GENRE: YA Fantasy/ Romance
RATING: 6/5 stars (yes, it was that good)
So... this has become one of my favourite books EVER. I think I managed to finish the entire thing in two days. I have already completed the rest of this series (except for the novella), and I have to say, out of all three, this one was the best.
This book is another retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It starts with Feyre Archeron living in a little wooden house with her two sisters, Nesta and Elain, and her father. Feyre does all the work in the house, including providing for her family. One day, while hunting, she shoots and kills a wolf- a wolf that turns out to be Fae (*Fae are beautiful and powerful faerie-creatures that the humans hate). From there, Feyre is taken by Tamlin into the Fae world, called Prythian, as punishment for killing the wolf. He takes her to the Spring Court to live with him (and Lucien) in his mansion. But the Fae world isn't as perfect as it seems. The main antagonist in the story, Amarantha, has put a curse on the entire Spring Court and is a big-tyrant-queen in Prythian. Feyre has to defeat Amarantha to free Tamlin and the rest of the Fae world.
Feyre was a good main character. She's a 19-year-old human girl who hunts for food and doesn't like wearing dresses. For the most part, she was engaging, relatable, and an easy-going narrator (the book is written in first-person). While I really liked her in the first book, I couldn't stand her in the second or third.
Tamlin is the High Lord of the Spring Court. He's a beautiful Fae guy with long golden hair, who can shape-shift into a giant beast. I know many people who read this book dislike Tamlin, but if I'm honest, I LOVED him. I really like the tortured-soul-type characters, and Tamlin did NOT disappoint. He has genuine flaws, which so many male characters don't have in YA novels anymore. He's not just another rich, pretty-boy love interest who gives Feyre everything she wants.
Lucien is Tamlin's right-hand man. He is a secondary character and one of Feyre's only friends in the book. I loved Lucien! First of all, he has a mechanical eye, which I think is cool. But he's also funny, charming, and (just like everyone else in these books) HOT. He was probably my second favourite character (the first was Tamlin).
Rhysand is another one of the antagonists in the book. I despised him with a passion. He is manipulative, aggressive, kinda gross, and has this ability to destroy peoples' minds with 'magic.' He works closely with Amarantha, although he despises her. Throughout the book, he treats Feyre VERY poorly.
Part of the reason I hated the next two books in this series was because he had a much more significant role in them. The reader was supposed to believe that Rhysand had been a good guy all along... but yeah, no, I didn't believe it. I couldn't get over all the terrible (and gross!) things he had done in the first book, so I still hate him.
The book itself was very well-written, with excellent descriptions and detailed characters. I really like Sarah J Maas and her writing (I've been a fan of hers since Throne of Glass- another series she wrote). I LOVED this book, but I wish I had stopped reading after A Court of Thorns and Roses because the rest of the series let me down.
If you like high fantasy, romance, or action-packed YA novels than this book is the book for you! I would definitely reread this, if only to reminisce about Tamlin in the good ol' days.
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