2020: WOW OKAY so this book is about twelve times better than the first in the series. Not perfect, I still had some issues with it, but it certainly made up for how awful I felt after reading the first one.

Tamlin was a terrible love interest and drove me insane, but let me tell you, I am 100% TEAM RHYSAND. The best part about this book was that it was Tamlin-free for 500 pages. I was very nervous this was going to turn into a Jacob in Twilight situation (there’s a reason why New Moon is the only one worth reading in that series and it’s because Edward is gone for a lot of that book), but I can happily say without giving too much away, Rhysand is the winner here.

Maas excels at one on one dialogue, and Feyre’s inner monologue and thoughts are expertly conveyed throughout. I was always clear how our heroine was feeling about a situation, but I really struggled when there were multiple characters all in a room together. I honestly am still not really sure what happened in the final climatic scene with the King (who is Jurian again and where did he come from? Why did Lucien have to ruin everything with his omg you’re my mate declaration?)

Another slight complaint that I have about this world is some very convenient rules that turn up out of nowhere (oh, High Faes can’t do that one specific thing? BUT WHY?!) Plot discrepancies aside, Maas is also WAY too fond of the em-dash and ellipses and not finishing sentences, which I think plays into my struggle with following the action and dialogue in multi-character scenes.

That being said, the feminist power in this sequel nearly almost negates how silly I thought some of the plot points were in the first book. Big fan of partners who encourage women to use their powers for good, and instead of locking them in rooms for weeks on end, teach them to read! #TeamRhysand Also the sex is way better in this book than the first one (is this considered a YA novel? Lord help me if 14 year old me ever got her hands on this)