A review by chocola
Das Reich der sieben Höfe - Flammen und Finsternis by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

I really wanted to like this book like the first one but ... I somehow can't...
There are some aspects which were so annoying to me or rather I can't just bring me to like them.

 .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. 
【The first thing is kinda complicated to me:】 
I came to be annoyed by Rhysand in this book. Which is sad because I really liked him in the first one! And the main reason I think are his dumb smutty comments in conversations, which were perfectly normal or cute, until that comment came up! I liked it when he was talking serious stuff or showed his true self and than: random lewd comment appears and ruins the mood just to lead now and then into pages long smut scenes!
(*sigh* The latter were not my cup of tea either and skipped them because I thought "Aaand here we go again ZzzzZZZz")
I know he loves Feyre and adores her but ... why do this in such a bold way and why sometimes infront of other random people??
For example the time as they just arrived at the summer court and Rhysand states 'He knows Feyres well-developed bust is tempting but Tarquin doesn't need to stare at them.' Or something like that. (Don't know what he said exactly in the english version because I read the german edition). I know he wanted to act like a badass to maintain his outer image, but I mean ... come on! That was so unnecessary...


Later in the book Feyre is like this too and maaaaan. Too much of this suggestive, thirsty behaviour looks kinda cheap....

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
【The Pacing:】  
The book is way way to long and often nothing really happens plot-wise. Sometimes it was almost boring and I was hoping something should happen already! But there were scenes I really liked and I was instantly hooked!
The scene with the Stryga, the weaver, was so so good! It was the thing I could pictured the most out of this entiry book and nearly was playing out like a movie in my head!


Some things, which were just mentioned in one sentence, I would have liked to have it written out instead of some other uneventful things but okay.
Also I have the feeling all the action was punched in the last ~250 pages ^^''

 .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
 【Tamlin, why?:】  
Why did they have to made Tamlin such an asshole in this book? Maybe I'm blind but I think he was a completely 180 from how he was in the first book. I liked him and I don't know. It's meh that he was turned into this way just so Feyre and Rhysand can get together...
Feyre says Tamlin locked her up and didn't give her any freedom and he doesn't understand how she felt etc. But in my opinion she didn't even try to have a long serious conversation with him about how she was feeling, what's in her mind and so on. She just blamed him for everything, because she was broken, and doesn't seem to realize that she was not innocent at this whole outcome either. Btw. sometimes Rhysand said the same things Feyre blames Tamlin for, but she didn't mind if Rhysand said them?
Stuff like: Go to safety! Hide! I don't want you to do anything dangerous. etc.

 
Ooookay, don't understand that but welp.

 .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Despite that, I think I will read the next volume someday, because in general it isn't a bad story and there a a lot of interesting and loveable side-characters! Such like Nesta, Lucien or Amren! I hope to see more of them in the next books and a little more action through the entire pages!

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