I went into Sarah J. Maas’ new series with high expectations that just weren’t met. I enjoyed A Court of Thorn and Roses well enough but it felt a bit of a generic fantasy romance. I love novels about dark fae and faerie politics so I thought this one would be right up my street. However, I felt you could have substituted the faeries for vampires, and it could be one of many urban fantasy stories I’ve read over the years.

Once Feyre goes beyond the wall, she discovers not everything she’s been taught about faeries is true. There are some terrifying and dangerous races amongst them, but there are also faeries who are little different from humans. All is not well in Prythian, and the fae magic is weak. I was interested in the world-building, and which parts of faerie mythology were incorporated; I definitely found some of the minor characters more interesting than Feyre and Tamlin.

The middle is very slow and I found it all a little unconvincing. Some of this is justified by what is revealed later on, however I wanted a bit more of a reaction from Feyre. Hasn’t she just been used? However things got interesting when Rhysand popped up. He’s a much more complex character even if he isn’t the nicest. Maybe I just like the opportunity for a good redemption story. Tamlin was portrayed as too nice, if you ask me. He does plenty that should be questioned but is just glossed over.

It’s a bit sexier than most young adult fantasy, even though I personally found the Throne of Glass characters sexier because they weren’t necessarily defining each other by how hot they were. Tamlin might well wear a mask but he is clearly good looking and muscular and I didn’t quite feel enough of an intellectual bond between them. It was all too much heaving bosoms and coy looks for my liking.

In parts, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, although in saying that it might give some clues as to what is going on. Feyre is one of those characters that starts off as “plain”, because she is modest and telling it in first person, but eventually turns out to be a beauty. It feels a bit like one of those films where the main character is a geek then takes off her glasses and undoes her ponytail and, bam, she’s hot.

Anyway, there’s one key thing that happens which would make me read the second book in this trilogy. It feels very much like an earlier work which has been dusted off, since Sarah’s become so successful. It just isn’t as polished as her other, very excellent, books.

Review copy provided by publisher.