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f33lsom3thing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Confinement, and Sexism
cararowen's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
Colonizer trash meets beauty and the beast, plot requires main character to have no sense, does not have any actual character development, dubious consent for so so many scenes. Very my first romance novel vibes.
Feyra is not like the other girls, she's special, she's not hot but ever fairy man desires her, she's unable to listen to the most basic instructions, beauty and the beast is about compromise, this is about ignoring your boyfriend is rich because his daddy owned people and having your main character intoxicated and/or enchanted and/or manipulated into every sexual situation then claiming it's love. It's about having zero feelings of guilt when you get other people in trouble or dead and being consistently rewarded.
I have never disliked a text more than this one.
Feyra is not like the other girls, she's special, she's not hot but ever fairy man desires her, she's unable to listen to the most basic instructions, beauty and the beast is about compromise, this is about ignoring your boyfriend is rich because his daddy owned people and having your main character intoxicated and/or enchanted and/or manipulated into every sexual situation then claiming it's love. It's about having zero feelings of guilt when you get other people in trouble or dead and being consistently rewarded.
I have never disliked a text more than this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Blood, and Xenophobia
Minor: Slavery, Stalking, War, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Gore, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse
chris_reads's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Confinement, Sexual content, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual harassment
tieflingmom's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Cursing, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexism, Infidelity, Gore, Racism, Genocide, Death, and Death of parent
rsagarin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Classism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Alcohol, Drug use, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture
picaresquedreamer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Classism, Slavery, and Death of parent
satanichris's review against another edition
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
1.5
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: Sexual harassment, Violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Vomit
readyforit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
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: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Animal death, Murder, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexism, Classism, War, Confinement, Misogyny, Abandonment, Sexual violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking
kfrogpath's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Super easy to read and enjoyable but lots of dumb decisions from the main female character, almost ignoring advice for the sake of being contrary in some cases. The relationships developed very quickly too, though that could just be my demisexual viewpoint! I just didn't really fully believe in it, especially to the level of the things they endured for each other.
I do get why it's popular though, it delivers the action and sexual tension people look for in YA novels, but it definitely didn't feel wholesome.
I do get why it's popular though, it delivers the action and sexual tension people look for in YA novels, but it definitely didn't feel wholesome.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Confinement, and Sexism
sageypants's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Spoiler review below:
I struggle to be genuinely mean to this book because at the end of the day I was turning pages, I was laughing, I was groaning, and I finished it without too much struggle, but I have…. Issues lol.
First I’ll start with the nice. The world building was actually decently interesting to me. I liked the variety of creepy faeries that Feyre encountered. I appreciated how, despite her weakness and vulnerability as a human she found ways particularly early on in the book to not only survive certain encounters but to get the upper hand in them (will return to this later though because that was not always the case….). I appreciated Nesta’s development later in the story although it seemed a little too much like the book wanted me to forgive how nasty she’d been before too quickly. I thought the pacing of the scenes was enjoyable for an easy read, it never lingered too long on something that bored me or cringed me out. The story also did a decent job of building dread for the first half.
But. This book was verrrrry tropey and predictable. At times it seemed like it was using its darkness and its goriness as a shield against its simplicity instead of trying to be more creative. I can understand that for a first book in a series with (at least?) five others, this one may not have the strongest writing or the most compelling plot, but there were some things I felt were rather unforgivable.
Firstly, the book wastes all of its built up dread on a villainess that inspires exactly zero emotion in me. She comes off as a bratty wannabe evil person. She gushes about how much she loves torturing and killing people but it’s all just /explained/ to me. “Perhaps my darling Clare had to die in order for me to have some true amusement with you.” And lines of this variety were so shallow. Hee hee look at me and how much I love torturing WHEEEEE!!! She was nothing but this distant figure that was visited for scenes where Feyre had to do something. Amarantha never had a moment alone with Feyre to really be nasty, maybe because Maas was just avoiding having to write Feyre out of situations her human body clearly wouldn’t have been able to handle, which leads me to my next gripe.
Early in the book, although it’s made clear how out of her depth she is, Feyre is able to survive and in some ways dominate parts of the faerie world. It didn’t seem Mary Sue to me at all that she caught the Suriel or that she was able to take out a few of those faeries because based on her history she /is/ a very skilled hunter and she shows it. But later on in the book she is constantly being bailed out by other characters which I’m less inclined to forgive the more and more and more it happens. Whether it was Tamlin saving her or Alis just explaining everything to her instead of her figuring out what happened on her own or the Attor leading her straight to the throne room she was never going to find or Lucien and Rhysand both healing her or Lucien’s mom helping with the water bucket. These are all things which I understand functionally serve to show she can’t do this all on her own and her actions and tenacity which caught the attention of allies are the reason she’s made it so far, but this was all for me at the cost of a lot of her agency and it didn’t start when she was a captive under the mountain. I felt as though this character was supposed to be having glorious breakthroughs but they always fell flat because she never really made them on her own. The worm fight was the only saving grace at the end.
The end… like. What was that. I knew the answer to the riddle the second it was said… she did ALL of that for nothing. I mean come on it was on theme for the entire book 😭 the existence of the riddle at all just saps so much out of the gravity of the stakes. I’m supposed to feel terrible that she’s going through all this torture when I literally have the answer to the riddle that would end it all in my head? Just get rid of the riddle entirely!! This is also what makes Amarantha such a lame villain in my eyes, why would she risk SO much on such a simple question? It seems out of character from what I’m /told/ (again, not shown) about her. She even gives Feyre the answer? A cop out defense would be that she assumes all humans are stupid beasts who don’t know anything, but again. To risk SO much on that knowing just how many of the people in that room would want to rip her to shreds? Unbelievable. I would be more willing to believe in these fallible traits of hers if we spent any modicum of time alone with her to reveal herself beyond the mask she puts on in her throne room and even just to have Feyre interact with another goddamn woman alone for more than one page.
There are more things I could mention but it’s almost 3am and I’ve expelled most of my thoughts.
All in all, not terrible. The dialogue was a bit clunky (god they say WHORE a lot) and literally everything was predictable, but sometimes there’s something about a simple and predictable book that scratches a kind of “ha I knew it” itch. So not the worst thing in the world. Sometimes you want the predictable thing to happen and can’t imagine it being anything else without being terrible, but that would have been an excellent time to subvert my low expectations and deliver something truly great. I wonder how the next book in the series will fare.
Edit: there wasn’t a good place for me to add this but I had to mention
It also just isn’t a good premise curse-wise. If you have to explain everything about the curse to me in 3 straight pages of non stop explanatory dialogues from a character who, by the very bounds of the curse, shouldn’t even be able to say anything about it, then maybe it’s not a good curse, or maybe you just needed to think of a more creative way to deliver the truth because man… even from the start it was just so bizarre which doesn’t have to mean bad of course, but I want the explanation to be way more satisfying than hurriedly explained so the plot can move forward to the next thing.
I struggle to be genuinely mean to this book because at the end of the day I was turning pages, I was laughing, I was groaning, and I finished it without too much struggle, but I have…. Issues lol.
First I’ll start with the nice. The world building was actually decently interesting to me. I liked the variety of creepy faeries that Feyre encountered. I appreciated how, despite her weakness and vulnerability as a human she found ways particularly early on in the book to not only survive certain encounters but to get the upper hand in them (will return to this later though because that was not always the case….). I appreciated Nesta’s development later in the story although it seemed a little too much like the book wanted me to forgive how nasty she’d been before too quickly. I thought the pacing of the scenes was enjoyable for an easy read, it never lingered too long on something that bored me or cringed me out. The story also did a decent job of building dread for the first half.
But. This book was verrrrry tropey and predictable. At times it seemed like it was using its darkness and its goriness as a shield against its simplicity instead of trying to be more creative. I can understand that for a first book in a series with (at least?) five others, this one may not have the strongest writing or the most compelling plot, but there were some things I felt were rather unforgivable.
Firstly, the book wastes all of its built up dread on a villainess that inspires exactly zero emotion in me. She comes off as a bratty wannabe evil person. She gushes about how much she loves torturing and killing people but it’s all just /explained/ to me. “Perhaps my darling Clare had to die in order for me to have some true amusement with you.” And lines of this variety were so shallow. Hee hee look at me and how much I love torturing WHEEEEE!!! She was nothing but this distant figure that was visited for scenes where Feyre had to do something. Amarantha never had a moment alone with Feyre to really be nasty, maybe because Maas was just avoiding having to write Feyre out of situations her human body clearly wouldn’t have been able to handle, which leads me to my next gripe.
Early in the book, although it’s made clear how out of her depth she is, Feyre is able to survive and in some ways dominate parts of the faerie world. It didn’t seem Mary Sue to me at all that she caught the Suriel or that she was able to take out a few of those faeries because based on her history she /is/ a very skilled hunter and she shows it. But later on in the book she is constantly being bailed out by other characters which I’m less inclined to forgive the more and more and more it happens. Whether it was Tamlin saving her or Alis just explaining everything to her instead of her figuring out what happened on her own or the Attor leading her straight to the throne room she was never going to find or Lucien and Rhysand both healing her or Lucien’s mom helping with the water bucket. These are all things which I understand functionally serve to show she can’t do this all on her own and her actions and tenacity which caught the attention of allies are the reason she’s made it so far, but this was all for me at the cost of a lot of her agency and it didn’t start when she was a captive under the mountain. I felt as though this character was supposed to be having glorious breakthroughs but they always fell flat because she never really made them on her own. The worm fight was the only saving grace at the end.
The end… like. What was that. I knew the answer to the riddle the second it was said… she did ALL of that for nothing. I mean come on it was on theme for the entire book 😭 the existence of the riddle at all just saps so much out of the gravity of the stakes. I’m supposed to feel terrible that she’s going through all this torture when I literally have the answer to the riddle that would end it all in my head? Just get rid of the riddle entirely!! This is also what makes Amarantha such a lame villain in my eyes, why would she risk SO much on such a simple question? It seems out of character from what I’m /told/ (again, not shown) about her. She even gives Feyre the answer? A cop out defense would be that she assumes all humans are stupid beasts who don’t know anything, but again. To risk SO much on that knowing just how many of the people in that room would want to rip her to shreds? Unbelievable. I would be more willing to believe in these fallible traits of hers if we spent any modicum of time alone with her to reveal herself beyond the mask she puts on in her throne room and even just to have Feyre interact with another goddamn woman alone for more than one page.
There are more things I could mention but it’s almost 3am and I’ve expelled most of my thoughts.
All in all, not terrible. The dialogue was a bit clunky (god they say WHORE a lot) and literally everything was predictable, but sometimes there’s something about a simple and predictable book that scratches a kind of “ha I knew it” itch. So not the worst thing in the world. Sometimes you want the predictable thing to happen and can’t imagine it being anything else without being terrible, but that would have been an excellent time to subvert my low expectations and deliver something truly great. I wonder how the next book in the series will fare.
Edit: there wasn’t a good place for me to add this but I had to mention
It also just isn’t a good premise curse-wise. If you have to explain everything about the curse to me in 3 straight pages of non stop explanatory dialogues from a character who, by the very bounds of the curse, shouldn’t even be able to say anything about it, then maybe it’s not a good curse, or maybe you just needed to think of a more creative way to deliver the truth because man… even from the start it was just so bizarre which doesn’t have to mean bad of course, but I want the explanation to be way more satisfying than hurriedly explained so the plot can move forward to the next thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Gore, Torture, and Sexism