The fae, a war, and a budding romance between two different species. 15 year old me is screaming.
Dates Read: 30/01/24 to 14/02/24
Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Word to describe: Hypnotic
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Earlier this year I finally ventured into the world of ACOTAR. After a year of seeing the memes, the Instagram reels, and character art on Instagram. It took a friend of mine, Safa, buying the box set of the first four books as a gift for Christmas in 2023 - with the stipulation that when I do read them I had to tell her my every thought. So, naturally, I had to start as soon as I could.
January 2024 I finally read book one of the ACOTAR series.
Feyre - I learned is pronounced Fey-ruh and not just Fay - is a human girl whose family live in extreme poverty on the outskirts of the human lands. Her family had recently fell from riches and her father was unable to work due to disability. She was tasked with the job of hunting game and fish so her family would not starve. (Katniss is that you?) Would you know it, Feyre a expert in the bow and arrow shoots a wolf, killing it, and then leaves its corpse behind suddenly feeling a rush of guilt. Even though this wolf is bigger than a normal wolf, and has such a human expression in its eyes, Feyre somehow still convinced herself that there is no consequences to killing it and leaving its body behind. (I don't want to character hate so near the beginning but come on! The larger than normal shiny eyed wolf didn't strike as unusual? I digress.)
Enter Tamlin - rugged and beastly fae who demands satisfaction for the death of his dear friend. Breaking into Feyre and her families hovel on the village outskirts he steals Feyre from her family and orders her to now be his human slave. Now, if this was a dark romance they would've fucked in about 10 pages after this. And this was not far off what I had been expecting from all of the videos hailing A Court of Thorns and Roses and its series counterparts as fairy porn. But it's just not like that - if you're expecting smut its none existent until the fifth released book.
Tamlin takes Feyre to his home at the spring court just across the border in the fae realms. To prevent her from trying to escape he drugs her and makes it known that if she does try to make her way back home she will be killed. This is where the reader learns a little bit more about the fae history. There are multiple courts: four seasonal and three solar courts in addition to Hybern. These are important for later. But for now Feyre begins to slowly fall in love with her would-be captor and the beauty of the spring court. That is until danger begins to knock on their doorstep and Feyre and Tamlin are reminded of the impending doom that is the faerie war.
There was way more of a beauty and the beast vibe than what I expected. It was clear the Sarah J Maas had been influenced from this fairy tale with Tamlin in his beast form, and a court cursed into a new form (maybe a stretch but wearing masks vs turned into something else? It could work), and the fact that the spring court is surrounded by roses (hello - the rose from the story!). It made complete sense to me and I really loved reading the parallels between the fairy tale and this fae romance. But that was about it. I didn't squeal in excitement at the idea of Feyre and Tamlin, they were okay and that's about it. It appeared more like a romance of convenience because there was no one else around.
(I will say though, the romance was intended to be a sub-plot to this story line so please do not go into ACOTAR expecting a love story. That part doesn't come along until later)
I can say that I enjoyed the side characters and the way the plot was developing but it took several chapters to really get going. The initial flow into the plotline was either rushed in parts or horrendously dragged out. The story really began to grab my attention when the effects of war started to pour into the idyllic spring court. No longer was Feyre and Tamlin in their little world of romance and very awkward flirting when in burst in a fairy with his wings torn off. (Nothing like a bit of bloody violence to kill the mood). This drastic change in tone was exactly what the story needed, and apparently it was exactly what Tamlin needed to decide that actually maybe kidnapping a human and bringing her to the fae world wasn't a smart idea - you know because of the murdering and giant beasts.
But, and here's the annoying part, this doesn't happen until well after 75% of the way into the book. So Tamlin ships her off to the human world and would you know Feyre doesn't want to be there. She wants to be back in fae-land with Tamlin and love her life in bliss. But, Tamlin is not there and without spoiling the ending shit hits the fan in the best possible way. War, fighting, and then High Lord of the Night Court makes his second appearance and oooh the story intensifies.
In short, there was a lot to enjoy but also a lot that was lacking. For a first time read I really enjoyed this book but now that I have read the rest I can see all of the flaws that were present. This book sets up so much for the second book in the series and I will love it for that. But, as a series introduction it really throws you for a loop. Very clever for SJM to grab her readers attention like that then absolutely blow their minds. Power through folks - you'll hate it but you have to read it series but it is worth it.
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