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ptitirodactyle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.75
One of my friends is OBSESSED with this series and I’m reading it thanks to her.
I didn’t expect a booktok book to be this well written. I really enjoyed the vibes/aesthetics of Prythian.
I am also officially a Ne-stan, she can step on me anytime 😌 The other characters were a bit forgettable.
I laughed out loud everytime a character was described as “purring”. I thought it made no sense that Amarantha would jeopardize 49 years of work for shits, giggles and a riddle too.
I’m curious to read the other books in the series.
I didn’t expect a booktok book to be this well written. I really enjoyed the vibes/aesthetics of Prythian.
I am also officially a Ne-stan, she can step on me anytime 😌 The other characters were a bit forgettable.
I laughed out loud everytime a character was described as “purring”. I thought it made no sense that Amarantha would jeopardize 49 years of work for shits, giggles and a riddle too.
I’m curious to read the other books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Vomit
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
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
0.25
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: Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Torture, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Slavery
dreamwrapt's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Where to begin... this was just horrible. Literally a remix of Twilight. I don't get why this is popular. Read something better written, please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, War, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Eating disorder, Slavery, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use
sarahreadsromance's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-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? No
3.75
Look it may not be the most well written and there are some grey lines that are towed in this book, but it definitely is addicting and I definitely will be reading the next books. If you’re looking for an easy fantasy read that is slightly dark, it does the job. It’s cliche, but if you’re just here for the vibes, do it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Vomit, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Torture, War, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gore, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Murder, and Violence
ralfy's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
At the time I read it, it was great. Now it’s fine, not really my thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Death, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent
livvmarks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Slavery, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Vomit, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and War
aschuylerlizard's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ok so this is a really cursed howl's moving castle fanfiction but it's fun to read so i'm going straight to the second book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Torture
milenabates's review against another edition
dark
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
1.5
One and a half only because I did finish it. But there were so many "wait what?" moments. The writing is just not good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Sexual assault, and Drug use
markwillnevercry's review against another edition
3.75
Now I can finally watch all of those videos I have been saving about ACOFAR. It took me some time (like ten minutes) to figure out the star rating and how I feel about this book, so here are some mangeled notes: It was okay. I did not particularly enjoyed specific things, but there are no things that I really disliked to still remember them after finishing the book and sitting down for a bit. I liked some characters, I was kinda interested in how the story would progress. I will probably continue with the series. But I did not feel all that happy after reading it. It was okay, but I will not be rereading it, not even thinking about buying a copy for myself. Still, I get the hype. And here are my reading notes:
Why is this set in the UK?
So much not like the other girls, I swear to god.
I bet whoever she will find, they will teach her to write/read.
It was provoked tho, as they would have died from hunger otherwise.
I am really getting tired of her just being “Fairies = bad” every three seconds.
Feyre is so weird for remarking on Lucien’s metal eye.
Tamlin be like: “Do whatever you want with your life.”
But he also be like: *puts invisible bonds*
Feyre should have been fine with being killed, if her only reason to go with him was to kill him and get back. Now, that she is being told in the way that she can believe that her family is being cared for, it is weird of her to keep saying, that Tamlin is “holding [her] family’s well-being against her if she stepped out of line” since her stepping out of line would mean killing her and going against the treaty.
That was such a long description of her face. Bro, I know you write for teenagers, but come on.
I bet the painting was by Tamlin.
Girly, you have just been ready to kill him and now it is all “sheer male beauty”.
Grace? In his breathing?
Yo, they are stuck in masks? That is actually interesting.
Oh no, how could those “terrible beasts” be upset about her loss, when it is clear that she is still hurting. And there is no “I did not miss her in years”, since she is always going back to the promise and has only been able to not be very upset about it, because she needed to survive.
Me when a person is kinda forced to live with me until I die, so they try to be nice to me and figure out how to spend time with me. But no, that could not possibly be it, Lucien just wants her to get eaten by a bear.
It is honestly kind of annoying seeing her dismiss people and assume that everyone is worse than her, or at least more stupid.
Feyre expects to be killed simply for living and talking.
This is “Beauty and the Beast” all over again with her dad. That is such a trap tho, I have no clue how she pretends that everyone is so smart, when she acts like this.
Now I get why this book is this long, since it took her a couple of chapters to understand what he said, even tho he cannot lie.
This girly be like “treaty is not fair, i did not agree to be bound by it” and then be like “oh, poor fae (who i hated so much two seconds ago), they are forced into such anger by their immortality”.
I bet Tamlin will teach her to read and write when he learns about her not being able to.
I do not quite get how she finally understood that there is nothing she can do and her life is therefore meaningless, yet she still is making a plan to escape.
Yo, it’s the Sailor Moon transformation with light.
Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying.
Girly, you do not know how powerful Bogge actually is. Maybe it is like a frog.
Lucien is so nice, but I bet Feyre will still hate him for no reason.
He did not say “if” you need to escape, he said “when you free Suriel, you will need to escape”.
I thought we established that Tamlin is a High Lord long ago?
“His human woman” is because you are in his court. The same as Lucien is his, you stupid.
“ignoring how easily I could see the cut of his muscles beneath his white shirt”, cause he is so so so sexy seconds after you almost died.
Why is she now deciding how Lucien should be punished? He probably did not know a better way to trap a Suriel and was trying to help the best he could.
Why is Tamlin suddenly talking about handing out punishments to Feyre?
I see we left plot and now they are just horny.
Bonfire night. Why is Feyre so stupid? Why did she not go back to the house when the black haired high fey left?
Bruh. Chapter 21. I see we left the plot entirely and we got out "fae sex ritual, because fantasy". (to cut out the rant, this is why I abandoned Sabrina's adventures)
??????????? Bro, rape. Flashing red lights rape. There is no "if she doesn't listen, I don't have to deal with what happens". Rape. Stop it.
Why is she now wearing dresses? Is this the arc where she loses her personality, because it's time for the steamy scenes?
Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying. x2
Would she just get extremely overwhelmed from enhancing her feelings?
So first she says that there are no celebrations, but now that they celebrate the summer solstice?
I swear to god, the sex scenes are written so bad. “He sheathed into me”? Girly, chill.
This all is just set in Britain. Elaine is talking about tulips in the Netherlands.
Ah yes, a very good idea to go back to the village to give people money. Good thing there are barely any consequences about people suddenly becoming rich in this book.
Oh my god, look, now she is talking about humans like she once did about fae about how weird they look, that is so crazy.
First of all, Feyre, you are stupid, you do not know if this is not a trap. Second of all, tough love is not love, it is abuse. Third of all, you are not supposed to tell to protect yourself, so Amarantha cannot reach into the mind of your sister and figure out from her where you are and use you to hurt Tamlin.
THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. See, Feyre, you told them a different name and they attacked it. They will figure it out.
As a possibility, she should have considered that Tamlin had put glamour over it, so when she returned, she would be disappointed and would just turn back to her family.
So all of this was fixed by Tamlin. I bet this is just the conflict in the 75% mark and then she will go back to him. Or maybe in a different book. Also, they just changed from telling that she needed to get married to him, to just telling him that she loves him.
I also just noticed that the terrible place where the people got killed and everything is bad - yeah, that’s Ireland.
Tamlin sent so many of his people over the wall to get rid of the curse, maybe he is just not great. Sure, it is all for a greater goal, but it is not fair to people who trust him.
Okay, I was kinda wrong, Feyre does not hate him, because he gave up on wooing her and that makes it all okay.
Don’t worry Feyre, you keep falling for traps.
Why is this set in the UK?
So much not like the other girls, I swear to god.
I bet whoever she will find, they will teach her to write/read.
It was provoked tho, as they would have died from hunger otherwise.
I am really getting tired of her just being “Fairies = bad” every three seconds.
Feyre is so weird for remarking on Lucien’s metal eye.
Tamlin be like: “Do whatever you want with your life.”
But he also be like: *puts invisible bonds*
Feyre should have been fine with being killed, if her only reason to go with him was to kill him and get back. Now, that she is being told in the way that she can believe that her family is being cared for, it is weird of her to keep saying, that Tamlin is “holding [her] family’s well-being against her if she stepped out of line” since her stepping out of line would mean killing her and going against the treaty.
That was such a long description of her face. Bro, I know you write for teenagers, but come on.
I bet the painting was by Tamlin.
Girly, you have just been ready to kill him and now it is all “sheer male beauty”.
Grace? In his breathing?
Yo, they are stuck in masks? That is actually interesting.
Oh no, how could those “terrible beasts” be upset about her loss, when it is clear that she is still hurting. And there is no “I did not miss her in years”, since she is always going back to the promise and has only been able to not be very upset about it, because she needed to survive.
Me when a person is kinda forced to live with me until I die, so they try to be nice to me and figure out how to spend time with me. But no, that could not possibly be it, Lucien just wants her to get eaten by a bear.
It is honestly kind of annoying seeing her dismiss people and assume that everyone is worse than her, or at least more stupid.
Feyre expects to be killed simply for living and talking.
This is “Beauty and the Beast” all over again with her dad. That is such a trap tho, I have no clue how she pretends that everyone is so smart, when she acts like this.
Now I get why this book is this long, since it took her a couple of chapters to understand what he said, even tho he cannot lie.
This girly be like “treaty is not fair, i did not agree to be bound by it” and then be like “oh, poor fae (who i hated so much two seconds ago), they are forced into such anger by their immortality”.
I bet Tamlin will teach her to read and write when he learns about her not being able to.
I do not quite get how she finally understood that there is nothing she can do and her life is therefore meaningless, yet she still is making a plan to escape.
Yo, it’s the Sailor Moon transformation with light.
Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying.
Girly, you do not know how powerful Bogge actually is. Maybe it is like a frog.
Lucien is so nice, but I bet Feyre will still hate him for no reason.
He did not say “if” you need to escape, he said “when you free Suriel, you will need to escape”.
I thought we established that Tamlin is a High Lord long ago?
“His human woman” is because you are in his court. The same as Lucien is his, you stupid.
“ignoring how easily I could see the cut of his muscles beneath his white shirt”, cause he is so so so sexy seconds after you almost died.
Why is she now deciding how Lucien should be punished? He probably did not know a better way to trap a Suriel and was trying to help the best he could.
Why is Tamlin suddenly talking about handing out punishments to Feyre?
I see we left plot and now they are just horny.
Bonfire night. Why is Feyre so stupid? Why did she not go back to the house when the black haired high fey left?
Bruh. Chapter 21. I see we left the plot entirely and we got out "fae sex ritual, because fantasy". (to cut out the rant, this is why I abandoned Sabrina's adventures)
??????????? Bro, rape. Flashing red lights rape. There is no "if she doesn't listen, I don't have to deal with what happens". Rape. Stop it.
Why is she now wearing dresses? Is this the arc where she loses her personality, because it's time for the steamy scenes?
Oh no, my alpha male man is so lonely and powerful and he is isolating himself, because of how heavy of a burden he is carrying. x2
Would she just get extremely overwhelmed from enhancing her feelings?
So first she says that there are no celebrations, but now that they celebrate the summer solstice?
I swear to god, the sex scenes are written so bad. “He sheathed into me”? Girly, chill.
This all is just set in Britain. Elaine is talking about tulips in the Netherlands.
Ah yes, a very good idea to go back to the village to give people money. Good thing there are barely any consequences about people suddenly becoming rich in this book.
Oh my god, look, now she is talking about humans like she once did about fae about how weird they look, that is so crazy.
First of all, Feyre, you are stupid, you do not know if this is not a trap. Second of all, tough love is not love, it is abuse. Third of all, you are not supposed to tell to protect yourself, so Amarantha cannot reach into the mind of your sister and figure out from her where you are and use you to hurt Tamlin.
THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. See, Feyre, you told them a different name and they attacked it. They will figure it out.
As a possibility, she should have considered that Tamlin had put glamour over it, so when she returned, she would be disappointed and would just turn back to her family.
So all of this was fixed by Tamlin. I bet this is just the conflict in the 75% mark and then she will go back to him. Or maybe in a different book. Also, they just changed from telling that she needed to get married to him, to just telling him that she loves him.
I also just noticed that the terrible place where the people got killed and everything is bad - yeah, that’s Ireland.
Tamlin sent so many of his people over the wall to get rid of the curse, maybe he is just not great. Sure, it is all for a greater goal, but it is not fair to people who trust him.
Okay, I was kinda wrong, Feyre does not hate him, because he gave up on wooing her and that makes it all okay.
Don’t worry Feyre, you keep falling for traps.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Body horror, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Confinement, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Sexism
Moderate: War, Slavery, and Rape
Minor: Genocide
I am not sure if basically making fun of someone illiteracy is abelism. Not sure if the human/fey dynamic is based on racism. Could not really classify different wines as drugs, but did anyway.bookishchef's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Mixed feelings.
Was really enjoying the story up until about 45% even though the original Beauty and the Beast themes were mostly gone. After all, Feyre isn't learning to love Tamlin *despite* his appearance at all. (She isn't learning to love him despite his race either. She overcomes her racism within no time).
There's no "this is the moral" moments because I don't think this story has any morals at all, unlike the original Beauty and the Beast.
SJM hits the story beats of both the original La Belle et la Bête and the Disney adaptation. But again, doesn't go into the themes surrounding those stories at all. So this is more a Beauty and the Beast backdrop or AU-setting than a retelling.
Regardless of that, the story was fun entertainment. It wasn't high literature at all. Everything was easy for the main character, almost everyone was nice to her[(despite her murdering someone!) So yeah, this story just screamed dumb fun.
And the voice acting of the audio drama I was listening to, was insanely good. Even though the actors moaning at every slightly sexual scene made me uncomfortable. Actually. All of the sex scenes kind of sucked.
It would have been an unserious 4 star read. But then the issues started. The truly bad issues. Here's a list of them:
1. Sexual Assault
Around the 45% mark, Feyre (almost) gets SAd twice. Once by a random group of men. Once by Tamlin. And we're supposed to find the latter romantic? I'm supposed to be rooting for this relationship?
Worst of all, when she tells Tamlin and Lucien that she didn't like being SAd, they laugh at her. They tell her she should have expected it because she was out late at night and told to stay indoors, so it was her fault. Jesus H. Christ?!
A few pages later we're supposed to find Tamlin's and Feyre's relationship romantic again? I truly don't know what the author was thinking here.
Multiple times, it is mentioned that Tamlin "just can't help himself" or "can't stop himself". This is seen as normal and Feyre just accepts it outright. I fucking hated it.
Around the 90% mark Rhysand, kisses her against her will. There's a plot reason for this. He does it to cover for her and Tamlin. But it's so so so icky.
2. Inconsistent characterisation
Tamlin is inconsistent and goes from being a bloodthirsty warlord, angry at Feyre for murdering his friend, to head over heels for Feyre within paragraphs. He SAs her, then keeps on being romantic with her. He tells her she cannot leave, and then tells her to leave him (which works in the original because The Beast goes through character development, but Tamlin does not develop at all, so this feels weird.)
It is later revealed that Tamlin let Andris get killed on purpose. That it is all part of Tamlin's curse and his plan to let his friends get killed only for a chance of breaking his curse (which does NOT make him likeable). But then his and Lucien's anger does not make sense! Tamlin breaks down Feyre's door and permanently mentally scars her family in the beginning of the story. So is he angry and vengeful? Or does he not give a shit about Andris because he just needs a human girl to marry him?
Lucien's character, while being the best, is also inconsistent. He goes from vomiting at the sight of blood to cleaning up decapitated heads without an issue, without any significant character moments which could cause that development.
He starts off hating Feyre for killing his friend. Almost gets her killed by omitting important information and not coming to her rescue despite promising to do so. And then, he out of nowhere starts bantering with her and protecting her from Rhysand. What? Did Lucien care about Andris or not? Does he want Tamlin's curse to be broken or not?
Nesta starts off a complete bitch who refuses to help Feyre in feeding their family. To the extend that she doesn't even chop wood for a fire because she doesn't care. She is peak laziness and an awful sister and person, just like the sisters in the original La Belle et la Bête.
But then, when the riches come back. She suddenly cares about Feyre? She goes after her? She tells Feyre that she couldn't have helped more? And starts painting with Feyre? Literally a complete retcon of her character within 1 book.
Amarantha is incredibly evil and cruel throughout the book (or at least after we finally meet her). It makes no sense with her characterisation for her to give Feyre an 'out'. To give Feyre that riddle that will instantly save Tamlin. You're telling me, that someone THAT ruthless would leave a gap in her plan like that? Especially since she apparently does care about semantics with the whole ""immediately" only applies to the riddle not the trials"-bullshit".
Feyre doesn't escape the inconsistencies either. Sometimes she wants to escape, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she cares about having killed Andris, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she believes her family is horrible and wants to leave them forever, sometimes she crawls back to them and loves them again. Sometimes she wants to find information about the Blight, sometimes she just wants to suck and fuck Tamlin. Sometimes she rightfully wants to kill Rhysand, sometimes she kind of wants to suck and fuck him too.
Sigh.
3. Bad writing
While being threatened by Rhysand, Feyre gives him a fake name. Instead of giving her own, she gives the name of one of her sisters' friends: Claire.
This is the first time we hear of Claire. We have never heard anything about her or her relationship with Feyre's sisters before. She has never been relevant before, she has had no speaking lines and has literally never been on page.
Then, Rhysand burns down Claire's house. And Claire's family dies. Again, this does not happen on page and we, the reader, have never met Claire or her family. Instead, we hang out with Feyre's sisters, who also BARELY seem sad that Claire's family is dead. Despite apparently being her friends.
When Feyre eventually goes to save Tamlin, Feyre sees Claire's tortured corpse. She died because Feyre gave her name instead of her own.
And I do not give a flying fuck.
The reader hasn't spend any time with Claire, we know nothing about Claire, not even Feyre's sisters cared about Claire. Nobody cares about Claire. So why should I?
The reveal of Claire's corpse is supposed to be a big moment, but it just rings hollow because there hasn't been any setup.
This is just an example of some of the issues in this book.
Maybe if SJM had made Claire an actual character earlier on. Maybe if we had actually seen Claire chat with Nesta or Elain. Maybe if we had been SHOWN any sign of Claire before. MAYBE I would have given a shit.
And this isn't just a Claire issue. Half of the characters are bad or useless.
- You have Alis. Who is only there for exposition and is barely a character beyond that.
- And Elain, who has a flower garden. And that's her entire characterisation.
- And Feyre's dad, who has a messed up leg. And that's his entire characterisation.
- And Isaac, who is there to be Feyre's ex. And for her to compare Tamlin to. And that's it.
So, most of the characters do not have characterisations and the ones that do are inconsistent. Great.
4. Show don't tell violations
- We hear about Claire being kidnapped and murdered. But we don't get to see it. (Hell we don't even get to see Claire while she's alive)
- We hear about Isaac and Feyre having a complicated relationship, but we don't get to see it.
- We hear about Tamlin having to whip Lucien, which almost breaks both of them. But we don't get to see it.
SJM doesn't show us the most interesting parts of the book.
5. Repetitive writing
The "so [insert adjective] I couldn't paint it" or "I could never paint that" shit when Feyre saw or experienced something nice was extremely overused. I counted 6 seperate times before the 60% mark. It got annoying fast.
6. The fucking curse
The curse is so overly complex and has so many (sub)clauses. It's fucking ridiculous.
Tamlin has to find a human girl willing to marry him and then the curse will be broken. Okay got it. That makes sense.
HOWEVER
- This human girl has to hate fae enough that she first has to kill a faerie.
- This faerie can't be any faerie, it had to be one of Tamlin's men.
- And the human girl can't murder out of self defense, she had to kill the faerie unprovoked.
- The human girl has to tell Tamlin to his face that she loves him, and mean it
- Tamlin, nor anyone else, is allowed to tell the human girl about the curse during any of this.
- Tamlin and his entire court, forcibly get a mask attached to their faces so that the human girl can't be impressed by their beauty and therefore fall in love with Tamlin.
Bitch. Why the fuck does his curse need SIX different clauses? Why is does this curse read like a legal contract?
Also why does the entire court need to wear a mask? Only Tamlin needs to have his beauty hidden, right?
Also, Alis first says that Tamlin needs to marry a human girl, but then says that the curse would have been resolved if Feyre had just told him she loved him. So which fucking is it?
7. Rhysand
Oh my fucking God. This is the worst Aaron Warner situation I've ever encountered. I know this cunt becomes a love interest in the next book and I literally cannot accept that.
He treats Feyre extremely cruelly because he wants to anger Tamlin enough for him to kill Amarantha. Thing is, I think Tamlin is already PLENTY angry.
Or idk? Kill fucking Amarantha yourself after the curse has been lifted? She literally sexually abused you? I'm sure you're plenty angry yourself. Why shift that responsibility to Tamlin?
This is especially an issue since Rhysand does actually try to kill her when Tamlin can't do so and the curse doesn't lift right after the trials. So he didn't even need Tamlin to begin with! (And even when the curse does lift and Tamlin kills Amarantha, I don't see why Rhysand couldn't have done that. Or why Tamlin needed to be angered more. He was already furious!)
And angering Tamlin also doesn't excuse the fact that Rhysand also treats Feyre horribly when Tamlin isn't even fucking there. He messes with the bones in her broken arm, constantly sexually harassed her, and licks away her tears while they're in the privacy of Feyre's cell. Why do that if you're just trying to anger Tamlin?
He literally objectifies Feyre and abuses her the whole time. He only treats her okay-ish when she turns into a fae at the end.
There is no way, and I mean, absolutely no way that he can be redeemed.
Now these 7 sins don't mean I didn't find any enjoyment in this book. It was still dumb fun sometimes (although I hated the ending. Truly wished Feyre died to be honest).
The issues with this book were so glaring that I can't give this more than 2 stars.
Was really enjoying the story up until about 45% even though the original Beauty and the Beast themes were mostly gone. After all, Feyre isn't
There's no "this is the moral" moments because I don't think this story has any morals at all, unlike the original Beauty and the Beast.
SJM hits the story beats of both the original La Belle et la Bête and the Disney adaptation. But again, doesn't go into the themes surrounding those stories at all. So this is more a Beauty and the Beast backdrop or AU-setting than a retelling.
Regardless of that, the story was fun entertainment. It wasn't high literature at all. Everything was easy for the main character, almost everyone was nice to her
And the voice acting of the audio drama I was listening to, was insanely good. Even though the actors moaning at every slightly sexual scene made me uncomfortable. Actually. All of the sex scenes kind of sucked.
It would have been an unserious 4 star read. But then the issues started. The truly bad issues. Here's a list of them:
1. Sexual Assault
Worst of all, when she tells Tamlin and Lucien that she didn't like being SAd, they laugh at her. They tell her she should have expected it because she was out late at night and told to stay indoors, so it was her fault. Jesus H. Christ?!
A few pages later we're supposed to find Tamlin's and Feyre's relationship romantic again? I truly don't know what the author was thinking here.
Multiple times, it is mentioned that Tamlin "just can't help himself" or "can't stop himself". This is seen as normal and Feyre just accepts it outright. I fucking hated it.
Around the 90% mark Rhysand, kisses her against her will. There's a plot reason for this. He does it to cover for her and Tamlin. But it's so so so icky.
2. Inconsistent characterisation
It is later revealed that Tamlin let Andris get killed on purpose. That it is all part of Tamlin's curse and his plan to let his friends get killed only for a chance of breaking his curse (which does NOT make him likeable). But then his and Lucien's anger does not make sense! Tamlin breaks down Feyre's door and permanently mentally scars her family in the beginning of the story. So is he angry and vengeful? Or does he not give a shit about Andris because he just needs a human girl to marry him?
Lucien's character, while being the best, is also inconsistent. He goes from vomiting at the sight of blood to cleaning up decapitated heads without an issue, without any significant character moments which could cause that development.
He starts off hating Feyre for killing his friend. Almost gets her killed by omitting important information and not coming to her rescue despite promising to do so. And then, he out of nowhere starts bantering with her and protecting her from Rhysand. What? Did Lucien care about Andris or not? Does he want Tamlin's curse to be broken or not?
Nesta starts off a complete bitch who refuses to help Feyre in feeding their family. To the extend that she doesn't even chop wood for a fire because she doesn't care. She is peak laziness and an awful sister and person, just like the sisters in the original La Belle et la Bête.
But then, when the riches come back. She suddenly cares about Feyre? She goes after her? She tells Feyre that she couldn't have helped more? And starts painting with Feyre? Literally a complete retcon of her character within 1 book.
Amarantha is incredibly evil and cruel throughout the book (or at least after we finally meet her). It makes no sense with her characterisation for her to give Feyre an 'out'. To give Feyre that riddle that will instantly save Tamlin. You're telling me, that someone THAT ruthless would leave a gap in her plan like that? Especially since she apparently does care about semantics with the whole ""immediately" only applies to the riddle not the trials"-bullshit".
Feyre doesn't escape the inconsistencies either. Sometimes she wants to escape, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she cares about having killed Andris, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she believes her family is horrible and wants to leave them forever, sometimes she crawls back to them and loves them again. Sometimes she wants to find information about the Blight, sometimes she just wants to suck and fuck Tamlin. Sometimes she rightfully wants to kill Rhysand, sometimes she kind of wants to suck and fuck him too.
Sigh.
3. Bad writing
This is the first time we hear of Claire. We have never heard anything about her or her relationship with Feyre's sisters before. She has never been relevant before, she has had no speaking lines and has literally never been on page.
Then, Rhysand burns down Claire's house. And Claire's family dies. Again, this does not happen on page and we, the reader, have never met Claire or her family. Instead, we hang out with Feyre's sisters, who also BARELY seem sad that Claire's family is dead. Despite apparently being her friends.
When Feyre eventually goes to save Tamlin, Feyre sees Claire's tortured corpse. She died because Feyre gave her name instead of her own.
And I do not give a flying fuck.
The reader hasn't spend any time with Claire, we know nothing about Claire, not even Feyre's sisters cared about Claire. Nobody cares about Claire. So why should I?
The reveal of Claire's corpse is supposed to be a big moment, but it just rings hollow because there hasn't been any setup.
This is just an example of some of the issues in this book.
Maybe if SJM had made Claire an actual character earlier on. Maybe if we had actually seen Claire chat with Nesta or Elain. Maybe if we had been SHOWN any sign of Claire before. MAYBE I would have given a shit.
And this isn't just a Claire issue. Half of the characters are bad or useless.
- You have Alis. Who is only there for exposition and is barely a character beyond that.
- And Elain, who has a flower garden. And that's her entire characterisation.
- And Feyre's dad, who has a messed up leg. And that's his entire characterisation.
- And Isaac, who is there to be Feyre's ex. And for her to compare Tamlin to. And that's it.
So, most of the characters do not have characterisations and the ones that do are inconsistent. Great.
4. Show don't tell violations
- We hear about Isaac and Feyre having a complicated relationship, but we don't get to see it.
- We hear about Tamlin having to whip Lucien, which almost breaks both of them. But we don't get to see it.
SJM doesn't show us the most interesting parts of the book.
5. Repetitive writing
The "so [insert adjective] I couldn't paint it" or "I could never paint that" shit when Feyre saw or experienced something nice was extremely overused. I counted 6 seperate times before the 60% mark. It got annoying fast.
6. The fucking
The curse is so overly complex and has so many (sub)clauses. It's fucking ridiculous.
Tamlin has to find a human girl willing to marry him and then the curse will be broken. Okay got it. That makes sense.
HOWEVER
- This human girl has to hate fae enough that she first has to kill a faerie.
- This faerie can't be any faerie, it had to be one of Tamlin's men.
- And the human girl can't murder out of self defense, she had to kill the faerie unprovoked.
- The human girl has to tell Tamlin to his face that she loves him, and mean it
- Tamlin, nor anyone else, is allowed to tell the human girl about the curse during any of this.
- Tamlin and his entire court, forcibly get a mask attached to their faces so that the human girl can't be impressed by their beauty and therefore fall in love with Tamlin.
Bitch. Why the fuck does his curse need SIX different clauses? Why is does this curse read like a legal contract?
Also why does the entire court need to wear a mask? Only Tamlin needs to have his beauty hidden, right?
Also, Alis first says that Tamlin needs to marry a human girl, but then says that the curse would have been resolved if Feyre had just told him she loved him. So which fucking is it?
7. Rhysand
Oh my fucking God. This is the worst Aaron Warner situation I've ever encountered. I know this cunt becomes a love interest in the next book and I literally cannot accept that.
He treats Feyre extremely cruelly because he
Or idk? Kill fucking Amarantha yourself after the curse has been lifted? She literally sexually abused you? I'm sure you're plenty angry yourself. Why shift that responsibility to Tamlin?
This is especially an issue since Rhysand does actually try to kill her when Tamlin can't do so and the curse doesn't lift right after the trials. So he didn't even need Tamlin to begin with! (And even when the curse does lift and Tamlin kills Amarantha, I don't see why Rhysand couldn't have done that. Or why Tamlin needed to be angered more. He was already furious!)
And angering Tamlin also doesn't excuse the fact that Rhysand also treats Feyre horribly when Tamlin isn't even fucking there. He messes with the bones in her broken arm, constantly sexually harassed her, and licks away her tears while they're in the privacy of Feyre's cell. Why do that if you're just trying to anger Tamlin?
He literally objectifies Feyre and abuses her the whole time.
There is no way, and I mean, absolutely no way that he can be redeemed.
Now these 7 sins don't mean I didn't find any enjoyment in this book. It was still dumb fun sometimes
The issues with this book were so glaring that I can't give this more than 2 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Drug use, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Domestic abuse