This is an EROTICA BOOK, not a YA book.
I repeat: THIS BOOK IS AN EROTICA BOOK, not a YA book. Or maybe you can call it an in-between ADULT AND UPPER YA meaning . NEW ADULT BOOK, plus it has certain influence from self-published Paranormal romance ( Shay Savage's Transcendence? Anyone?) so yes this is new adult at its best.
The sex scenes are the most descriptives ever in a book marketed falsely as YA. Meaning that there's no fade to black at any description of sexual activity. Think of Transcendence, Fifty shades of grey and Archer's voice kind of level of graphicdescription
So don't think the sex scenes of A court of mist and fury are on the same level of PG "graphic sex-scenes" found in reads such like Clockwork Princess, Opal, The fault in our stars, Graceling, Breaking dawn, City of heavenly fire and other upper young adult reads. I'll repeat The sex scenes in ACOMAF are closer to Fifty shades, Transcendence and the immortal after dark series because again: NO FADE TO BLACK during the most intense, schmexy, making love moments Kirkus reviews, some GR librarians and anyone who tells you the contrary is lying.
*********PARENTAL GUIDANCE triggers ***********
SEX/NUDITY 10 out 10 As I said before no fade to black during the schmexy moments, no metaphores, no sensual imagery but the straight vivid image of nudity and sex. I won't mention all the moments because there are too many, but I'll tell you where you'll find the most descriptive in the american hardcover version: You can read some of them in my updates:
Pages 471, 472, 473, 474. 475
Pages 530, 531, 532, 533, the orgasm that shatters the mountains:
Pages 538 and 539
I think those are the most detailed graphic scenes. The rest of sex scenes aren't that vivid IMHO but they're still there. Anyone who wants to tell me that I'm exaggerating and that the sex-scenes aren't descriptive or that this book isn't erotica I challenge you: If you're an adult Read aloud the content of these pages to a group of underage kids and see if you don't find yourself in trouble. If you aren't, read it to your parents and see if you don't blush.
VIOLENCE/GORE 7 out of 10
it was part of the background of one of the main characters: Descriptive action scenes, where some fae people die.
PROFANITY 10/10
SUBSTANCE USE
SAFETY ISSUES This is for my friends who prefer readings with no cheating no OW (other woman) and OM (other men)
This is for my friends who prefer readings with no cheating no OW (other woman) and OM (other men) As I said in page 20-21 we have a very descriptive sex scene of heroine with other man. That's because in book 1 the hero was Tamlin and he got engaged with heroine, but most readers including me were rooting for Rhysand the villain, so that scene is hard to stomach. Tamlin becomes a jerk and Feyre flees, but there's a little bit of Feyre inner thoughts thinking she is being disloyal to Tamlin when she starts to fall for Rhysand. So there's this kind of love triangle going on. We know she won't back to Tamlin but there's still this kind of doubts,
nothing super trianglish, but there. Not totally free of the triangle
Conclusion
Honest question. I'm not a supporter of censorship, but like my friend Stephanie says: If there's a PG rating for movies... why not for books? I'm not against kids reading sex. I'm against fake marketing and lack of warnings. Children's bloomsbury should have added warning of sexual content in the cover of this book, on the blurb and market it as an adult book. If kids wants to read Fifty shades of grey I'm no one to judge, they already know what they will encounter. But diving into ACOMAF not knowing that there's EROTIC scenes because a famous booktuber "forgot" to add warnings at the beginning of her non-spoiler review or because Kirkus deems the EROTIC scenes appropiate for 14 years old or because Booktopia (Australian book retailer) labels this book as appropiate for 12 YO readers is just wrong IMHO. But whatever! I still love this book.
***************PREVIOUS UPDATES AND ORIGINAL REVIEW**********************
Update: This should be easily the best New adult read of 2016. This book is New adult, not Young adult. Clearly the best YA book this year is Lady Midnight, I hope readers vote correctly so both books have a chance to get a well-deserved prize. Lady Midnight is YA and ACOMAF is NA and the best book of 2016.
Ian as Rhys!
I'll start this review with warnings and some might be a little bit spoilery, but you need to have this information to really appreciate the beauty of this book.
You might hate this book if:
* You were seriously rooting for Tamlin and Fayre.
* You don't like Rhys.
* You hate love triangles and don't get fooled or deceived by the most voted goodreads review. This is totally a love triangle as far as this book goes, but I'll explain later why I think this works.
*(view spoiler) This is Sarah J Maas, we knew she was going to do this, it was hinted all over the first book.
* You prefer plot-driven books, over character-driven books. This book is more about the evolution of the characters, the building up of the relationships and it's not for lovers of complicated plot and action scenes and adventure. This book is more about romance, backstory and relationship building. I loved that! Give me more of that. Plots are overrated. I need relationships, I need emotions.
* If you were too attached to the storylines of the first book. (view spoiler)
* If you hate long books.
* If you hate when NA books are marketed as YA. That's so common lately.
Having said all that.
We have a winner!
I'll admit that the first book wasn't stellar. It was good, but nothing special.This one, my friends? I couldn't put it down. The first part of the book for some reason didn't appeal to me. I don't know why. I was struggling through it. I think this is a book that you need to read slowly, in your bed, preferably with a furry pet and a cup of coffee near you. Its Sarah J. Maas vivid imagination and beautiful prose at her best. I think some people will find her style slow and overdescriptive, but that's the beauty of this book. You can spend days with it and you don't want it to end. The writing is very good and the story is extremely compelling.
Once I reached the middle part, wow, just wow! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I couldn't and wouldn't stop reading.
It goes without saying that I'm a huge Rhys fan. I kept imagining Ian Somerhalder as Rhys even since the first book and I was so happy to see how relevant he became in this book.
How hot are the sex scenes? I read a lot of classic romance and New adult, so I don't think they were graphic. But that's what I prefer. I want the relationship between the couple to evolve, grow and shine before they get into bed. I thought it was good and as a new adult reader that is getting TIRED of the same storylines of new adult, I always welcome a New adult books in other genres, such as fantasy, paranormal steampunk and dystopia. I want Sarah to keep writing sex scenes, just I want a sort of warning for the younger readers? I think that's the ethical thing to do. Seriously publishers and authors: Stop trying to shove sex down the throats of young people. (sounded weird, but it's true) Give a proper warning and then we can enjoy the book better. People who like clean reads, can avoid this one at least be warned that there's sex content, and people who like sex will buy it MORE because sex sells right?. Everyone wins.
Now the love triangle. I was so pissed-off when I read Throne of glass with the switching in love interests that I could never root for Caelena, never got to know her, never got to appreciate her evolution or relate for her.
In this series, and thanks to the AMAZING transformation of Fayre, for the first time, and as much as I love RHys and I want him and Fayre together, I'm rooting for Fayre more. If she ends up alone, if she chooses Tamlin over Rhys, although I hope that's not the case, I'll be fine. I want her to be happy, no matter with whom and that's a first for my romantic, monogamist heart. I usually hate when the couple I'm rooting for doesn't end up together and that's why I hate love triangles, but here I'm not team Rhys, I'm not team Tamlin, I'm team Fayre and I hope that in the third book she gets to keep all the awesomeness she displayed on this one. She became a whole different person, strong and badass.
The ending is such a cliffhanger, but I was expecting that. Usually second books in a series are.
To wrap up my review I only have to say that this book is much better than the first one if you don't belong to any of the categories I mentioned before. Would I recommend this book? Hell yes! but take a look at my list of warnings, if you don't belong to any of the list categories you totally should give a chance to this series. This is, so far, way much better than Throne of glass. It's a whole different level.
I need more of Rhys and Fayre, it's going to be a long wait. Best book of 2016!
UPDATE APRIL 5TH 2017
Apparently the fake marketing is because the publishing company doesn't want the label New adult attached to this book.
Link to reviewers that have mentioned that this book is New adult or erotica for children, I'm including positive and negative reviews
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
So, a lot of top reviewers have noticed that this is a new adult book, so there's no point denying the obvious.