WOW! I LOVED this book SO MUCH! I can already tell it'll be one of my favourites of the year! If you didn't really like ACOTAR (Book 1) I still highly suggest reading book 2 as it takes the characters and their stories to new heights. It took me 2 days to read and was just over 600 pages!
5 stars (even though I wish I could have given it more again). I much preferred ACOMAF to ACOTAR, even though I still gave the first book 5 stars.
It's a Hades and Persephone retelling. I'm not sure just how much Hades and Persephone went into it as I don't know that story. But based on how much Beauty And The Beast went into ACOTAR (book 1), the second book is its own story just with elements of Hades and Persephone.
The book is split into three separate parts. The House Of Beasts, The House of Wind and The House Of Mist. These titles are explained in their chapters.
Spoilers below...
We follow Feyre, in first person narrative again as in book 1 as she struggles to live within the Spring Court. She just doesn't feel right there. Tamlin, the hero from the first book, wants to keep her locked up and he calls it safe. However, Feyre wants and pleads with him to be free. He doesn't allow this so she unknowingly pleads for help.
That help arrives in the form of Rhysand - the villainous character from ACOTAR. Feyre and Rhysand have a bond from book 1 because he saved her life. She didn't want it in book 1 but is grateful for it now. Rhysand appears on Feyre and Tamlin's wedding day, before they're married. In book 1 Rhysand said he would take Feyre to the night court for a week each month as payment for saving her and Tamlin. He enacts this now.
At the night court Feyre is at first angry with Rhysand but becomes friends with him quickly. She knows he saved her from Tamlin and the Spring Court. Feyre is introduced to Rhys' friends who are more like his family. She instantly becomes close to each of them, laughing at their jokes and just being a part of their group. She feels like she fits in, something she didn't feel in Tamlin's court. Rhys knows that Feyre got powers from every High Lord of the Fairy realms so because Rhys knows Feyre didn't like being kept out of everything, as Tamlin was doing, he suggests they go to Velaris, Rhys' city that he's kept hidden from everyone human, and fairy who isn't meant to be there. If Feyre helps him stop Lord Highburn from harming any of his court with her powers, Rhys promises to keep her safe and protect her there.
Velaris is so different to the Spring Court and even to the Night Court, Feyre sees. She sees people having fun, shopping and just going about their lives without a care in the world, much different from how she was brought up.
All of Rhys' family stay in a town house. Feyre also stays here and between training and falling for Rhys slowly, Feyre doesn't have much else to do for a few chapters. The training is dotted here, and there in chapters throughout the book.
In the plot to save the Fae and human lands from Lord Hyburn, Rhys and Feyre along with 2 skilled warrior Illyrians that Rhys trusts go to the human realm to get help from women who rule the earth plain. The women don't help at all, really until Rhys notices a box left by them containing part of what they need. Feyre's sisters are a part of ACOMAF here.
The part that I really enjoyed was the burgeoning love that was obvious to me from when they entered Velaris, if not before when Rhys saved Feyre from her wedding to Tamlin. Feyre and Rhys have a connection that no one else can rival. They can speak to each other through their minds. This is helpful when Feyre is trying to find parts to destroy the King of Highburn. Rhys often uses this bond to say sarcastic things to Feyre as well as loving things later on in the book. They are really, forever bonded in a mating bond it's revealed when Rhys is hurt and Feyre goes to the truth teller to find out what will heal him. The mating bond happens only for fairies and Illyrians. Rhys knew of this mating bond before he even met Feyre. Feyre knew that his kind had mating bonds but not that she was mated to him. She is at first angry with him for not telling her sooner but he was afraid that she'd deny it among other things he later reveals.
When it's obvious to everyone else that she's angry with Rhys, his cousin Marr lets Feyre stay at a private retreat on a mountain side that everyone in their family can use. Here, Feyre considers her true feelings for Rhys and everyone she's met in Velaris and comes to the realisation that she does love him and them more than anything else. When Rhys comes to the retreat to explain himself and why he kept the bond secret we learn just how long he knew he loved Feyre for. He also explains his actions from the first book and why he did what he did. This made me as the reader fall in love with Rhys' character. When I read ACOTAR I didn't like Rhys. I was totally Team Tamlin. However, what Tamlin does at the end of ACOMAF really put me off of him. In fact, in my opinion Tamlin is a horrible character in every part he's in in this book.
I don't want to spoil the ending of ACOMAF as it had a few twists that I didn't see coming. I'm so excited to pick up book 3 next year (May I think).
What did you think of ACOMAF? Did you like it as much as me? Who was your favourite character? No spoilers please.
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