This might be the one book in this series that I like the most. And I feel like that's a hard take for the fans of this series. But there's less world building than in any of the other books, which is where SJM losses my attention. There are a few questionable choices to the storyline for me, but overall I didn't dislike it as much as the others. ( )

A fantasy war between mankind and faeries. Read if interested in battles and romance. ( )

Feyre returns to the Spring Court as a spy. Tamlin believes her lies, oblivious to her revulsion at the deals he made in order to get her back. Lucien sees that there's more going on, but he keeps quiet, knowing that Feyre is his only link to his newly found mate, Elain.

Once her work at the Spring Court is done and she's back with Rhysand, it's time to prepare for the upcoming war against Hybern. Nesta and Elain both have abilities that could be useful, if they can be persuaded to care enough about what's going on around them to try to help. Feyre has more skills to develop, and there are many potential allies, if she and Rhysand are willing to take some risks.

Mixed in with all the battle preparation is a lot of relationship/emotional stuff: Feyre's relationship with her sisters, something brewing between Nesta and Cassian, Lucien fretting over Elain (who is refusing to eat or do anything now that the Cauldron has changed her and she can't marry the person she'd originally planned to marry), Mor finally talking about Azriel (although she didn't owe Feyre any sort of explanation, but whatever), more Tamlin, etc.

Feyre's relationship with Rhysand was a lot more interesting before they officially became mates. In this book, Rhysand was practically a background character, one who occasionally had sex with Feyre and left everyone understandably worried that he'd sacrifice himself for the mere chance of safety for others. Granted, Feyre was at least as bad, going off on her own multiple times rather than remembering that she's now a High Lady with responsibilities and people who need to know where she is and what she's up to.

As far as secondary relationships went, I was slightly more interested in Nesta and Cassian than I was in Lucien and Elain, although I don't actually like either Elain (who is basically beautiful wet tissue paper) and Nesta (who seems to be prickly just because - and I personally haven't forgiven her for doing nothing while Feyre was left solely responsible for feeding their entire family).

I could sympathize with Feyre being worried about the possibly self-destructive aspects of the way Mor was handling her relationships. That said, Mor didn't owe Feyre any sort of explanation for what was going on between her and Azriel - if Mor talked to anyone, it should have been Azriel, and after I found out what was going on with her it seemed doubly unfair that he still didn't have any idea what was up.

This wasn't a terrible book, but it dragged for me. I didn't like the characters enough to put up with all of this, and a storyline that could be summed up as "battle prep," for 699 pages. I consider this the weakest book in the series so far.

Extras:

A map.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Synopsis: 'Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places.' From Fandom

Review: I'm losing sleep with these books. They are exceptionally well written. There is enough of a break between the 'hair-raising' events that you don't get exhausted, but are ready for what happens next. ( )

This book needed some serious editing. It felt like the author was incapable of finishing a sentence properly with the overuse of ellipses and dashes. Plus why did everyone growl? It was probably the most overused word in the whole book. Someone needs to get the thesaurus out clearly.

If you can look past the bad writing/editing then you’ll be able to look through to this bland plot. Nothing that happened surprised me at all. Everything was extremely predictable and reminded me of every other fantasy ever. I was really hoping for something special because I think the best part of this series is the group of friends that Rhys and Feyre have. There’s something really special about all their relationships and I thought it could have been used a lot more than what it was. There was SO MUCH potential with them that it made the story fall flat for me.

I also found the ending didn’t wrap anything up very well. Some endings were tied a little too neatly and others not enough. I know there’s going to be companion books but this is still a trilogy and should have been written like one. I’m actually pretty disappointed with how everything ended and I didn’t even cry once! An ending should make me feel something, not the nothing that this one made me feel. It felt unfinished and not dramatic enough.

There were a lot of parts in the middle of the book that felt forced. Almost like the author has heard the cry for more diversity and then she just threw it in to make people happy. She clearly didn’t notice how awkward it made the story feel, like it wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. It was obvious (to me anyways) that it was thrown in the story last minute which made those parts feel rushed.

For all the faults this book had, I always really enjoy most of the characters. I love how they interact with each other and how they’re this big family. We don’t see enough friendships like that in books. It did bother me a little that everyone was pairing off a little too easily. I don’t think it was necessary to the story to have everyone given a mate or partner. Other than that, they were still wonderful to read about and the other thing giving this book a 3 star rating from me. ( )