I started reading this series without any knowledge about the plot, characters etc. It took me quite a few pages to realise that it was a retelling of (spoilers!) Beauty and the Beast. To be honest, after realising that it was a story I had already heard (of course a bit differently) it was much easier to read. In the beginning it just felt familiar which made the story a bit lame (I know it was kind of my fault for not understanding what the story was referring to) but I just felt as if Sarah J. Maas could have added a “little something” to the retelling so that there was another aspect with a little twist or something like that. The whole story with the antagonist was quite good but I feel like it needs a bit more time (maybe one or two more books) to develop fully which means that I’m looking forward to reading the following books in the series!
On the other hand, I absolutely adored how the characters were written. Every point that was lost for the rather weak story was made up with incredibly well-written characters! I can’t wait to get to know them better and I hope that Sarah J. Maas is going to keep adding more to these complex characters.
