It was my first read by Sarah J.Maas and I have very mixed feelings about this book.

I didn’t think it was bad, however it was not out of this world fantastic. I suspect it may have fallen victim to its own hype a little, in my opinion.

Feyre our main character, in some respect reminded me a little of the beloved Katnis in Hunger Games. Just like her she seemed to have pulled the short straw and if it wasn’t for her, her sisters and father, would not get fed. So she goes out every day to do what needs to be done never knowing if, when and where the next meal will come from.

It is on one of those hunting outing that she has to forfeit her own life in the Human world for one she took in cold blood from the Fae world. After all, it is what is agreed between the two realms as a sentence for this type of crimes. She will not be harmed and her family will be well cared for, but she will have to live out the rest of her days in the Fae world.

Tamlin, Feyre’s captor, is a High Fae ruling over a cursed world. Feyre, a lowly and weak human with an apparent hatred for the Fae race, happens to be the only one who can lift the curse, but only if all the conditions imposed by the High Fae lady Amarantha are met.

What you are not told however is that Feyre’s predicament is the result of total manipulation, which in the world of Fae whether overt or covert, comes with the territory.

And a lot of manipulation, we see here. Manipulation from the captor she falls for in Tamlin, although you may argue he may not have the choice, and with the man who seems to be infatuated with her, Rhysand.

Although I found that a lot of the developing events leading to “The Trials” took a long time to come, I particularly enjoyed the folklore behind how the courts came to be and the parts that the Humans played.

What I have an issue with however is the ending. My only question here to the author is, why take away the one thing that enables Feyre to triumph over her tormentor in the end?

I guess I have to see  how Feyre adapts to her “new normal” in A Court of Mist and Fury to find out.

LaChouett

Thanking team @KidsBloomsbury for providing me with a review copy of this title.