A couple months ago, my friends told me to read “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” They talked about this book all the time, and kept saying how it was one of their favorite series. Due to their high reviews, I thought I would give it a chance.

Let me start by just giving an incredibly brief outline about the book. ACOTAR is centered around nineteen-year-Feyre. After she killed a wolf, Tamlin, an immortal faerie takes her to another land for retribution. Feyre ends up falling in love with Tamlin over time, but an outside force poses a threat to their world. Thus, a storyline that remarkably mirrors “Beauty and the Beast” develops.

After I finished reading “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” I questioned why it was one of my friend’s favorite books. Do not get me wrong, the book was good, but I did not think it was as amazing as they made it out to be. Basically I enjoyed the book, but I had read better books before. I will say, however, that the book read better than some other young adult novels. The author demonstrated a control over the language, and seemed to have prior writing experience.

I told one of my friends my feelings about the book and how I thought it was just okay, but she still encouraged me to read the sequel, “A Court of Mist and Fury” because she actually liked that book more. So I gave the sequel a chance.

My thoughts about the sequel were entirely different. I absolutely loved “A Court of Mist and Fury.” First of all, the author, Sarah J. Maas, did a remarkable job developing the character of Feyre. From the beginning of book one to the ending of book two, her character changed immensely. She had an inner conflict for a while, but she overcame that conflict and ended up becoming stronger because of it. Maas also did a great job developing the storyline. Some series have trouble along the way with keeping up a good storyline, but that was not the case here. She took a lot of smaller details from the first book (details I overlooked), and brought them into the second book. Maas was able to keep the stories connected, but still managed to add more to the storyline. Thus, in the same way Feyre’s character developed, the storyline also greatly developed.

Although I did not love “A Court of Thorns and Roses” the same way I loved “A Court of Mist and Fury,” I can appreciate how everything the author did in that novel was to set up the second novel for bigger and better things.

For those who like fantasy novels, I would highly recommend this series. The third book in the series, “A Court of Wings and Ruin,” will be published May 2, 2017.