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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Classism
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well written. Main character makes some mind-numbingly dumb choices. Great world building.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Genocide, Slavery
Last 3rd of the book can be a bit heavy content warning wise.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Torture
Moderate: Slavery
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
Graphic: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief
Minor: Genocide, Slavery, Vomit, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ACOTAR was a solid foray back into the fantasy genre for me.
Feyre, the novel’s protagonist, kills a wolf and is taken by a beast (Tamlin) to his estate in the faerie world of Prythian. He holds her there for killing his wolf friend, who was actually a faerie. Throughout the book, we find out about a twisted labyrinth of treaties, curses, and creatures who complicate things for our protagonist, for Tamlin, and for a host of supporting characters. In the end, Feyre travels Under the Mountain to save Tamlin (and his friend Lucien) and break the curse.
This book gave off definite Beauty and the Beast vibes - kidnapping a girl, holding her at a massive estate, a cursed beastly creature. I thought the main and secondary characters were generally well-written and I enjoyed the overall plot, but HOLY COW it took some time to get there. Feyre killed the wolf, was kidnapped, and was at Tamlin’s estate by chapter 6. She then lallygagged around for about 20 chapters. A few excursions into the forest, a quick intro to Rhysand, and a solstice party, sure, but very little happened again plot-wise until chapter 26. The book coasted on the relationship development and sexual tension between Feyre and Tamlin for the bulk of chapters 7-25. Don’t get me wrong, I was HERE for that, but Maas absolutely could have condensed that information from 180 pages to about 60.
My other issue with ACOTAR was the lack of anger toward Feyre by Tamlin. You’re telling me a human girl kills your friend, who you sent in an attempt to break this curse, and you’re going to just bring her to your estate and let her hang out while you hope she falls in love with you? I get that Tamlin had an ulterior motive and a timeline, but it read to me like he loved her from the jump instead of falling in love with her, which seemed odd. I think a Beauty-and-the-Beast type romance where they both started out angry and gradually fell in love would have made for a better plot.
Once the pace picked up, and once I (sort of) accepted the love story/timeline between Feyre and Tamlin, I really enjoyed the remainder of the book. Maas is a skilled fantasy writer; she had me hooked during Feyre’s entire time Under the Mountain. There were SO MANY good twists in the last 100 pages!
Overall, did ACOTAR knock my socks off? No. Will I read the next book in the series because I want to see how these relationships play out? Yes. Recommend? Sure, especially if you’re into fantasy.
Feyre, the novel’s protagonist, kills a wolf and is taken by a beast (Tamlin) to his estate in the faerie world of Prythian. He holds her there for killing his wolf friend, who was actually a faerie. Throughout the book, we find out about a twisted labyrinth of treaties, curses, and creatures who complicate things for our protagonist, for Tamlin, and for a host of supporting characters. In the end, Feyre travels Under the Mountain to save Tamlin (and his friend Lucien) and break the curse.
This book gave off definite Beauty and the Beast vibes - kidnapping a girl, holding her at a massive estate, a cursed beastly creature. I thought the main and secondary characters were generally well-written and I enjoyed the overall plot, but HOLY COW it took some time to get there. Feyre killed the wolf, was kidnapped, and was at Tamlin’s estate by chapter 6. She then lallygagged around for about 20 chapters. A few excursions into the forest, a quick intro to Rhysand, and a solstice party, sure, but very little happened again plot-wise until chapter 26. The book coasted on the relationship development and sexual tension between Feyre and Tamlin for the bulk of chapters 7-25. Don’t get me wrong, I was HERE for that, but Maas absolutely could have condensed that information from 180 pages to about 60.
My other issue with ACOTAR was the lack of anger toward Feyre by Tamlin. You’re telling me a human girl kills your friend, who you sent in an attempt to break this curse, and you’re going to just bring her to your estate and let her hang out while you hope she falls in love with you? I get that Tamlin had an ulterior motive and a timeline, but it read to me like he loved her from the jump instead of falling in love with her, which seemed odd. I think a Beauty-and-the-Beast type romance where they both started out angry and gradually fell in love would have made for a better plot.
Once the pace picked up, and once I (sort of) accepted the love story/timeline between Feyre and Tamlin, I really enjoyed the remainder of the book. Maas is a skilled fantasy writer; she had me hooked during Feyre’s entire time Under the Mountain. There were SO MANY good twists in the last 100 pages!
Overall, did ACOTAR knock my socks off? No. Will I read the next book in the series because I want to see how these relationships play out? Yes. Recommend? Sure, especially if you’re into fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly, is it the best book ever? No. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes.
The characters are somewhat 2D and follow all the regular tropes (enemies to lovers, weakling human that has a heart of gold, etc.) but I just LIKED reading it. The smut was secondary, but also enjoyable without being over the top.
It felt like I was reading Harry Potter again. I finished it in 2 days.
I would recommend if you want an easy read.
The characters are somewhat 2D and follow all the regular tropes (enemies to lovers, weakling human that has a heart of gold, etc.) but I just LIKED reading it. The smut was secondary, but also enjoyable without being over the top.
It felt like I was reading Harry Potter again. I finished it in 2 days.
I would recommend if you want an easy read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, War
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Yes
the beginning and end were a little bit slow and boring but the very end and middle were hard to put down! have heard that the other books are really good so was happy to hop into this series! the part with the trials was sooo repetitive
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Murder
the names of things are confusing at first but you get the hang of it!
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-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:
N/A
I have to say I'm quite surprised that I liked this book so much. The first half was a bit rough due to some unlikeable characters but seeing their development really pulled me back.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Kidnapping
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Alright, I’ll give it to the ACOTAR girlies and admit that this was entertaining. I mainly liked the supporting characters over the protagonist, but sometimes their voices blended together. Hopefully throughout the series as each of them develop they’ll become more fleshed out as individuals. The beginning was ROUGH in terms of writing style and dialogue (so much so I genuinely thought she was making fun of the YA fantasy genre), but the further I got the more the dialogue and pacing evened out. Liked it better than Fourth Wing though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment