A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 1

Maintain selfless dedication to duty, even when your loved ones are ungrateful. True love, skill, and huge self-control overcome many obstacles. Try to do the right thing even when all your choices are bad.

Killing, mutilation, and gore -- of faeries, humans, and other species -- are a constant presence and vividly described, as when a faerie's wings are hacked off or another's head is impaled in the garden. Characters are sometimes forced to kill against their will; sometimes they do it enthusiastically. There's also strong sexual menace: One character becomes the lackey and sex slave of an evil queen to save his kingdom from a worse fate; Feyre is menaced by characters intent on raping and killing her and in other scenes is beaten until her bones fracture. The royals and courtiers of the various faerie Courts have a long history of deadly intrigue that often runs to wiping out all their relatives.

Multiple uses of crude language, including "s--t," "balls," "damn," and "hell," most often as "go to hell."

Despite many warnings not to drink faerie wine, Feyre does on several occasions, including a long period where she gets drunk every night when her captor forces her to attend parties with him.