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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
3.5/5 ⭐️
“We need hope, or else we cannot endure.”
Overall, ACOTAR didn’t live up to the hype for me - I liked it but just didn’t love it.
The book was entertaining for the most part, but it was just SO hard to like any of the characters. I found Feyre to be extremely annoying and her sisters were just awful. Both Tamlin and Rhys were also problematic as hell. The closest I came to truly liking a character was Lucien, but even then he had moments where I couldn’t stand him.
In addition to the characters being unlikable, I also found the first half of the book to be very slow pacing wise. Things eventually picked up about halfway through - the best part of the book for me, was easily the last 150 pages or so.
Despite the characters and pacing, I did really enjoy the Beauty and the Beast retelling aspect of the story. I thought that the twists Maas put on the tale were clever and different.
In short, ACOTAR wasn’t by any means my new favorite fantasy read. It was a unique spin on the Beauty and the Beast, but the frustrating characters ruined it for me.
With all this being said, I was invested enough with ACOTAR that I did continue on with reading the series and I am SO glad that I did! I finished ACOMAF this afternoon and it makes having to read ACOTAR worth it! I loved ACOMAF to pieces. So, if you’re someone on the fence about continuing to read this series or not, I definitely recommend continuing on! The payoff in ACOMAF is incredible!
“We need hope, or else we cannot endure.”
Overall, ACOTAR didn’t live up to the hype for me - I liked it but just didn’t love it.
The book was entertaining for the most part, but it was just SO hard to like any of the characters. I found Feyre to be extremely annoying and her sisters were just awful. Both Tamlin and Rhys were also problematic as hell. The closest I came to truly liking a character was Lucien, but even then he had moments where I couldn’t stand him.
In addition to the characters being unlikable, I also found the first half of the book to be very slow pacing wise. Things eventually picked up about halfway through - the best part of the book for me, was easily the last 150 pages or so.
Despite the characters and pacing, I did really enjoy the Beauty and the Beast retelling aspect of the story. I thought that the twists Maas put on the tale were clever and different.
In short, ACOTAR wasn’t by any means my new favorite fantasy read. It was a unique spin on the Beauty and the Beast, but the frustrating characters ruined it for me.
With all this being said, I was invested enough with ACOTAR that I did continue on with reading the series and I am SO glad that I did! I finished ACOMAF this afternoon and it makes having to read ACOTAR worth it! I loved ACOMAF to pieces. So, if you’re someone on the fence about continuing to read this series or not, I definitely recommend continuing on! The payoff in ACOMAF is incredible!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, War
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As always, Sarah J Maas astounds the reader with her writing prowess.
This book's beginning heavily borrows from Beauty and the Beast. But as the story progresses, it becomes hers.
There's some things that I disliked with respect to the characters' behaviours. But knowing the author, I think she's going to address this in her next books.
This book's beginning heavily borrows from Beauty and the Beast. But as the story progresses, it becomes hers.
There's some things that I disliked with respect to the characters' behaviours. But knowing the author, I think she's going to address this in her next books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
oh my god this book was literally so good. i listened to it as an audio book and wow i couldn’t pause it. it was the only audio book that i’ve ever listened to completely and i am just amazed at how much love i had for the characters and the plot. the first half made my heart swell. tamlin was absolutely wonderful. and the second half felt like a second book in itself. there wasn’t one part of the book that i hated. i cannot wait to read the next book in the series!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Animal death, Slavery, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow. Okay so I almost put this book down on a multitude of occasions but I'm really glad I didn't.
A big chunk of the book is very slow paced but damn that ending those last few chapters were just so good. I was unable to put the book down!
I also like the way that it didn't really end on a cliff hanger like most series do. So if you aren't a person that enjoys reading series you can still read this book and be content with that as an ending for the story as a whole.
A big chunk of the book is very slow paced but damn that ending those last few chapters were just so good. I was unable to put the book down!
I also like the way that it didn't really end on a cliff hanger like most series do. So if you aren't a person that enjoys reading series you can still read this book and be content with that as an ending for the story as a whole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t really enjoy this book. (Spoiler) the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin didn’t feel… good? There wasn’t much chemistry and he felt kinda 2-d to me. I liked Rhysand better but I also don’t get why he was so helpful? I also don’t get why the bat thing was sooooooo scary it literally did nothing. Now I was grotesquely impressed by how vivid the torture scenes and discussions of pain and torment were but…. Eh I just didn’t enjoy this. (End spoiler)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Blood, Alcohol, War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Not a fan of the whole “I fell in love with my captor” trope. Dumbass main narrator who feels the need to state the obvious 30 pages after I already came to the same conclusion. Idk. It was entertaining, but not really my vibe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In all fairness, I might probably just not be part of the intended audience for this book anymore, which is why my rating turned out so low. For a YA fantasy love story, this book has all the ingredients it needs to make a lover of the genre fall for it. It simply didnt do it for me. I was too distracted by the sheer stupidity of the main character to pay much attention to hot faerie princes. (Although my weak spot fot dark haired "villains" with a troubled past definitely got its fill here, i am afraid)
//edit after i finally fell asleep after finishing it at four am and finally realized what a fucking shitshow this story was
no actually, let's talk about this because in hindsight what a fucking fever dream this was. The characters were supposed to be what, in their mid to late twenties? Then why in the hell did they act like literal CHILDREN the entire fucking time?? I mean even for a supposed 'romance' there's wayyy too much focus on unnecessary who-kissed-who drama, considering Feyre is literally about to be tortured and slaughtered.
Speaking of our poor little protagonist, how is it that she, who very obviously got dragged into this whole mess against her will, gets blamed for Tamlins failure to break the curse? Her not saying 'i love you' was entirely reasonable so why is everyone mad at her instead of asking Tamlin why he didn't do anything sooner?
Those questionable morals seem to be deeply ebbed into the worldbuilding here though, or why else would nobody even bat an eye when Rhysand drugged Feyre regularly and took advantage of her in that state? And i'm not even going to get into how incredibly unnecessary the entire body paint thing was because i think we were all a little weirded out by that. Maybe there's even an explanation for it in the sequels, i won't be there to find out.
Then there's Tamlin. Oh, what a useless fucking idiot you are. While the woman he loves is being put through hell and back, he somehow manages to worm his way into the spotlight and earn praise for- doing absolutely nothing. He's not lifting a single finger to help her, let alone acknowledge her existence, and we're supposed to kiss his fucking feet for it. But he's hot so it's okay, i guess.
The only thing you really don't have to worry about is anything smut related. I don't know how exactly this ended up getting the reputation of faerie porn but i can assure you, it does not live up to its reputation. The 'fade to black' might happen a little bit after the start of their makeout session but except for violence and torture you won't find any explicit content here.
//edit after i finally fell asleep after finishing it at four am and finally realized what a fucking shitshow this story was
no actually, let's talk about this because in hindsight what a fucking fever dream this was. The characters were supposed to be what, in their mid to late twenties? Then why in the hell did they act like literal CHILDREN the entire fucking time?? I mean even for a supposed 'romance' there's wayyy too much focus on unnecessary who-kissed-who drama, considering Feyre is literally about to be tortured and slaughtered.
Speaking of our poor little protagonist, how is it that she, who very obviously got dragged into this whole mess against her will, gets blamed for Tamlins failure to break the curse? Her not saying 'i love you' was entirely reasonable so why is everyone mad at her instead of asking Tamlin why he didn't do anything sooner?
Those questionable morals seem to be deeply ebbed into the worldbuilding here though, or why else would nobody even bat an eye when Rhysand drugged Feyre regularly and took advantage of her in that state? And i'm not even going to get into how incredibly unnecessary the entire body paint thing was because i think we were all a little weirded out by that. Maybe there's even an explanation for it in the sequels, i won't be there to find out.
Then there's Tamlin. Oh, what a useless fucking idiot you are. While the woman he loves is being put through hell and back, he somehow manages to worm his way into the spotlight and earn praise for- doing absolutely nothing. He's not lifting a single finger to help her, let alone acknowledge her existence, and we're supposed to kiss his fucking feet for it. But he's hot so it's okay, i guess.
The only thing you really don't have to worry about is anything smut related. I don't know how exactly this ended up getting the reputation of faerie porn but i can assure you, it does not live up to its reputation. The 'fade to black' might happen a little bit after the start of their makeout session but except for violence and torture you won't find any explicit content here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment