a great improvement over book 1 of acotar series, which albeit interesting, had strange pacing. it definitely feels like a lot of the twists and turns were half baked during the writing of book one and a bit roughly retconned in this one, which is noticeable and frustrating when reading the books back to back. but by the end of this long and twisting novel, although the way to it is clumsy at parts, it definitely feels like the characters have a stronger identity and evolution, and the plot got surprisingly a lot more interesting and unexpected the further it went. i was hesitant to continue the series when i finished acotar, but acomaf was mostly enjoyable and has definitely left me wanting more.

SPOILERS START HERE





my biggest grievance is how the transition from one relationship to another was handled, however. the main love interest was a slimy man in acotar and the book does a great deal of gymnastics to justify him, not as a multifaceted, complex man, but he gets glossed over as a nice guy whose actions are always justified. as if it erased all the atrocities he caused and still does. don’t get me wrong, i do enjoy his character, but it does bother me how he can do no wrong… not to mention he’s wholly less of a unique character by the end and just mostly a stand in for feyre’s ideal partner in face of her ever changing and contradicting needs.

and tamlin… tamlin was completely rewritten. no shadow of the kind, if imperfect and somewhat controlling love interest of the first book. he’s a completely different person by the beginning of this book and their communicative relationship dynamic based on mutual respect is absolutely gone by the start of this sequel. i’m not bothered by the recontextualization of his actions, because i do find interesting how their relationship dynamic can be reinterpreted in another light, but the narrative was too busy shoving rhys down the reader’s throats to even bother making justice of the entire narrative of acotar. i’m hoping the next book will shed more light on this as a miscommunication dynamic between them, even if feyre’s loyalties lie somewhere else now, because otherwise it’d just be sloppy writing and even sloppier planning.