My First Foray into Fantasy

How I read almost 3,000 pages of books in one week

I’ll be honest, for years I had no interest in reading fantasy/fantasy romance, which is surprising as I’ve always loved fairy tales. Even this blog is named after Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which definitely would be classified as a fantasy book, a hugely influential one at that. Clearly I was missing out on a whole genre of books.

At the end of 2021 after having downloaded Tik Tok for a few months and just lurking, somehow found myself on booktok…that algorithm really knows what you like. So many creators kept talking about something called ACOTAR, I was confused. One, @colormeloverly, really convinced me to check it out since her videos had made me laugh so much. I love her “PR” videos, so if she can make me laugh, I’ll check out the books she recommends. I did some light digging and realized that people were talking about A Court of Thorns and Roses, a whole fantasy series. There were also a ton of videos on ACOTAR vs TOG, which was even more confusing, but I decided to forget about those for a bit.

Luckily the Brooklyn Public Library had the copies available to rent for kindle, and I had a lot of time on my hands as I was trying to use up some accrued PTO, so I downloaded the books and started reading.

I blew through the four books in the series. I loved that it had a female main character who was tough, but also feminine. I enjoyed the progression of Feyre’s story, and the exploration of trauma and PTSD. Especially that after the first books (spoilers) it was just happily ever after. I also enjoyed the romance, however I had no idea what to expect! Let’s just say these books gets spicier and spicier, more on that later. Now I will be honest, at some points during A Court of Thorns and Roses I defiantly was rolling my eye and cringing. That book felt the most like on the edge of Young Adult. There are also some other “cringe” scenes in the rest of the books so be warned.

For a quick synopsis, Feyre, who is the protagonist through the first few books in the series, is forced to live “above the wall” in the fairy land, through a series of events. This is a sort of retelling of Beauty and the Beast, so you can guess how part of the story goes. I won’t give too much away except that Sarah J Maas really makes you second guess almost every characters motivations and intentions throughout the series. My advice, don’t fall in love with anyone if you don’t want your opinion changed.

It might be obvious from the title image of this post, but A Court of Silver Flames was my absolute favorite of the bunch. As I now keep getting served ACOTAR tik toks, it seems this is a slightly unpopular opinion. Tik Tok can get repetitive, I just want all my make up tutorial videos back!

I went from finding Nesta annoying and rude in the previous books, so her being my favorite character. It really felt like I could feel what she was feeling, and I sympathized for her. The moments where she so much wanted to not be miserable and combative, and yet she just couldn’t compel herself to act different felt really authentic, and definitely something experienced with depression. It’s a great redemption story, and a lot of fun, this is also the spiciest book of the series, which has definitely opened my eyes to the world of romance.

I’ve always loved rom com type of books, or something you’d see displayed on a “beach reads” table at Barnes & Noble, but I really have delved into the world of Romance. From Emily Henry, to Christina Lauren to my recent favorite The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegmund-Broka, I’ve devoured so many. Aside from reading a few more romances, I’m not sure how much this will impact my future reading choices, but I’m glad I tried something different.