It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one but today I want to share my review for Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland. It is marketed for fans of Sarah J. Maas and A Deadly Education so you understand why I wanted to read it right? Marketing like that sets some high expectations, so let’s see if Court of the Undying Seasons was able to meet those!
Sarah J. Maas meets A Deadly Education in A.M. Strickland's lush, queer YA dark fantasy novel.
In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more.Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside.A blade.
When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love's place in their village's Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either.
Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life...or betrays her own heart.
Court of the Undying Seasons is a deliciously dark romantic novel and a pitch perfect modern take on classic vampire tropes.
"With brutal romance, vicious stakes, and a twisty mystery, Court of The Undying Seasons takes everything we love about vampires and cranks it to a whole new level." —Hannah Whitten, author of For the Wolf and For the Throne
Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland
Published by Feiwel & Friends on 16/05/2023
Pages: 400
Goodreads
I’ll admit I was a little skeptical going in to this. While the premise sounded interesting I have seen too many YA vampire books that were not good at all. The start of the book also seemed a bit predictable with a MC like we’ve seen a hundred times before. But, I can admit when I’m wrong and I very quickly realised that I was wrong here haha. The story took a turn just a few chapters in and really grabbed me.
I really enjoyed the plot and there were some fun twists I did not see coming! Some twists I did see coming but that was okay. I enjoyed the training scenes a lot, Fin has to master different vampire ‘powers’ and we get to see the different kind of lessons. It’s basically like a magical school and we all know how much I love those. A magical ‘school’, a murder mystery, and maybe an enemies to lovers plot? Definitely a book with some of my favorite tropes!
Fin was an interesting main character, I can’t say I really liked her and she made some dumb decisions but as a character she wasn’t too bad. There were some great side characters, I especially liked Kashire! He was hilarious and I wouldn’t mind a novella just about him. The representation was great, Fin is a demi-girl and pansexual and almost all of the characters are queer.
I guess the one thing I wasn’t a fan of was the ending. The idea was good but I didn’t love the execution. I was expecting this to be the first book in a series but it seems like this is a stand alone. The ending was quite fast, I would’ve loved more pages or a second book. Court of the Undying Seasons is 400 pages long, I wouldn’t have minded it to be 500 pages so we could have a better ending. After finishing the book I gave it 4 stars and I would definitely recommend it!
Have you read this one? What did you think? Do you have any good vampire book recommendations? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
I loved this one.