I don't know how to rate this one, and it probably is more of a 3.5 than a 4...

Positives: Diverse, emotionally intelligent, trigger-worthy but respectful, a heroine with strong scientific skills and empathy who doesn't throw her life away for a brooding, pretty boy.

Negatives: The world is set up to be dark and perilous and only the heroine's medicinal knowledge will save the day... but at every conflict she is rescued by magic. And the twist at the end...makes her seem nefarious? It's at odds with the character that was established.

The beginning and ending quarters of the book create lots of political intrigue, but the mid-section DRAGGED! There was a lot of redundancy that stretched the story out. I can't figure out how to balance my curiosity with my trepidation; a book needs to be more than twists. I guess this book did make me care about its characters, and make me want to jump into the sequel, but I'm worried about the series lacking integrity. If magic saves the day, and characters appear to change abilities or personalities as a "twist" to get out of any situation... what real conflict is there?

I need time to digest this one... We'll see if the sequels deliver.

I took two days to digest this book after finishing it, and I'm still not sure I know what to say. I cannot tell if the final, tragic inversion of Happily Ever After is a wise, genuine depiction of a heroine who has undergone traumatic, hellish tribulations... or is a bastardization of a strong, cunning, fierce heroine the audience came to care for, and who is ultimately supplanted by the dark faerie who saves her.

Some pros: I think this book did a solid homage to dark fairytales, and did a really good job of making that world visceral. Starving in the poor cottage, assaulted in the woods, tortured by an evil sorceress... There is a lot that's glossy and sing-song in a fairytale, and endured just because mythic heroes have legendary endurance... But a real human, in real danger, feels every hurt, physical and emotional, and has to wrestle with healing and learning.

The cons: This book suffered in places the same way The Force Awakens suffered: Sure, there are some interesting new characters here, but largely you're just plagiarizing popular works that came before. There's homage, and then there's word for word, frame for frame, the same thing we've seen before. At times, this book just WAS a Disney movie, or a classic fairytale. And I think those times outweighed the times Maas delivered anything original.

Biggest con for me was Rhys. I do not understand the fangirls squealing over him. I do not understand how he ends up Feyre's fated mate. I don't care what his sad backstory is, it doesn't make up for the way he treats Feyre and Tamlin. He is abusive, racist, and self-serving. And from the moment he offers his devil's bargain to Feyre, she is in the depths of despair, gives up on everything that gave her hope and meaning and life, literally submits her will and soul to him... and he humiliates her! He laughs at her, he drugs her and puppeteers her naked body around court, he licks her face without consent O_o. It doesn't matter what political games he's playing, the things he does to her against her will rob our heroine - our viewpoint character, our every-human avatar, our first person narrator - of everything that makes her HER. He imposes himself on her, and on us, and I hate him.

The Hunger Games -esque ending has me of two minds. I guess it's realistic for Feyre to have PTSD after everything she went through. The book seems to be setting up how trauma will divide her and Tamlin, but be something she and Rhys can commiserate over. There's a message in there somewhere about how it's okay to have multiple loves at the different stages of your life, and it's okay to outgrow your first love. Important messages that all fairytales and most YA fantasy skip over. And there seems to be the old, Biblical, "Once you've eaten from The Tree of Knowledge you can't unlearn about Good and Evil, you can't go back to The Garden". I get that, we all grow up, you can't go back to the Springtime of youth, the ease and naivety and safety - especially if you've experienced war or trauma. AND the notion that experiences change you, Feyre is literally, physically altered...
BUT, big BUT, I don't think Feyre becoming Fae is the answer, and I don't think Rhys is the answer. I think after enduring, Feyre should have to put herself back together, and find HER place in the grand scheme of things, not just become an extension of Rhys and The Night Court. As I said before, she gets supplanted, instead of evolving into her own person, scars and all. Would have been nice if Feyre got her OWN court, in the end.

ANYWAY, I feel like most of this book is just setting the tone and introducing the key players for the rest of the series, and that the true heart of the story is yet to come. On it's own, this book is a solid Beauty and the Beast retelling. As part of a series... time will tell how this book reads in hindsight.

This book was SOOOOOO much better than the first one! So many great messages about what love really is: Encouraging someone to live their truth; Intuiting someone's emotional needs and responding respectfully and swiftly; Respecting choices; Owning mistakes; Allowing for time together or apart, and finding ways to keep each other in their thoughts or encourage one another's independence without being manipulative, jealous, micro-managing, or overbearing; Protecting someone by helping them to build their strength and confidence, not shielding them from every potential threat or activity... The book did a beautiful ballet through the seasons, the stages of grief, and the stages of recovery from trying to move on after a trauma/abusive relationship. The Dreamers definitely shined, I found myself craving to be a part of that found family, too.

... THAT SAID.... This book didn't suffer as much as the first one did from tonal whiplash, but it was still there. Stories about mass slaughter side by side with erotica. And, especially the first third of the book, suffered WAY too much from shoutouts and derivatives. Yup, I see you, Ariel's wedding dress, Jasmine's crop top and pants. Hello Alina, "like calls to like", so nice of Maas to pay "homage" to The Sun Saint by literally having her get f---ed. -______-;. I was not amused. At one point while reading I got a song stuck in my head, and then realized the exact lyrics of Misery by Maroon 5 had made it into Feyre's descriptions of life in The Spring Court. And the book was not short on tropes: Hello monologuing villain!

But eventually, the book finally managed to shine on its own merits, and Rhys and Feyre's enemies to friends to lovers burrowed right into my soul. I'm fully converted, I'm totally rooting for them... But the middle of the book was all about choices: Feyre's independence, Rhys's sacrifices, their found family... That it hurt A LOT when the THIRD part of the book was all about destiny and manipulations and no matter his good intentions, we're supposed to believe that Rhys chessmastered EVERYTHING, even before Feyre crossed over the wall! That he and Feyre aren't mates/equals because of the choices they made, the dream they share, the life they want to build... but because he entered her mind, planted images, got addicted to watching her like she was a reality TV show, and then intruded on her life and kept himself relevant for selfish reasons... I mean, they work so well together, you kind of want to brush off the fact that he was a besotted stalker, buuuuut.... it doesn't sit as well.

AND IN FACT, the whole book has kind of a squicky after taste. I just don't want to believe that THIS Tamlin is the same one who personally rescued a lower Fae, then performed his funeral, in the first book. I don't want to believe that THIS Rhys licked Feyre's face without consent, and his response is, "Sorry, you were spazzing, and I have a crush on you?" How does that make him any less entitled than Ianthe? It is hard to reconcile Book 1's Tamlin and Rhys with Book 2's. I just think the contrasts between the two were hyped up in this book to unbelievable levels, supervillain and superhero levels. They're not morally grey people who both love Feyre, but one is better for her. By the end of the book there is a very clear Tamlin is Evil and Rhys is Good line drawn that I did not care for, it did not gel with their introductions. I feel Tamlin was written to be unrealistically obtuse and hurtful. And while Rhys's chemistry with Feyre is a dream come true, he is a bit of a paragon.

A couple of times I got weird heteronormative vibes from the book? Like, are there no gay fated mates? Could Maas think of no better words for faerie genders than Male and Female, are there no gender neutral faeries? It's cool Rhys and Feyre talk honestly about not wanting babies right away, and being loving and encouraging whether it's in their future or not, buuuut.... there is still that assumption that life is better with sex, with marriage, with babies in your future... To the point that priestesses and fae of the Court of Nightmares are literally prized for the babies they can churn out. And on the subject of sex: It's nice that Feyre and Rhys get this cathartic collision after everything they've been through, but I was surprised that two people who had just gotten out of sexually abusive relationships wouldn't try being romantic first, taking sex slowly... I don't know, I still get uncomfortable vibes from this book series, that it only does the barest minimum for representation. I mean, a council of multiracial Queens shows up, but "the most beautiful" is STILL the blonde, white girl... And the brown-skinned race to the north are all savage gangs who don't respect women... Yeah... Some not great racial or LGBTQA messages.

But some great messages about becoming yourself, healing after trauma, and daring to both imagine and create a safe space in the world. <3 I definitely choked up several times, and am ready to rush right into the next book.

This book is delightful and sweet, and I am so thankful it exists in the world!! I don't agree with the jacket summary. Despite the opening scene, this book is not Pirates of the Caribbean, its adventure elements never reach horror levels. This is more of a Little Mermaid retelling: There is a stigma against magic, and a generations' old misunderstanding between people of land and sea, but ultimately this is a meet-cute between a prince and a mermaid! The emotional beats progress rather quickly, in Disney fashion. There's a lot of "instantly they were drawn to each other, honest and trusting", but who cares, it's CUTE, it's necessary. In today's oversaturated enemies-to-lovers, YA fantasy market, it was SO nice to meet two NICE people who only want to give some good back to the world. It was refreshing!

Even the themes - a journey of self-discovery, learning how to trust and love yourself and others, navigating young love and friendships, juggling how to honor family and self - are all addressed safely and kindly through the stigma on MAGICAL people, NOT a stigma against LGBTQA+ people. It's all the queer emotional processing a young reader might need to escape into a book to do, without shaming who they are to do it. I am so proud of what this book achieves, and what it offers its audience. I would give anything to go back in time and be able to give this book to my younger self.

A+ F.T. Lukens! I'll be following you! More like this!!!

This book stole my breath so many times, that my husband actually asked me what was wrong. NOTHING! NOTHING is wrong! This book is FLAWLESS! Each part brought me something new, I was intrigued, horrified, heartbroken, hopeful... It was honestly a little like watching the whole of human history reenacted in a terrarium. There was love, there was struggle, there was battle, there was art, tools, farming, hieroglyphs, dueling faiths... And all throughout, there was an eternal love story, about how - time and again, despite hardships and seemingly insurmountable odds - the greatest honor humanity chooses isn't to country or family or glory or even discovery... the greatest honor is empathizing with a stranger, and building something new together.

STANDING OVATION, Eliot Schrefer!!!! Thank you so much for giving us Ambrose and Kodiak's journey :'). I look forward to future writing <3.

This was The Most disappointing sequel I have read in a long time. It was peak Maas, and I mean that in the worst way. Every quality I have ever disliked about this author's "style" was on full display in this book:
- Tone deaf juxtapositions of traumatic and erotic details.
- "Strong" female leads being arrogant and catty rather than having sympathetic depths.
- Vague world-building/magical system building, so that when something "spooky" or "threatening" or "powerful" shows up, it's not fully conveyed to the audience, not impactful.
- A whoooole lot of randomness and coincidences in the finale that aren't really earned, but the audience is still supposed to be impressed by the hero watching a Marvel-esque laser light show, instead of showing any of the skills or grit the hero has hitherto honed.
- Every major dialogue, backstory, character arc, and conflict, are all reduced down to the melodrama of who has had sex with whom, as if that is the ONLY plausible motivation for anything in this fantasy 'verse.
- Appropriating Judaism, Paganism, Greek myths, famous fairytales, famous other works of fantasy (like The Black Cauldron or The Lord of the Rings), and Disney movies, and throwing them in a blender, rather than writing any original content.
- Selling out, or writing out, characters she has built sympathy for in order to set up sequels and prequels, instead of honoring them and being genuine to the character.
- Queer baiting, throwing a bunch of unimportant LGBTQA characters into the background of this book (too little too late), and giving one main character the tired "I'm in the closet and afraid to tell my friends and family" storyline, even though it doesn't make sense for FAERIES to be closeted in this 'verse, doing both the character and the world-building a disservice in the name of fanservice.

I felt the full range of negative emotions while reading this book. At first I was disheartened by Feyre, Tamlin, Rhys, and Mor's arrogance, cruelty, and spitefulness, but I held out hope that the beginning of the book was a low point for them all, and they would learn from it and redeem themselves before the end. But as the book went on, I grew angry and even heartsick that they constantly absolved themselves of wrong-doing instead of having tough, honest conversations. The central theme and conflict of Part 2 is about building alliances, but our heroes make NO effort to actually forge friendships, instead cattily showing off their powers or making cheap jibes about people's sexual activities. In between the pettiness were slogs of redundancies: Feyre reads a book, Nesta reads a book, Amren reads a book, Feyre studies, Nesta studies, Rhys studies, Lucien gets a book, Feyre takes a bath, and another bath, and another bath.... snore... But I pushed through feeling angry, heartsick, and sometimes bored, and by Part 3... I was just LAUGHING at how BAD it was XD. Feyre doesn't even DO anything, she WATCHES the whole finale! That spitfire from book 2? Gone. That arrogant High Lady from the beginning of THIS book? Gone! She watches as Nesta and ELAIN get the killing shot at Hybern. ELAIN! Elain, who blanched at the sight of a small knife, who has no formal training, who vomited at the sight of bloodshed and needed to be winnowed to the outskirts of the battle, somehow E-FREAKING-LAIN got the killing blow! I just, I can't! Nothing has ever been LESS genuine! XD XD XD What a let down... Right up there with Bran is now the king of Westeros!

I'm hurt. I will be hurting over this book for a LONG time. So many rich characters flattened and wasted, and for what I don't even know. Time constraints? Publishing demands? Because Maas had too many ideas but didn't know how to execute them all? Or, too few ideas, and didn't know how to braid OTHER people's stories and myths into a proper homage? I understand the fanbase for ACoTaR, I really do, I fell in love with these characters too. But they were not done justice in this book. And I don't understand how there is such love and loyalty to the series when the characters we love so much were betrayed so thoroughly by the author. There are better, more fulfilling, more genuine fantasy series out there. Let ACoTaR be a cautionary tale for writers and readers, not the benchmark to strive for. Something CAN be SO GOOD and SO BAD at the same time XD.

Now go read something better.

STANDING OVATION!!!!! <3 <3 <3 Uuuuugh, there are not enough heart-eyed emojis in the world to do this review justice! Can I up the star rating to 10?! I wish I had had this book as a kid. I wish it were required reading now. A copy of this book should exist in every school library!

This book takes all the whimsy and quirkiness and FUN of magical world-building... and elevates it times ten. It reclaims fantasy jargon that is steeped in racism (like Light vs Dark) and fixes it, makes fantasy an inclusive playground (Fair vs Foul, instead). It reimagines fantasy tropes into something fresh, but in such an obvious way that I can't believe no one's done it before! (OF COURSE vampires are elite magicians, they are the ultimate illusionists, their claim to fame is glamouring throngs of people!)

This book steps on the stones paved by Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Charlie Bucket... and says "move over, white boy." Because the story isn't /really/ about a magical girl squaring off with a supervillain. The story within a story is about the stigma of The Other. Systemic racism, classism, generational trauma, hate crimes, microaggressions - this story is about how people will assume the worst of a person... and how much courage it takes to consistently choose to give your best, and to live with compassion, when the world seems like it's full of nothing but hate. This book does not shy away from the tough conversations about being black in America. Amari faces police, academic and career discrimination; reconciles with the truth of slavery in her ancestry; even struggles to do something as simple as make a new friend, because people assume she'll tend towards violence. The world around her is rigged for others to succeed, and her to fail, and the people in that world EXPECT her to fail, some even cheer for it. The few who do offer support and condolences, on occasion, are not enough to make her feel welcome, or at peace with herself. Frequently, she feels ashamed of herself, because she has been /taught/ by repetition that she is lesser. Amari can't just point at one bad person and POOF fix the world, Happily Ever After. But she changes one mind and heart at a time, starting with her own. The enemy, the two-headed snake, is Hate and Ignorance, and Amari fights with Knowledge and Friendship. She is the Every Hero that fantasy, especially middle grade fantasy, has needed for a very, VERY long time.

I haven't been so hyped for a sequel in decades. I cannot wait to read what challenges Amari conquers next.
End of Review...
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SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
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One MINOR, so minor, invisible, ignore me, minor....gripe... I had... is that I saw the twist of the knife coming before the end, but I didn't want it to be true. It broke my heart right with Amari. And I think that's good writing, I always say 5 stars is when a book makes me FEEL something!...
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BUT...
I wanted it to not be true. I liked the Ignorant White Ally for Dylan. I liked that all of his privilege was equal parts annoying, insulting, shame-inducing, and charming. I wanted the book to keep exploring that, for Amari to have to check Dylan for buying her off with cool gifts, and cutting corners by using inside knowledge to cheat, without worrying over the weight of consequences. But instead, the book's finale makes Dylan MUCH much darker. I get that there's a bookend being set up: That an angry, scared, suppressed person will turn to violence to be heard, or to make gains. That too often, that profile is mistakenly attributed to young black people. That we tend to overlook what the angry, scared, charming, privileged white person is capable of. BUT, in universe, once Dylan is faced with the consequences of his actions - i.e. his sister is having her life force drained in front of his eyes by a creepy old man he met on the internet - it seems ridiculous that Dylan doubles down on going full supervillain. I mean, I guess I can make space in my imagination for such a thing; people go on shooting sprees and don't stop to lament that, "Wait, I know that person I'm hurting. Maybe I should stop." Blind rage, or hurt, as motivators, sure, I guess.... But the problem for me is that, with Dylan's betrayal being willing instead of ignorant... it tips the book from "most white people are racist, many are mean" to "ALL white people are racist, ALL of them are enemies." I guess Maria and Fiona are supposed to be the counter examples to that? But even that has problems, because then it makes it seem like all of Amari's "true" friends are girls. I know it's unfair to hold Dylan up as the avatar for all boys, but his betrayal cuts deep, and has some real rapey vibes. (Transphobic vibes, too?) When it comes to violence against little girls, you EXPECT an ADULT villain to deceive a child; you don't expect a kid to groom another kid. But Dylan's grooming of Amari starts with posing as a girl to gain her trust, and ends with a final confrontation where he LITERALLY tries to steal our girl's power! Hello Darkling, who said you could leave The Grishaverse!

Long rant short: Friendly Dylan was nice for balancing the scales. It was nice to show that you couldn't judge a person based on looks; that everyone has their own inner world they're wrestling with no matter how secure they look like they ought to be on the outside; AND that a friend might mean well but do and say all the wrong things and hurt you anyway. VILLAIN Dylan is The Worst. He teaches us that you can't trust white boys, they all want to use and abuse you! I miss Friendly Dylan. I miss the world where a black girl and a white boy could misunderstand each other, could disagree and fight with each other, but would choose to build a bridge regardless.

I hope the sequel gives Dylan a chance to redeem himself. Or, if it can't do that, I hope that Amari's world doesn't narrow too much because of him. I hope that she is able to keep trusting and trying to make friends despite the wrongs that have been done to her. I hope Villain Dylan becomes the exception, not the rule, in her life.

Spellbinding, the kind of read that grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let me sleep or breathe until I had finished the whole book in one sitting. (It's a reeeeally good read for when you're alone, up late at night! <3) A perfect Gothic fairytale, I was put in mind of Coraline, Labyrinth, and The Secret Garden, but it is still so so unique, so much its own dance, it's wonderful!!! The Master is a really cool creation, and I would loooove to see him reappear, either as a cameo or a crossover, in one of V.E.Schwab's other works. Or a grown Olivia, for that matter! The literary world beeeegs for a crossover between Olivia, Sydney, and Cassidy!!! I could easily eat another scoop of this book. It's brilliant as a stand-alone....it would be genius as a prologue to the VES extended universe! XD XD XD

A must-read and a must-have for paranormal fans.

Trash. Complete trash. As unsubtle as a Looney Tunes anvil to the head. As sensical as a soggy onion for a backpack. Why things do? Why characters be? Me no know, brain melted trying to comprehend this garbage pile word jumble masquerading as a book.
The most villainous villains are...... prep school students who hate paparazzi???? :O :O :O
These kids are magical in a world where magic is a commodity. You could say "They are student drivers, the relatives of used car salesmen" and it would mean the same thing. They are not a parody of known fairytales, or descendants of famous fairytale villains, or themselves particularly vindictive people... But they will TALK about themselves as if they are all shape-shifting, poison-apple-offering, blood-sucking, nightmare fuel! The most ridiculous things are deemed threatening in this book, like, joggers and cable knit sweaters XD XD XD!! I am legitimately concerned for the CO-AUTHORS (oh, my heart hurts, that TWO people collaborated on this, and neither told the other how BAD their writing was) who believe the scariest, cruelest threat to a teenager is... a boy who wants to kiss you. XD XD XD And THIS audacious refuse pile ends on a CLIFFHANGER, and thinks it deserves SEQUELS?!
TRAAAAASH!!!!
Do. Not. Read!!!