This was a SLOG  to get through. Supposedly Maas’ first series in ADULT fantasy and… man, it doesn’t read that way. This is a YA fantasy with a lot of juvenile writing, stilted swearing and an unnecessary amount of horniness. It’s like a hormonal teen’s fanfic about a bunch of different fantasy worlds shoved together with cursing thrown in left and right “Alphahole?” I cringed every time it was uttered. Second-hand embarrassment from beginning to end. 

There’s no cohesion to the worldbuilding. There are so many species and mythological figures that she pulls from and yet there’s no real connective tissue between any of them.

This was so long for no reason. It easily could’ve been cut in half. Saying it gets better after page 500 is a bonker. The amount of infodumping is ridiculous, made worse by the fact that it was mostly shallow. I.e everytime a character popped up, it was followed by literally paragraphs of background info. 

All the characters are often objectified, the female characters especially and the MC in particular. This whole book is oddly written so heavily from the male gaze. The MC can’t be in a scene without someone looking at, describing or admiring her ass/body. Why is she reduced to a body for most of the novel?? This book is filled to the brim with slut-shaming, ageism, and objectification.

Speaking of MC: Bryce is the hottest, most badass, smartest, best at everything Chosen One Mary Sue = BORING. As I understand it, all of Maas’ MCs are written like this.

There’s a weird admiration towards the oppressors in this society and blaming the oppressed groups and framing them as terrorists when they try to fight for their rights and freedom. I can’t believe that’s such a strong message behind this book. 

Random side note: this kind of reminded my of the later Anita Blake books by Laurel K. Hamilton, who is incidentally praising the book on the back cover