3.75

I liked this retelling, it is the closest to Madeline Miller’s poetic nature with the Greek stories as anyone has come. 

Haynes writes vividly and describes feelings in a way that makes the reader truly understand. My only frustration and the reason it is not four stars is because there were quite a few editing errors that really just pulled me out of the story multiple times, words missing, things being spelled wrong, etc. 

3.75 stars. 

I liked the ending very much, that Alina was able to end things without any power or magic, that it really came down to an ordinary knife in an ordinary hand. 

I also like that Misha ended up being their child essentially, that it started with two orphans and ended with them taking him 

This was a fun simple read, I am hoping the next book expands this world. I do love a righteous villain who is convinced he’s doing what’s right, makes stories 2917 times more interesting. 

2.5 stars

I read this because everyone seems obsessed with it. Feyre is so freaking annoying. Maas wrote her in a way where she was an “I’m not like other girls” girl to an extent where I was ready to just give up. But people told me to keep going, that the second half is better. So I pushed onward. Awful. The amount of “a human could NEVER do this” moments where she did indeed do it were infuriating… she had like zero skills of her own admittance and somehow lucks into survival over and over, just a very annoying character in my opinion. 

Amarantha was the stupidest villain story. The decision by Maas that she is so cunning that she convinced everyone to trust her after she was a tortuous evil bitch in the war is unrealistic. To such a point that it just felt like a mockery of a villain, it was so clear Feyre would win that Amarantha felt useless as a character and as a big bad villain. Maybe I just am being overly critical but it felt so stupid that she was supposed to be so so evil that she burned Claire alive and tortured her when she thought that was who Tamlin loved, but when Feyre actually shows up she gets all ditzy and is like “hmm I won’t burn you up I’m bored, let’s stretch this out for months” but does no kind of torture or even surveillance of Feyre in her cell to ensure she’s not getting help? Stupid. The entire plot was so so stupid. Multiple times I scoffed at just HOW stupid. 

Tamlin is also such a whiny annoying character. You steal away like 2 min with the captive love of your life under the mountain and think it’s a good idea to have sex?? You’re not going to try to give her advice on how to survive and save everyone?? Nope. Instead he bites her neck and boobs. Really helpful. 

Characters that gave me hope that maybe something interesting could happen: Nesta, Rhysand, and Lucien (occasionally Alice but she ended up being a bit of a let down). 

I’ve heard book two is mainly about Nesta so perhaps against my better judgement I’ll continue… but we’ll see.

4 stars

This book is different from the first. While still occult focused, it’s definitely less dark than the first one in many real ways. The continued criticism of Yale and the oppression an institution like that has propped up for so many years is continued and done we’ll still, just once again different. More of a focus on Yale’s complacency in slavery, and allowance of immigrants being killed for what their society would consider “the greater good.” 

The storyline in this book is so different from book 1, that I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it as much. But it came out swinging. The writing style being similar to the first with the past tense until we reach one climactic point (in this one it being Darlington’s escape from hell). But if I’m being honest, the best part of this book was the sudden inclusion of vampires. At first it felt a bit odd, but by the end the door it opened with Trip keeping his soul feels like the first stroke of potential luck for the gang since the beginning. (Also I must say it gives HUGE Buffy vibes). 

I also did enjoy the escape out of hell the second time by tricking the demon with the drug dealer. It felt like karmic justice for Alex in a way. The only thing that I am not enjoying is the sudden gulf this put in Mercy and her friendship. Mercy earlier in the book talks about how glad she is that Blake has been killed and how she feels no sadness for him. Perhaps if Alex was honest with her about who they killed and what he’d done to Alex it would be better? But I’m just not a fan of that friendship suddenly being tense. 

4 stars

I didn’t want to put this book down, so much was happening that I wanted in on the next hint, the next clue. Where was it going to go?

I think the woven in features of exploitation, sexism, and racism at Yale are extremely well done here. Often I am critical of adding an element to an already existing world to demonstrate real oppression, but with this it sincerely works. The idea that rich kids essentially get away with anything plays well into this book and it’s plot as it moves forward. 

The intertwined plot with Darlington and the search for him is extremely interesting. The ending leaving you at the edge of your seat was well done, and made it click that he likely did end his grandfather’s life when he was asked. Interesting take on what can be considered “murder” if that is truly what’s revealed in book 2.

The only portion of the book that felt pretty left field was Margaret. I don’t think it was bad but I do think maybe some more moments with her could’ve made her reveal as Daisy and the nexus creations more powerful and shocking. 

Last thought; big trigger warning on this book for anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault.