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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the main character had no personality, the main couple no development they just suddenly were in love for no reason, the first half of the book is a bunch of just nothing happening and what dies actually happen plot-wise so incredibly cliche, fast, and unserious that I struggled to finish it out of sheer frustration it was BAD. it is also a book with awful gender essentialism which was… so weird.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Blood
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.25⭐️1🌶️(mostly closed door, very few sex scenes, several tension-filled scenes)
This had been on my TBR for 4 years and idk what took me so long. People either love or hate this book and this series in general and I liked it a lot! I will say the beginning 20% is pretty slow, it took me a couple weeks to get through that and then I read the last 80% in less than 24hrs. I read along with the graphic audiobook and that version shuffles some inner monologue and dialogue around to make conversations flow, so I’d suggest the regular audiobook first and the graphic audio for a reread. I really didn’t find the book spicy at all, I think this could be appropriate for YA readers, but I’ve heard the rest of the series is spicier. Another thing: why does everyone hate tamlin?? He’s a pretty decent guy and takes care of FMC and her family when he doesn’t need to. I can see the rhys hype, he’s the misunderstood villain bad boy who I predict will be an enemies to lovers in the future and his fan art is🥵. Some of the book is gory and graphic, I would classify this as a dark romantasy with plenty of fluff. I would definitely reread in the future and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!
This had been on my TBR for 4 years and idk what took me so long. People either love or hate this book and this series in general and I liked it a lot! I will say the beginning 20% is pretty slow, it took me a couple weeks to get through that and then I read the last 80% in less than 24hrs. I read along with the graphic audiobook and that version shuffles some inner monologue and dialogue around to make conversations flow, so I’d suggest the regular audiobook first and the graphic audio for a reread. I really didn’t find the book spicy at all, I think this could be appropriate for YA readers, but I’ve heard the rest of the series is spicier. Another thing: why does everyone hate tamlin?? He’s a pretty decent guy and takes care of FMC and her family when he doesn’t need to. I can see the rhys hype, he’s the misunderstood villain bad boy who I predict will be an enemies to lovers in the future and his fan art is🥵. Some of the book is gory and graphic, I would classify this as a dark romantasy with plenty of fluff. I would definitely reread in the future and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Classism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Stalking, Death of parent
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Blood, Vomit
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow to start but ramps up at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Vomit
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Excrement, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Colonisation
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, Classism
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is a really slow read up until half way through. The characters are nit the most likable until near the end. However despite its flaws its a fun read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I will start by saying that I can totally get why people enjoy this book. There are scenes where I could find myself really enjoying the book and beginning to fall into it, but it never properly lasted. I think if I turned my brain off for the book I would have enjoyed it far more, but the book doesn’t set the reader up to turn their brain off, so I could never fully fall into it.
Aside from that, I generally enjoyed the prose. There were moments I really enjoyed it and felt like it captured a certain feeling of magic. The biggest example being the Firelight Festival and the Summer Solstice celebration, it captured a feeling of old magic and enchantment that I really enjoyed. There were several points that I found the exposition for the world building fairly well done, though there were a handful of moments it felt like info dumping.
Finally, the audiobook narrator did an amazing job and I really enjoyed her performance. She also pronounced Rhysand so it sounded like “reason” and it cracked me up, so that’s another point in her favour.
OKAY THAT ASIDE! Spoilers ahead, I have A LOT to say about this book.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mentions of SA, sexual harassment, drugging, & victim blaming
So, I have a LOT of thoughts on this book. To start, let’s tackle my biggest issue: The romanticisation of SA.
While at the beginning of the book we don’t see any of this, we have our first hint at the end of the Firelight Festival where Tamlin (Hot Fey Man #1) is all horny, can smell Feyre has been at the festival. Afterwards he encounters her in the house before the horny magic as worn off. What does he do? Well he pins her to the wall of course. She tells him to let her go, but he doesn’t. Instead he tells her how gentle he would have been if he got to have sex with her at the Horny Festival. He stops pinning her then, but Feyre continues to VERBALLY say that she’s not interested in engaging in anything. What does Tamlin do? Well obviously he bites and kisses her neck what else. Then he leaves. The next morning when Feyre wants to make him feel bad about it, he instead blames her for being out and about that night. While Feyre was told to remain in her room, she was given no explanation as to why, and was lured there by fey magic. Furthermore, she repeatedly did not give consent, which Tamlin ignored. The victim blaming, however, matched only by how that scene and the events after are portrayed as sexy and heavily romanticised. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine if Feyre is into having her neck bitten, but it’s completely different when she doesn’t give consent and the book hypes up how sexy it is Tamlin just takes what he wants. This later shows up again with Rhysand (Hot Fey Man #2.) Once he and Feyre make an agreement he’ll help her with the trials, every night he brings her to a party, drugs her, and makes her give him lap dances and dress in skimpy clothes. This is later justified by it being “for her own good and protection”. Overall, the way the book handled these topics was gross, and it’s not helped that it seems to want to reader to like and kind of fall for Rhysand a bit by the end.
Next is the characters. This is a romance novel, so obviously the characters should be likeable and the reader should be invested in them. By the time I hit the 60% mark I had one character I liked and by the end I didn’t like any of them. That doesn’t mean I can’t see the appeal in some instances. Tamlin had plenty of scenes where he was very endearing and sweet (his awkward compliments of Feyre at the beginning, giving her dirty poems using the words she struggled to read, and heightening her senses so she could hear the willow tree sing to name a few) and I can understand why people like Nesta after going through and entire book of very bland, one note female characters. Her rudeness, spunk, and straightforwardness are a welcome change of pace. However, throughout the entire novel I found just about every character switching between unlikeable, tolerable, and likeable. None felt particularly consistent, one moment Lucien (Hot Fey Man #1’s bestie) are having fun and enjoying each other’s company, the next he’s snarking at her for killing his friend. (Which it’s fair to be upset, but bro y’all literally sent the man out to be killed so some random human chick could come smooch Tamlin. This is not on her and she wasn’t even 100% sure he WAS fey.) Most characters fell into this cycle of being friendly and likeable and then railing against Feyre for things she didn’t know or understand because they weren’t explained to her. Not to say Feyre is much better, I personally found her insufferable, but at least she was consistent in that. I was also confused by people’s love of Elaine and Nesta at the beginning. While I understood Nest’s appeal by the end, the book tells you Elaine does nothing because there’s not a single thought in her head. She’s bland and one note, just pretty, nice, and stupid. Those three things do not a likeable character make.
I also overall found the consistency in the book lacking. We’re beat over the head at the beginning with the information fey can’t lie, but they frequently do and it isn’t until the end we’re told that tidbit that kept slapping us in the face wasn’t true. (I will be fair though and admit I might have forgotten the scene where it’s mentioned.) There was also the issue of Feyre constantly saying she didn’t trust Tamlin and Lucien, but then being upset when they themselves didn’t trust her. This was especially obnoxious when she had barely been around them for a week. It made the book feel like it needed a few more rounds of edits to catch these consistency issues and make sure it was called out when ideas were being proven wrong. The issues of consistency also spill into character development. One moment Feyre hates the fey, the next she loves them and hates humans because they aren’t as hot or graceful. Not having a consistent arc for the characters or consistency in the world made it hard for me to keep up with things and often left me wondering if I had missed scenes.
Finally, general flow of the story. I think the beginning was too condensed and the ending too spread out. I think if there were more time skips at the beginning showing us Feyre meeting the major players and then allowing more time to pass for a more natural flow of relationship growth. Having them quickly start to fall for each other within 2-3 weeks and then skipping over huge portions to get to the festivals and steamy scenes feels like a cop out and like we were deprived of watching a romance legitimately bloom between these two.
Final short notes. I will always make a disgusted face at the use of “female” and “male” as nouns and the use of “my mate”. It’s gross, I don’t like it. Also if I hear “I could never paint it” or “my bowels turned to water” (girl just say you shit yourself it’s okay) one more time I will lose my mind.
In conclusion, I can see why people enjoy this, if I turned my brain off I likely could. However the book refuses to set you up for such and in the interim romanticises SA and unhealthy relationships. Also Tamlin’s a creepy for only taking the 19-year-old human that killed a fey and not one of the older women that were stated to have also killed fey unprovoked because they were “too old”. Tamlin, I seriously doubt only grandmas were killing wolves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Slavery