A Court of Thorns and Roses Book 2
After freeing the Prythian courts from evil ruler Amarantha, the now immortal Feyre and Tamlin are back in the Spring Court. We are dumped with a load of backstory to fill in the gap between the end of the last book and this one, which I would rather have seen in real-time.
One, because it would help us delve a bit deeper into Tamlin’s transformation from insipid lover to boyfriend from hell. Sorry, now he’s Feyre’s fiancé, but we didn’t get to witness that, we’re just told it happened.
Two, because Feyre is also struggling to process the things she experienced Under the Mountain and again we’re told how she’s not coping most of the time, rather than seeing it for ourselves. Tamlin’s controlling and possessive behaviour only makes things worse and Feyre, still trying to become accustomed to her new powers, breaks and has to leave.
In sweeps the bad guy from book one to take her away, not once, but twice. Here we have another complete character turnaround because Rhysand is not the bad guy after all.
Now, I didn’t mind this love triangle because I found Rhysand an intriguing character. The dynamic between Rhysand and Feyre was much more interesting than that with Tamlin, mainly due to the flirtatious banter and sexual tension. The heat levels are also higher than in the last book. However, I’m not sure the author did a great job of showing the transformation of the relationship triangle. It felt forced, and the reader is continually reminded how terrible Tamlin became, without any real depth of consideration as to why or whether he deserved a chance to win Feyre back.
Meanwhile, the reader is pummelled with references regarding the new, considerate, caring, and supportive Rhys a little too much. While I did like the relationship between Rhys and Feyre, I felt she abandoned Tamlin too easily, considering she supposedly loved him once. It was definitely out of sight, out of mind for Feyre, and it took her ages to think to send him a note to say she was okay, even though she knew her abandonment would hurt him, especially in his fragile mental state.
I enjoyed this book more than the first – despite fairly questionable parts – because the relationship between Feyre and Rhysand gave me more feels, and the story moved along at a nice pace with some exciting and action-packed scenes. The side characters also added to the plot and I cared about them as much as the MCs.
What did detract, however, is the writing style. The reader is talked through the action more often than experiencing it with the character. The writer’s syntax was also jarring at times, but not enough to make me put the book down.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
