Take a photo of a barcode or cover
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book really drags in the beginning to give too much world exposition before we even have the chance to care, surrounds main character by a family of near irredeemable characters that makes reader question why it spends so much time on them in the beginning, and repeats formulaic sequence of main character outright being stupid and putting self into harms way by doing the opposite of advice given, having to be rescued time and time again in drawn out false climaxes. That being said, the book redeems itself in the 3rd quarter, building on characters, creative action sequences, romance, and straight up gore and tragedy into resolution to make us feel something for an initially dull and annoyingly dumb main character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment
adventurous
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
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
I honestly did love this book, very little descriptive sex scenes which I enjoyed. The ending was super well written and mostly just felt a little rushed at times. I wish we got to know more about the villain but I also understand it's the first book in a long series.
My biggest complaints come from when Feyre and Tamlin first start the whole romance things. It felt, underdeveloped. Like he does a few nice things for her and then she's suddenly head over heals for him almost for no reason. She forgives him way to quickly and for someone who was kidnapped, kinda just looks over it and forgives him for VERYRHINF. Lucine is my fav though, and Feyre also forgives him too quickly.
I enjoyed the ending but the middle and begining where a slight drag.
My biggest complaints come from when Feyre and Tamlin first start the whole romance things. It felt, underdeveloped. Like he does a few nice things for her and then she's suddenly head over heals for him almost for no reason. She forgives him way to quickly and for someone who was kidnapped, kinda just looks over it and forgives him for VERYRHINF. Lucine is my fav though, and Feyre also forgives him too quickly.
I enjoyed the ending but the middle and begining where a slight drag.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Classism
Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I guess I don’t hate it, but I really do not like it.
I’m currently reading the next book in the series, and the further I get, the more I think this book is only here to serve as a prequel. I don’t feel like it stands very well on its own merits, and as it is, I’m wondering if it was all set up just for the sequel to tear down.
Now. The main thread of this book, and one of the most frustrating things about it, is how the main character Feyre is kept incredibly uninformed about the world, its magic, and the people around her.
For most of the novel the characters have reasons or excuses for never telling her important details. But in my opinion, there are plenty of situations in the book where they definitely could have told her more. They could have answered many more of her questions. They could have explained why something was dangerous. Especially when it becomes clear that this girl will not follow a rule or a warning without being given any reasoning behind it. Characters then often blame Feyre for being uninformed about magic or faerie society, which I find to be…well, unfair and kinda slimy. Especially when sex gets involved.
It also means that some of the rules of the magic in the world are just murky and unclear and appear to be inconsistent. The narration is in 1st person so (with maybe a few exceptions) we only know what Feyre knows.
And on the topic of world building, I had a little trouble staying invested when it came to the main villain of this book. They felt a little stereotypical to me in the way they are described. Additionally one of the great challenges they present, that ends up being the climax of the book, just felt a little silly.I mean you’re telling me that this incredibly jaded war lord, for her incredibly high stakes challenge, is going to present a riddle about…love? Besides which, I’ve seen that the riddle is pretty obvious to many readers (I solved it immediately lol I mean come on). I guess we can assume Amarantha doesn’t think humans to be very smart but to stake her power on that assumption? Even though Feyre was genuinely challenged by it, how would Amarantha know that? I dunno girl. It just seemed a little ridiculous.
I also have some thoughts about how the narration deals with class issues in this book. There seems to be kind of a rigid caste structure in this world that doesn’t really get examined.The narrative establishes kind of an innate hierarchy of races and sub-races, and then from that point onwards, the narration seems to almost exclusively care about the lives of the “High Fae,” who basically act as the magical world’s rulers and nobility. Lots of other faeries are described but none really appear to have personalities— the servants even being literally invisible for a large portion of the book — and Feyre doesn’t seem to concern herself with them. She also starts to look down upon her fellow humans at one point. But at the end of the day, I guess Feyre wasn’t a poor girl. She was a temporarily embarrassed rich girl. /s I might be taking this part of the book too seriously, but if you’re one to read your fantasy books through a lens of class consciousness, well. Might not be the one for you.
And the way she gets resurrected at the end? I found myself thinking, not for the first time since starting the book, “that was an option???” I can’t help but feel weird about them resurrecting our white girl romantic lead protagonist and not the literal child that also died at the end. But I guess was kind of necessary to set us up in the next book.
Another point of frustration for me are Feyre’s own feelings about her family. I feel personally like whenever the narrative turns towards her father and sisters that her feelings are inconsistent. And listen. I know feelings don’t have to make sense. But it was a frustrating reading experience, mostly because for the majority of the book, I don’t feel like the narration recognizes the dichotomy in how she feels about them. It just kind of switches back and forth between devotion and resent.
I also feel a little uncomfortable knowing who the fan-favorite love interest ends up being in later books. That character treats the protagonist absolutely horribly in this book, and while there are (again) lots of magical and political reasons for him to treat her that way, if it’s not addressed and reconciled later, I’ll be kind of grumpy about it lol. Of course, this book’s love interest doesn’t treat Feyre great either IMO, and has a fair few red flags himself, but honestly. It’s bad. It’s all bad.
Now here’s what I did like:
I like that Feyre has character growth. It’s subtle and slow, but as a character who hasn’t had the time or privilege for introspection in her adolescent life, I think it makes sense. Feyre is a hunter by trade but the story has her questioning who and what she wants to be.
I like that the love story has our characters finding common ground. That sounds like a low bar I guess, but the narrative is VERY EXPLICIT that they find each other sexy, so it’s nice that spice isn't all the characters have in common lol.
When the book bothers to flesh out other characters than our main couple, I do tend to like them. Lucien is very likable, and I even ended up liking Nesta.
Already I can see the sequel has more characters for us to get to know, and I hope for more development for them and for Feyre.
I’m currently reading the next book in the series, and the further I get, the more I think this book is only here to serve as a prequel. I don’t feel like it stands very well on its own merits, and as it is, I’m wondering if it was all set up just for the sequel to tear down.
Now. The main thread of this book, and one of the most frustrating things about it, is how the main character Feyre is kept incredibly uninformed about the world, its magic, and the people around her.
For most of the novel the characters have reasons or excuses for never telling her important details. But in my opinion, there are plenty of situations in the book where they definitely could have told her more. They could have answered many more of her questions. They could have explained why something was dangerous. Especially when it becomes clear that this girl will not follow a rule or a warning without being given any reasoning behind it. Characters then often blame Feyre for being uninformed about magic or faerie society, which I find to be…well, unfair and kinda slimy. Especially when sex gets involved.
It also means that some of the rules of the magic in the world are just murky and unclear and appear to be inconsistent. The narration is in 1st person so (with maybe a few exceptions) we only know what Feyre knows.
And on the topic of world building, I had a little trouble staying invested when it came to the main villain of this book. They felt a little stereotypical to me in the way they are described. Additionally one of the great challenges they present, that ends up being the climax of the book, just felt a little silly.
I also have some thoughts about how the narration deals with class issues in this book. There seems to be kind of a rigid caste structure in this world that doesn’t really get examined.
Another point of frustration for me are Feyre’s own feelings about her family. I feel personally like whenever the narrative turns towards her father and sisters that her feelings are inconsistent. And listen. I know feelings don’t have to make sense. But it was a frustrating reading experience, mostly because for the majority of the book, I don’t feel like the narration recognizes the dichotomy in how she feels about them. It just kind of switches back and forth between devotion and resent.
I also feel a little uncomfortable knowing who the fan-favorite love interest ends up being in later books. That character treats the protagonist absolutely horribly in this book, and while there are (again) lots of magical and political reasons for him to treat her that way, if it’s not addressed and reconciled later, I’ll be kind of grumpy about it lol. Of course, this book’s love interest doesn’t treat Feyre great either IMO, and has a fair few red flags himself, but honestly. It’s bad. It’s all bad.
Now here’s what I did like:
I like that Feyre has character growth. It’s subtle and slow, but as a character who hasn’t had the time or privilege for introspection in her adolescent life, I think it makes sense. Feyre is a hunter by trade but the story has her questioning who and what she wants to be.
I like that the love story has our characters finding common ground. That sounds like a low bar I guess, but the narrative is VERY EXPLICIT that they find each other sexy, so it’s nice that spice isn't all the characters have in common lol.
When the book bothers to flesh out other characters than our main couple, I do tend to like them. Lucien is very likable, and I even ended up liking Nesta.
Already I can see the sequel has more characters for us to get to know, and I hope for more development for them and for Feyre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, War
-Is drinking “faerie wine” alcohol use or drug use? It blurs the line.
-Fantasy racism is a big topic in this book.
-Additionally while it’s never addressed directly, I think this book is kind of heavy on rape culture. Our main character Feyre is blamed for the male love interest being out of control around her, sexually (Magic was involved in the scenario, but she was not informed about the effects). Additionally towards the end of the novel, she is made to perform sexual dances while under the influence. Generally the narrative has a habit of not informing the Feyre of anything, and then blaming her for making uninformed decisions.
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Minor: Hate crime, Vomit, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Yes
This book is heavily based on fairy tales (Beauty and the Beast). I didn’t finish this book the first time a read it but this time I was successful. From what I’ve heard from Maas fans this is her worst book, which for the record was a good book. There were some things I thought should be different in the book but still a great read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In some regards it feels like a fanfiction, but at these times its more funny and self-aware rather than cringe. I especeially remember a scene where the protagonist is asked about her previous love-life very early in the book. While it makes somewhat sense later it still felt very unnatural. The book also has some nice plot-twists and despite me not taking a liking to neither the protagonist nor the male-lead I found some other charatcers quite intruging and likely will be the reason I continue with the other books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, War
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really expected this book to be garbage. I generally cannot stand first person narration so I listened to the audiobook which helps me focus on the plot and not the writing. It was enjoyable! Definitely worth the read if you like an easy fun fantasy romance. Sometimes things are popular for a reason! I had only ever heard these books described as “fairy porn” but the sex scenes were only a step or two above fade-to-black. There is a lot of icky sex used as a policial ploy and a lot of coercion and objectification of the main character. Despite it technically being YA, I would not recommend to young people who still fall into the trap of romanticizing that, because I don’t think the book does enough to condemn the abuse of power dynamics like that. Also it barely passes the bechdel test, and is definitely a Stockholm syndrome scenario. But in a world where game of thrones is the gold standard, I think this book deserves a fraction of the flack it receives. Let women enjoy things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Alcoholism