The First Draft

My first book review!

I started this blog up so I could start to write more, but I feel like I haven’t been doing a good job. I struggle a lot sometimes with not knowing what, exactly, I want to write about. I’ve written about my dog, I’ve written about Animal Crossing, I’ve written about Disney. All things I love. I also happen to LOVE reading. So now I’m going to write about a book!

I started ACOMAF a long time ago, but I never finished it. I don’t really remember what happened, just that I put it down and hadn’t managed to pick it back up. There’s no time like the present, so that’s how I decided to start my first week of furlough!

Honestly, I think the one of best part about the book is the main character herself. We’ve seen her be strong and brave, we’ve seen her completely helpless and terrified. The beginning of this book starts with her being broken. And we get to watch her grow. She’s got a new, immortal life, and she has to grow into that and decide who she wants to be. It’s something that’s relatable, in a way. I mean, I may not have immortality to worry about, but as a person who went straight from high school to college to a career, I had to decide who I wanted to be pretty fast. It may not be eternity before I retire, but as a nearly 23-year-old it certainly feels like it. Feyre may be a fictional human-turned-faerie, but she is relatable. You want to laugh with her, cry with her, and maybe even grow with her as she goes from broken and fading to a vibrant dreamer in the City of Stars.

Sometimes, authors have to write one book to write another. Like how Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game so he could write Speaker for the Dead. In a way, I feel like Sarah J. Maas wrote A Court of Thorns and Roses so she could write A a Court of Wings and Ruin. Everything that happened in the first book, all of the main players and everything they did, seemed to come full circle in book two. From character’s being developed from “oh, he’s not satan” to “he’s actually pretty cool” and “he’s so sweet and charming and good” to “he’s a controlling, abusive monster”. Maas wrote the first book in a very intentional way. The traits and personalities and actions of different people were important for the second book in ways you don’t really realize until you get there. I was especially surprised, because I tend to have a knack for guessing large plot points of things. Shows, books, it doesn’t matter. But this one definitely kept me on my toes. And that’s just the characters! Never mind that the world the story is set in is so dynamic.

It was the kind of book that I would normally have breezed right through, so I’m really not sure what happened the first time. It’s definitely going to be added to my list of favorites on Goodreads. Overall, I’m happy that I finished it, but I sad that it‘s over. I immediately went and picked the next book up off my shelf. It’s definitely safe to say I have a love-hate relationship with cliff-hangers. I’m too impatient for them most of the time, but in this case I happened to have the third book on hand!

If you’re looking for a series to start this quarantine, I suggest you start here! If you’ve already read this series, or just want to know what I’ve been reading, click the button below!