Disclaimers: I’ve never read A Court of Thorns and Roses, other Sarah J Maas books, or the reverse harem genre before. Not familiar with fae tropes, either. I knew this was the first in a series before I read it, so I was prepared for it not to be a self-contained novel. I started reading an ARC, but my old Kindle is kaput, so I finished reading on Kindle Unlimited.

First impressions

The writing pulled me in immediately. I felt a solid sense of place and surroundings without any lagging, wordy descriptions. I’m a fan of concise, snappy writing, which this book delivers. The first chapter provided a good understanding of who the main character is, what she wants, what her circumstances involve, and how she feels about other characters. The story moved quickly without feeling rushed.

Other thoughts

As I read on, I ran into some things I didn’t like. My biggest complaint is grammatical errors and repetitive word choices; the book is enjoyable, but it could use a copyeditor. Sometimes it’s a little confusing keeping track of where characters or objects are located physically in a scene.

I also found the characters a little two-dimensional. In my opinion, there were just too many people introduced at once; nobody spent enough time on the page to flesh them out. After Delph left the human world, she never even thought about the friends or family she left behind. As an older sister myself, and knowing Delph’s motivation for agreeing to go to the fae world, I didn’t get that at all.

The fae princes were hot and entertaining, but largely defined by one or two simple character traits. While Delph claimed an emotional connection to all four, only Tethys and Nyx’s relationships with her felt justified to me.

The story remained engaging and compelling. Pacing of the plot stayed consistent and balanced overall, with things moving along without lagging or rushing.

The first (only?) ~spicy~ scene felt well-written and hot. The sexual tension was built up throughout the book, so when it delivered, it felt satisfying. I look forward to other built-up tensions being delivered on in future books.

As the book reached about 60% and onward, the pacing felt a little clunkier, like the writer was racing toward the ending. I kept reading because I loved the main character and wanted to see What Happened Next.

A lot of the dialogue made me laugh out loud, hard. One scene that I think was supposed to be hot felt more humorous, but the point of reading this book was to be entertained, and it certainly entertained me.

Delph’s kickass attitude vanishes about 3/4 through the book, then reappears toward the ending. I have no idea why she shifted temporarily like that. It was weird. Glad she got her moxie back at the end.

The final scene was well-done and pulled together the most important story elements. I appreciated the cliffhanger. As a writer, I think it was an excellent ending to the first book in a series.

Random things I liked:

• fun demon buddy
• Delphine, in general
• two of the four hot fae princes (Tethys and Nyx)
• Nyx’s concept of humans and human-fae relations, hilarious
• design and behavior of the fiends
• the ending

Elements that disappointed:

• no spice with the hot lady fae soldier (straight MCs are so 2019)
• Delphine’s strange switcharoo in personality (thankfully did not last)
• several cool ideas were introduced, but underutilized

What I hope to see in future books:

• Who exactly is Delphine? Where did she really come from? How is she who she is?? I have theories…
• more sassy demon friend!
• hot fae spice
• better use of worldbuilding elements introduced here (talking horses, the fiends, fae magic, etc.)

Would I recommend this book?

Personally, yes. I don’t have experience with SJM or ACOTAR to make a comparison, but on its own standing, I enjoyed A Veil of Truth and Trickery. I eagerly await book two in February!