Book #2:
So, I mostly liked the first book a lot. Wow, that wasn’t a very ringing endorsement. Let’s try it again. The first book pissed me off at the beginning, then got better, then bad stuff happened, and then it all worked out in the end. I can’t say I loved it, but I wanted to see what happened next, so that’s a plus.
FYI – spoilers abound
At the end of the first book, Feyre dies saving all of fae kind. The 7 high lords give her a little teeny bit of something (magic/ life force/ whatever) that brings her back to life. This is important information for later.
Apparently, Sarah J. Maas’ style is to piss you off at the beginning of her books, because that happened again in book two. I was really frustrated with what was happening. I took some random notes in my phone, so I’d remember my brain thoughts.
First of all: I’ve been saying the main character’s name wrong (in my head) for the entirety of the first book. It’s Feyre, and I was pronouncing it “fair”. I listened to the audiobook for this second book and they said “Fayrah”, which I like better. Not important, but still!
My biggest notes / frustrations: The beginning of this book is like a big exposition on PTSD and mental health. Feyre went through some terrrrrible stuff at the end of the first book, and then she was just supposed to be fine. She was not fine, and I liked that. The parts that frustrated me were how Feyre was treated by her “friends” and her great love, and how she’d say “I wanted to say”, but not actually say it. I was actually shouting at the book “just say it”, because she took so much controlling crap from Tamlin. He wouldn’t let her train to harness her powers, and she was just like “ok”, because she was so defeated. I read a review that talked about how Tamlin probably had PTSD too, but he really handled it all poorly.
Anyway, Rhysand “saves” Feyre more than once from the spring court and Tamlin by calling in their bargain. She must spend one week a month with him in the Night court (not the show Night Court) because of him saving her under the mountain. Blah blah blah, they fall in love. If you read this book, you saw it coming. If you just ready #1, you probably didn’t see it coming.
I really liked how Rhys treated her (I mean duh, we’re supposed to). He just let her be herself, helped her to train, and helped her deal with her feelings. I also really loved the little ways he saved her under the mountain that helps her fall in love with him (the music). And one more thing – I loved that the water wraiths repaid Feyre by saving her from drowning. It was just a nice callback to her doing the right thing in the Spring court.
There’s a ton of Rhys and Feyre falling in love, training, meeting the core group, and stuff like that. Read it though, it’s good.
At the end of this book the kind of Hybern (the big baddie) basically lures all of our heroes to his castle to mess stuff up. Feyre sacrifices herself and goes back to Tamlin to save all of her friends. I forgot to add how awesome her powers are getting. She’s like super powerful and learning to harness everything. It’s awesome and girl power and I love it.
People have issues with the whole “you’re mine” and “mate” stuff. Whatever, it’s fine. People also didn’t like the purring and animalistic stuff that happens during the books. I’m totally into it! I liked this book a whole lot.
Book
#3:
I realized after re-reading my review for Book 2 that I didn’t focus so much on “plot”, but more on my feelings and the characters. So I shall continue that for this review…
There’s a lot of plotting and scheming in this book. At the end of the last one Feyre went to the spring court to spy on them and sow dissention. There’s a war coming, and everyone’s trying to figure out who’s on whose side. It’s complicated. We’re not really here for that though, are we?
We know that Feyre and Rhys will be back together eventually, and back to being sex crazed with each other all over town.
We’re also learning a little bit more about some other characters. Elain is basically a shell of what she was, but working towards being ok, Azriel is about the same, Cassian has some character development. Oh and Nesta is a cranky bitch. I guess that’s setting us up for the final book. Not too much happens with Lucien though.
I actually really liked the war stuff (super technical term) in this book. Because the previous three books had built up our love or genuine like of so many characters, the stakes feel high. I know people are all up in arms when “main” characters don’t die in books, but I’m totally cool with it. I don’t want my faves to die just for the sake of plot! I also liked this book a lot, and give it 4 stars.
Book 3.1:
I didn’t feel like searching for another cover to this book, so here’s someone’s random picture.
This book was basically useless. This is not to say that I didn’t like it, but I just don’t think it was necessary. It’s kind of just Feyre walking around town buying presents? This book is sometimes called number four, and sometimes three point one. At any rate, I guess there is some Nesta stuff that leads into the next book? I really can’t bring myself to write too many words about this one. If it’s available at your library, and you’re waiting for *actual* book four to arrive, feel free to read it. Otherwise here’s the gist: Nesta is in a hole. She doesn’t want to get out. Feyre wants a baby? Merry winter to us all.
And finally, Book 4:
Ok so here we go. It seems like people felt one of two ways about this book and its prickly main character.
- Nesta is a bitch. She’s been through some hard times but damn girl, do you have to be such a bitch? People are just reaching out to you and you need to be less of an asshole.
- Nesta is a bitch. That’s just the way she is, and it’s totally fine for her to treat nearly everyone around her like an asshole. She doesn’t need to change.
I’m firmly in the first court. I believe that people react to trauma and grief and terrible things in different ways. My way has never been to shun everyone and be a total bitch. But I fulllly understand that is the way some people cope. Fine. You do you. But when you doing you is hurting everyone around you and you’re falling deeper and deeper into a hole and the people you love don’t want to see you die, they’re not in the wrong. It’s ok for them to reach out and try to help you.
I will admit that I never connected with Nesta in any of the other books. I don’t really think we were supposed to. She’s prickly and proud and super mean to Feyre. She never appreciated the sacrifices Feyre made to keep their family alive, and she still doesn’t.
I absolutely loved Nesta’s growth in this book though. It was super slow, but it seemed more realistic that way. Everything wasn’t a rousing success immediately, but she made friends along the way and learned to care about and appreciate other people. I loved that she brought other wounded women (I don’t care, I’m calling them women) into training with Cassian. I loved the idea of “keep reaching out your hand” too. People aren’t always ready to accept help right away, but if you’re consistent and sincere, hopefully they’ll take it.
I loved all the training stuff, and especially how it came to a climax. Once again, girl power. I’m always up for girl power. I’m super confused about where Elain, Azriel, Mor, and Lucien stand though. I kept thinking “there has to be more where we talk about them?”, but alas it doesn’t seem that way. I guess they just kept on keeping on then. I’d read a book five if there was one, just to see how these other people all made out in the end!