo strong representations of diverse characters or minority identities.
Overall: 5-stars
Favourite Book of June 2022 Featured in my blog's June Wrap Up.
I can already tell this will be a top contender for my favourite book of 2022. I’m in shock by how much I loved Half Sick of Shadows. The narrative and seamless weaving of the past, present and future feels like art.
Elaine’s visions of the future give the reader the doomed fate of Guinevere, Arther, Lancelot and Morgana reminiscent of the original poem and many retellings. However, the present follows Elaine and she struggles with her gift to find some alternate fate for her friends.
The found family aspect of this book was pivotal to the plot. The flashbacks to Elaine meeting the group and her childhood in Avalon give some context to the story but also seamlessly connect to the present and future scenes by revealing key information. Part of why I tend to shy away from Arthurian retellings is that I could never understand how a group of such close friends could betray each other so horribly. However, Half Sick of Shadows demonstrates how smaller betrayals of family can yield unforgivable consequences.
While the romance partnered Gwen with Arther, and Elaine with Lancelot, I can see where some readers have seen a queer coded relationship between Elaine and Morgana. To be honest, I think each of the women are coded as bisexual but it’s not ever confirmed. I love how the author wasn’t afraid to lean into the doomed relationships. The fact that Elaine has Seen Lancelot betray her with Gwen added so much tension to her relationship with Lancelot. Their relationship came across as an allegory of Elaine’s aversion to their fate as she’s Seen it. While she can see the future, Elaine often forget she’s an architect of that future too. By living her life reacting to moments that haven’t yet come to pass, her life and happiness is passing her by.
My favourite parts of the book are of course the women characters: Elaine, Guinevere and Morgana. They are so strong in their own ways and their friendships mirrored the very realistic ups and downs of genuine real life relationships. The authors feminist retelling not only centers the voice of Elaine in Arthur’s Legend but calls out and challenges the sexist characterizations that figured Morgana — an all powerful sorceress, uncontrollable by men — as evil personified and reduced Guinevere — a warrior queen in her own right — to broodmare and traitor.
The final arc of the story reaffirms the feminist arc by challenging the most important rule at the heart of Arthurian retellings: Arthur above all else.
But as Morgana asks Elaine, where is her line? What is she willing to sacrifice to protect Arthur?
Beware, beware three maidens fair With bloody hands in divine air. Help not the girl whom others blame She’ll burn the world to ash and flame. Trust not the girl with the golden crown She’ll take what’s yours and watch you drown. And my Lily Maid will scream and cry. She’ll break them both and then she’ll die.
Mature Themes: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Sex scenes are alluded to not but not descriptive • Alcohol consumption (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Sexism • Suicide (on-page by drowning, not very descriptive) • Infidelity (occurs in a vision of the future) • Sword violence • Blood • Medical trauma • Parental neglect and abuse • Beheading • Death of supporting characters, including (view spoiler)[Arthur and Lancelot (hide spoiler)]. (hide spoiler)]
Ending: (view spoiler)[Because of Elaine’s actions, Guinevere ends up being the one who takes a fatally wounded Arthur to the lake. Morgana and Elaine meet them on a boat. All the women take Arthur to Avalon where they decide to reincarnate his soul so that he’ll only rest once his land knows peace.
Lancelot died in battle fighting beside Arthur and Guinevere. It’s assumed that after Elaine left and Guinevere took back her rightful throne, Arthur and Gwen remained happily married until his death. And Lancelot never broke his vow to Elaine. (hide spoiler)]...more
Representation: Black Main Character, Black Supporting Character, Black wlw Supporting Character
Overall: 4.75-stars
RTC
Mature Themes: Yes (view spoilerRepresentation: Black Main Character, Black Supporting Character, Black wlw Supporting Character
Overall: 4.75-stars
RTC
Mature Themes: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Heroine has a crush on a boy and their relationship only goes as far as kissing • the Heroine and her group of friends discuss sex **look at the possible triggers spoiler tag because there are a lot (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Racism and bigotry • Gruesome death of Heroine (dismemberment, drowning, beheading, burning, Heroine is murdered by her father) • Blood and gore • Sexism and misogyny • Allusion to r@pe • Brief mention of torture of a child and r@pe of a child (hide spoiler)]
Nesta is now my favourite character in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. She’s so freaking awesome. This book had serious Heir of Fire vibes with Nesta’s poor mental health, especially how her powers are so intertwined with her trauma. The character growth and new friendships MADE this book.
Rhys & Feyre and Co. are insufferable for the majority of this book. I get that Nesta’s is the definition of prickly and straight-up mean and rude. The way they approached trying to help Nesta was filled with ultimatums, consistent humiliation and maligning. It’s like no one realized Nesta’s trauma was just as valid as Feyre’s in book 2 of the series or Elain’s. I loved how Nesta pointed out to Elain how unfair it was that Elain was allowed to wallow in despair for MONTHS. Yet, because Nesta’s trauma manifested in drinking and sleeping around, everyone suddenly became the morality police: Nesta was only allowed to grieve and hurt their way. It honestly felt like everyone just wanted Nesta to present as OK, even if she was dying inside, so they didn’t have to worry.
Did anyone else notice how Nesta dealing with her trauma was made continuously about the Night Court? It was never about how Nesta was feeling but how her actions reflect on them. No one took the time to decentre themselves and ask why: case and point being the real reason Nesta ran out of the last Winter Solstice celebrations when everyone was like RuDe.
The saving grace of A Court of Silver Flames was Nesta’s new friendships with Gwyn and Emerie. They were amazing, and I love them all dearly. Cassian and Nesta were also great together – although Cassian took way too long to put Rhys in his place.
Also, I’m so over all the powerful women in this series having their powers curtailed, but Rhys gets more and more messages that suggest he’s The Chosen One. The scene about Nesta’s sword (no spoilers) was horrible: shame on Amren and Rhys. Throughout the book, there’s consistent messaging that only Rhys is allowed to have these sUpErPoWeRfUl abilities; hence, why everyone sees Nesta as a threat despite her never using her powers in anger.
I also was so annoyed how Nesta would make some really great points about the problematic power dynamics in Feyre’s group (what Rhys and his friends elect to keep secret from Feyre and Nesta is a-la-Tamlin). However, because she did it to lash out, Nesta always came across as lower than dirt to the rest of them, which undermined the credibility of her very valid point. Sigh.
Finally, the ending was incredibly rushed. There was so much happening in the last few chapters that I wish there was more time for the reader to process everything. Also, one gaping mistake: (view spoiler)[Cassian never said 'I love you' to Nesta (she did, though). It's obvious he does, but in the 700+ book, he doesn't say it once, which felt really odd. (hide spoiler)]
Overall, I loved Nesta’s story so much – her growth, her friendships, and her romance with Cassian, that the high-handedness of Rhys’s court only decreased the rating by 0.5-stars, which says a lot.
Safety Rating: Safe (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • No OW/OM drama • Does have the Heroine and Hero pushing each other away • Does have brief moments of separation between the couple (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: Yes (view spoiler)[ • Discussion of past r@pe and sexual assault • Attempted r@pe • PTSD • Depression • Violence with blood and gore • Discussion of past physical abuse (hide spoiler)]
Representation: Biracial supporting character, Native American side character
Overall: 4.25-stars
Quick Take: A gripping-the-edge-of-your-seat action-drRepresentation: Biracial supporting character, Native American side character
Overall: 4.25-stars
Quick Take: A gripping-the-edge-of-your-seat action-driven urban fantasy that is narrated by kickass PI Nevada; however, the light romance was frustrating.
Safety: Safe (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM • Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away • Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine • See Ending for HEA status. • See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts. (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: Yes(view spoiler)[ • Violence (Hero uses torture frequently throughout the book to get what he wants but only from people the Heroine isn’t protecting. • Murder (Committed by the Hero as well as the villain.) • Arson • Torture (Mental and physical) – Heroine is abducted and mentally tortured (he’s a psychic) by the Hero (when he doesn’t know her). He would’ve killed her had she not been of use to him. (hide spoiler)]
Representation: Bisexual love interest, Brown asexual supporting character, POC side character, Blind side character
Overall: 4.75-stars
Quick Take: An Representation: Bisexual love interest, Brown asexual supporting character, POC side character, Blind side character
Overall: 4.75-stars
Quick Take: An entrancing standalone epic fantasy; it brings the magic of books to life through the Heroine's journey to discover who is attempting to sabotage the Great Libraries and made all the more enjoyable by its adorable enemies to friends to lovers romances and themes of friendship.
Safety Rating: (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • No OW/OM drama • Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away • Does have a separation between the Heroine and Hero (hide spoiler)]
Possible Triggers: (view spoiler)[ • Murder • Attempted murder • Allusion to torture • Gaslighting • Abelism • Sword violence • PTSD (love interest has nightmares of seeing his father attempt to resurrect his dead mother and younger brother) • Description of corpses (see above) • Death of love interest's family • Forced hospitalization (psych hospital) • Mind r@pe (mind control) (hide spoiler)]
Safety: Safe with Exception (view spoiler)[ • No cheating • Does have OW/OM drama
– The Hero does sleep with an OW as part of a Spring ritual. The Hero and Heroine are not together at this point. And, the Heroine never meets the OW. – The villainess of the story wants the Hero (which is not reciprocated by the Hero). The villainess is a sexual predator. – The Heroine is kissed by an OM, after the Heroine and Hero are together, for her “protection.” The Hero sees the OM kiss the Heroine.
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM • Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away • Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine • See Ending for HEA status. • See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts. (hide spoiler)]
Sarah Anne
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