It took me a while to finally pick up this book due to it being a BookTok ‘enemies-to-lovers’ sensation—but I had to see what the hype was about! In the end, I’m glad I did. While not being the best book I’ve ever read, the first book in ACOTR opened the door to a series that is easy to lose yourself in. Book 2, A Court of Mist and Fury, was particularly exciting! While containing some questionable male behaviour (my memories recall you, Edward Cullen), and some scenes that are not PG 13 (but let’s be honest, Game of Thrones (by George R. R. Martin, 1996) perhaps had a big hand in this becoming a norm in fantasy reads), it’s worth the read and definitely an entertaining story! This is a New Adult book, so skip buying this for your teens, please, even if some book shops shelf this in the YA section.
So, what’s it all about?
When Feyre’s family loses their wealth due to her merchant father’s botched trading, Feyre (pronounced Fair-ruh) takes it upon herself to hunt in the woods to keep herself, her father and her two sisters from starving. When Feyre kills a faerie, mistaking it for a wolf, she is forced to face punishment by the law of the faeries. She is taken away to Prithian, the faerie lands, to serve her sentence. While living on his estate, Feyre is unable to resist the alluring Tamlin, a beautiful High Fae male cursed to wear a jewelled mask. Ignoring Feyre’s hard shell and dislike of her faerie captors, Tamlin is eager to prove to her that faeries are not as bad as the humans believe them to be. But Feyre soon learns that Prithian is a dangerous place for humans and faeries alike; she finds herself battling to keep those she loves safe from harm, especially when she learns of a blight that threatens to destroy them all. What is Feyre willing to do to survive?
So, let’s start with the characters:
Feyre was stubborn, cold, submissive and pampered in the first half of the book. While this made her hard to like, I feel it was necessary for her character development later on in the series. Feyre was also truly naïve at first, showing how young she was and how little she knew of true evil. This caused her to make mistakes that threatened her own life and those of others. Additionally, Feyre seemed to struggle with her purpose: when she was in the human lands, her purpose was to keep her family alive. Once she reached Prithian, Feyre seemed lost, without a goal. Thankfully, Feyre experienced a strong character arc and learned from her mistakes. Once she found her purpose she also became a more compelling character.
Tamlin’s character was a bit flat, especially for a love interest. It would have been interesting to learn more about his thoughts and motivations earlier on in the story to make his character fuller. While he could be silly and amusing, he gave me the serious ick now and then.
Rhys was the most interesting character to me—the High Lord of the Night Court. From the beginning, his motivations were plagued with mystery, which made me want to learn more about him. Of course, once we read Book 2, it all makes a lot more sense…hang in there!
The plot:
The first half of the book dragged a bit. It is only once all went up in flames (or rather went Under the Mountain) that the pace of the story picks up. While I’m sure the focus on romantic plot points throughout the first half is exciting to other readers, I would have preferred more action; what about all those creepy critters Feyre meets on Tamlin’s estate? Most of those scenes seemed rushed, especially since some of those creatures feature again later in the story. The second half was amazing though and convinced me to keep reading the rest of the series.
Atmosphere and setting:
I’d have loved more focus on environmental descriptions. Even though most of the story takes place in the faerie lands (which are described as being very beautiful), I wasn’t able to envision the full beauty of these spaces. Once again, this improved once we reached the second half of the book, but I’d have loved if these details were celebrated all the way throughout. This would have pushed the story to another level!
The prose:
I really disliked the repetition of words and phrases in the book (e.g. purred, a shiver spider-walked down my spine, I slept fitfully…PURRED was a serious itch for me). While the prose itself was clear with some highly insightful phrases, a little more focus on editing out these repetitive words would have made the reading experience feel more sophisticated.
I enjoyed this book (particularly the second half), so it gets a 3.5 star from me. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, especially as I’ve already picked up the second book and can agree with other reviewers that the series really improves from there on out!
Maan Atelier 