I have a lot of thoughts about this book. If you haven’t read this book or the first book in the series A Court of Thorns and Roses then you need to leave now and read it. I AM SERIOUS. If you haven’t heard of Sarah J. Maas yet and her greatness you must have been on another planet for the past few years.
Anyway, this review definitely contains spoilers. SO IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK GO READ IT! And then come back and we can discuss ;)
HERE WE GO. BEAR WITH ME.
The first thing I need to get off my chest is that Tamlin is an asshole. Ok now that that’s out we can continue.
“I was the butcher of innocents, and the savior of the land.”
The story starts off with Feyre being back at the Spring Court preparing for her wedding to Tamlin. Feyre is not the same Feyre we knew in A Court of Thorns and Roses. She is extremely weak and also extremely negative in the view of herself. She’s hardly eating and every night she has vivid and disturbing dreams about her time Under the Mountain. Tamlin has offered no help to Feyre; he lets her continue on this path towards self-destruction. Honestly, I think he’s just choosing to ignore it because he wants to return to normalcy. Then there’s the high priestess, Ianthe, another character I hate with a burning passion. She manipulates Feyre into thinking she’s helping her but she’s really not. I was feeling something was going to happen between Tamlin and Ianthe because of the way Feyre described them together. Lucien is still around as well but I really didn’t like Lucien in this book either. I understand that Tamlin is his best friend and that he would do anything for him but there comes a point in friendship when you need to step back and see that what your friend is doing is wrong.
“For him, I had done this—for him, I’d gladly wrecked myself and my immortal soul.”
AND THEN FINALLY RHYSAND APPEARS! I could care less about everything else that was going on in the Spring Court, I wanted Rhysand to finally collect on his bargain with Feyre and whisk her away from Tamlin. And Rhysand did just that (and at the perfect time I might add). The whole wedding scene was amazing. And then when I read about the red rose petals I was ready to throw my book across the room. Ianthe is horrible.
"My vision narrowed on him, on my High Lord, his wide eyes glistening as I stepped onto the soft grass, white rose petals scattered down it—
And red ones.
Like drops of blood amongst the white, red petals had been sprayed across the path ahead.
I forced my gaze up, to Tamlin, his shoulders back, head high.
So unaware of the true extent of how broken and dark I was inside. How unfit I was to be clothed in white when my hands were so filthy.
Everyone else was thinking it. They had to be.”
Feyre continues to visit Rhysand once a month and then there’s the moment that changes everything. The moment when Tamlin seriously messes up. HE TRAPS FEYRE IN THE HOUSE! WHEN HE KNOWS THAT IS THE LAST THING THAT SHE NEEDS! But once again Rhysand (and Mor) save Feyre and she is taken to the Night Court where she chooses to stay for the remainder of the novel (until the end of course). Feyre grows stronger in the Night Court, especially in Velaris. Once she meets Rhysand’s Inner Circle, Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Amren; Feyre comes alive. I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART.
We soon find out that Rhysand and Feyre are mates, which I’ve believed since last May when I read ACOTAR. Back then I failed to understand how Feyre and Rhys could be mates because at the time I still liked Tamlin. But yeah Whitney is totally off the Tamlin train and I’m sure most of you are as well. ESPECIALLY, because of what happens at the end of the book. Tamlin is an idiot.
Ok now some of my thoughts.
DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE SHATTER ME SERIES AND THIS SERIES?
We all loved Adam in the beginning but then by the time Ignite Me came around, he was an asshole (just like Tamlin). Then we all fell in love with the supposed bad guy, Warner. It may seem random but this is what I was thinking about when I reading ACOMAF…..
Another thing I want to discuss is Tamlin. Even though I despise him now I can’t help but analyze the relationship with him and Feyre and how it went so so wrong.
Personally, I did not enjoy ACOTAR as much as ACOMAF because of Feyre. I did not like her character in the first book because she portrays herself for most of the story as a weak human who likes to paint pictures and walk around the Spring Court. I understand that she had struggles in her life with her family and perhaps she deserved this time of rest. However, her relationship with Tamlin occurred way too fast for me. But in the end of ACOTAR we really see Feyre’s strength and what she’s capable of and that’s when I actually started to like her. And so when Tamlin brings Feyre back to the Spring Court he thinks that he can still treat her in the way that she wanted to be treated in the beginning of ACOTAR, as a poor, weak, human girl that needs to be protected. Many people seem to believe that Tamlin does the things he does in ACOMAF because he wants to use Feyre for her power. Yes that could be a part of it. But I honestly agree with Feyre and her understanding of the matter, which is that Feyre is no longer the person that Tamlin knew and he is unable to understand this. Either because he can’t or because he won’t.
“That girl who had needed to be protected, who had craved stability and comfort…she had died Under the Mountain. I had died, and there had been no one to protect me from those horrors before my neck snapped. So I had done it myself. And I would not, could not, yield that part of me that had awoken and transformed Under the Mountain.”
I’ve also seen a lot of people giving up on this series because Tamlin is so “changed” and unlike himself compared to first book. Were we reading the same book? Tamlin has always lacked control, THERE ARE NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF IT IN ACOTAR. And it makes sense that he has even less control in the second book because of what he experienced Under the Mountain. I’m not rooting for Tamlin here, but he has also experienced a small amount of trauma at the hands of Amrantha. He now wants to protect Feyre, Lucien, and the rest of his court at all costs. People also are saying that it is “unrealistic” for Feyre to make the switch to Rhysand so quickly. What the what? How often does a person stay with a significant other for the rest of their life? NOT OFTEN. People CHANGE. Relationships EVOLVE. To me this extremely realistic. Also Feyre and Rhysand are MATES. BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT.
Sarah J. Maas is a genius. She fooled us all with the first book. But this book….THIS BOOK is next level. In a way ACOTAR feels like a novella because it wasn’t the real REAL story that we were hungry for. I know this review was all over the place but my brain is mush because of the finals I’ve been taking this week. I wish I could write more but there’s so much to say and I can’t even put it into words.
Yes, I’ve started to reread ACOMAF. And no, I really can’t wait A YEAR for the next book.
HAPPY READING FRIENDS!!
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