Alright, so I’m kicking off this new series with my all-time favorite YA series. I don’t know if you can tell but I am SO VERY EXCITED to share this with you!
Feyre and her family were once wealthy but have now fallen on difficult times. But while Feyre’s father has laments his lack of fortune, Feyre goes out hunting to provide food for him and her two sisters, Nesta and Elain.
Elain is a sweet, gentle soul with Nesta is always angry and argumentative. Nonetheless Feyre goes out of her way to provide for her sisters as her family is unable to do so. During one of her hunting trips, Feyre comes across a wolf and kills it.
A wolf fae barges into Feyre’s house and demands payment for the life she has taken. According to some ancient treaty, Feyre owes a life for a life and has to leave the human world to go to the Fae world of Prythian. Always the protector, Feyre goes with the wolf who she discovers is Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court.
Feyre gets to live with Tamlin and his friend, Lucien in the Spring Court. While the house is grand and luxurious, everyone in the court suffers from a curse that has them wearing masks that are magically attached to their faces. Tamlin and Lucien are trying to find a way to fix the curse to ensure that it doesn’t spread to the human world.
Feyre eventually realises that something about Tamlin’s story is not adding up so she decides to capture a Suriel, a type of fae that cannot lie. Suriel gives Feyre a quick history lesson explaining that the king of the fae kingdom is against the treaty with the humans and sent his soldiers to spy on the other courts. This history class is cut short when Feyre is almost attacked and Tamlin comes to her rescue (Flashbacks to the wolf scene from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, anyone? I loved that scene). Tamlin and Feyre begin a sort of friendship after this. Much like Belle and the Beast. Now where’s that huge ass library? Oh wait, Feyre still can’t read.
Feyre starts to overhear conversations about a “her” but no one wants to tell her who this person is. It is the evil Amarantha who has declared herself queen of Prythian.
There is a solstice celebration and Feyre is warned not to leave her room. She does anyway and runs into two fae who are very excited to see her for some reason. What do fae do with humans? Eat them? Torture them? I don’t know. Feyre is saved from the two fae by a gorgeous male with dark hair and blue eyes who pretends he knows her and has been looking for her.
Feyre sneaks back to the house and she and Tamlin shares a passionate kiss. The next day, Feyre’s breakfast with Tamlin and Lucien is interrupted when the male fae from the night before barges in. He is Rhysand and he works for Amarantha. This scene broke my heart because how can you be bad when the book makes you look so good? Also, this question can be applied to many YA villians.
Rhysand demands to know who Feyre is and she gives him the name Clare Beddor, the name of her neighbour back home in the human realm. Tamlin decides to send Feyre back home after they spend one last night together.
When Feyre returns home she sees that her family have a better life. They have a huge house, servants and money. Her father and younger sister, Elain think Feyre has been with a rich aunt while Nesta is the only one who remembers Tamlin in wolf form, breaking into the house.
After a while, Feyre learns that Clare’s home has been burned down and Clare is missing. Feyre decides to go back to the Spring Court, worried that something might be wrong.
Sure enough when she gets to the Spring Court, everything is in shambles and there is only a single servant, Alis remaining. Alis explains to Feyre that Amarantha was an emissary that came from Hybern with her sister, Clythia. Clythia and Amarantha fought in the mortal war together until Clythia fell in love with a human warrior named Jurian. Jurian eventually betrayed Clythia causing Amarantha to hate all humans ever since. Amarantha has been keeping the fae as her slaves. Alis also tells Feyre that she could have ended it all. After Tamlin refused to become Amarantha’s lover, she put a curse on him. He needed to find a human girl who killed a fae and make her fall in love with him (oddly specific but okay then). As part of the curse, no one in the Spring Court could tell Feyre this.
Alis leads Feyre to Amarantha’s mountains where she is found by the Queen’s lackeys and taken to see the Queen. Tamlin pretends not to know Feyre (because he is now a spineless ass) but Feyre sees the burned body of Clare Beddor. Amarantha and Feyre make a deal. Feyre has to complete a task a month for three months and if she does, the fae are all free. Alternatively Amarantha provides Feyre with a riddle which, if she solves at any time, they will all be free immediately.
Feyre’s first task is to defeat a giant worm monster. She manages to complete it but injures her arm in the process. Rhysand visits her with his own bargain. He can heal her but she needs to spend a week with him every month for the rest of her life. Left with no other solution, Feyre accepts his offer. Rhysand marks Feyre with a tattoo as proof of their deal. He also decides to take her out to parties as his date, flaunting her in front of Tamlin who isn’t even allowed to visit her.
Feyre’s second task is to solve a riddle but she struggles with this as she still cannot read (this would have been resolved had Tamlin given her the library like the Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”. Honestly at this point, I find Tamlin a waste of a creature). Rhysand helps Feyre to find the correct answer through the tattoo on her hand linking the two of them. He admits that he does want Feyre to win.
Feyre’s third task is to kill three innocent fae. She decides to do it as it is three fae vs the entire world. But when she takes the covering off the third fae, she sees that it is Tamlin. Feyre cannot think of a way out until she remembers overhearing people constantly referring to Tamlin’s heart as being made of stone. Feyre shoves the dagger into his chest. As Tamlin is recovering from the wound, Amarantha flies into a rage and tells Feyre that she never specified when she would free everyone. She starts to break Feyre’s bones. In the middle of her pain, Feyre solves the riddle and instantly everyone is freed. Tamlin attacks and kills Amarantha but she has already broken Feyre’s neck. Feyre is dying but feels herself watching everyone from above.
The High Fae offer up a piece of their magic and Feyre eventually becomes an immortal High Fae. Feyre and Tamlin can finally be together but Feyre feels like a part of her is lost after killing the Fae. Feyre and Rhysand have one last conversation where he confirms their deal before bowing to her and vanishing.
