Hello Everyone!
Overview (Non-Spoilery Section)
I am going to be 100% honest in this review, as in all my reviews, so hold on because some stuff is coming…
ACOTAR is enough of a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that one who is familiar with the story can piece together the parallels, but I really wouldn’t market it as such. Its strongest suites do not lie in this retelling plot line. The selling point is the intricate and beautiful world that Sarah J. Maas has crafted for the Fae to live in. I really was not a fan of this book in the beginning. The first chunk of the book is so slow. Very, very slow. Once she kills the fae, it bursts into a little bit more action and then slows down. This process goes on until the last 150ish pages of the book, which is where this books gets really good really fast. I don’t think that enough people have mentioned how New Adult this book is, so I will. This book has sex, and a lot of it. There is a complete ceremony that takes place involving rabid sex that basically the whole kingdom participates in. There is also gore, and a significant amount of it. Overall, the book left me intrigued, but I am looking for more action and grit from the second book than all the sexy times of this book. Would not recommend for those younger than 16, or a mature 15.
***Spoilers***
You better believe that when I saw the name of our main character, Feyre, I laughed so hard. Her name is just Fairy pronounced and spelled a different way. Which brings me to the rest of the names 0.0. Once I got over this, I met her sisters, which I hated. The whole family were some of the most annoying people. You are starving, and as the father proved later in the novel, he has the skill, so why wasn’t he out there trying to work again. I realize that his leg is messed up but still! And the sisters, who would whine when their sister didn’t bring home “enough” food for them, got on my nerves so quickly. I believe that Nesta ended up pulling a Celeste on me and her story arch made her more than loveable and redeemed at the end. I really wasn’t keen on her sister Elain or her father though. When we get to the castle, all of the characters that become key to the rest of the plot are introduced rather quickly, so you have to pay attention. I loved Alis (again Alice, just spelled differently. I think that SJ Maas went to the Kira Cass school of name spelling) and the rest of the Fae court much better. Feyre got on my nerves when she went to see the Suriel after she was told not too. You are a huntress, that doesn’t mean you know everything! It started getting a little more interesting when sex festival went down and we meet Rhysand (the other love interest), who I really enjoy. I mean, he didn’t treat Feyre particularly well, which I was not ok with. Can we talk for a second about the whole “Tamlin is going to let Feyre go three days before the curse expires,” thing! What! And she was going to say it too, in the carriage and she didn’t. That was super frustrating to me. Lucien was one of my favorite characters specifically because of the sass he had when it came to Tamlin and Feyre’s relationship. When they were flirting at breakfast and he was like, “by the Cauldron... (eyeroll).”
The last 150 pages, once Feyre enters the realm of Amarantha, the action kicks in and you can see that Feyre is growing the more she is tested. I really loved all the challenges, though I was mad when Feyre got a reading challenge and she had more then enough time to learn to read while she was in the Spring Court. I also guessed the answer to the riddle immediently, so it wasn’t as difficult as Feyre made it out to be. I would like it to be known that I was not ok with the drinking scenes with Feyre and Rhysand.Those just didn’t sit well.
I got a little confused at the end when we see Feyre dead on the ground and are looking on from Rhysand. I was also rather confused about the end with Rhysand, but I think it is that bonding thing that was mentioned really really quickly at the beginning of the book. If this goes down like and Edward and Jacob scenario, a book is getting chucked at the wall.
Overall:
4 out of 5 stars
89% out of 100%
Jaime