Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

"Be glad for your human heart Feyre. Pity those who don't feel at all"

Summary

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a fantasy series written by Sarah J Maas. It consists of 3 books and 1 novella. It also has a spin off series that has one book so far.

Feyre is a human girl living with her two sisters and her father. She provides for her family by going out hunting and making money off selling furs. She makes the mistake of killing a wolf in the woods one day that turns out to be a fae from the fae territory. She must pay for her mistake with her life by leaving her family to live in the Spring court with the high lord. Here is where her story begins.

Spoilers ahead:

Tamlin, the high lord of the spring court, comes quite literally crashing through Feyre's door, demanding she must pay for killing a wolf who actually ended up being a faerie. Her punishment, she must leave her family and go live with him in the faerie realm, in the spring court.

When she arrives she obviously does not enjoy being there, she doesn't talk, eat, she doesn't laugh, she has no interest in getting to know her captures.

The longer she stays the more she realized the faeries are very much like humans and they have been cursed by Amarantha. With the faeries under Amarantha's control Prythian will never be free.

Feyre falls for Tamlin, and she befriends his friend Lucien. She ends up saving them and all of Prythian by going 'under the mountain' where Amarantha rules and competing a series of deadly challenges.

While defeating Amarantha, Feyre dies, and all the high lords of the courts decide to give her a drop of each of their powers. Making Feyre a high fae, and more powerful then ever.

"'Do you ever stop being so serious and dull?' ' Do you ever stop being such a prick?' Lucien grinned at me 'much better'"

General Information

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J Maas

Book: A Court of Thorns and Roses book 1

Page count: 419 pages

Release date: May 5th 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Genre: fantasy, young adult

Purchase: Chapters, Amazon

"My priority would be to protect my family - and I would have picked whatever side could keep them safest. I hadn't thought of it as a weakness until now"

My Thoughts

This book is a fae retelling of the classic princess story beauty and the beast. It's wonderfully written, and truly makes you feel as if you are in Feyre's mind. I was very impressed with this book. I read it on the plane while my boyfriend and I were heading to Newfoundland for Christmas break. I felt captivated by it almost instantly. I noticed that unlike SJM's other series Throne of Glass, this story is only told by Feyre's point of view and instead of being told by the third person it is first person. This was interesting to me because it really helped discover and learn about the world of Prythian as Feyre learns more about it and I loved that.

I thought the writing was beautifully done, and the world building quite perfect. The characters development was good, however I found myself not liking one of the main 'hero' characters. The story progressed smoothly and I didn't find myself questioning Feyre's decisions. She was very relatable.

Once the ending came I felt ready for the next book. Excited to learn more about this world and see more of some characters. I wanted to see more of the other courts and get to know their ways of ruling as well as see more of the spring court. But I also felt with the way it ended even though I'd be longing for more of this world it could be a stand alone book. However I'm very grateful it is not.

Spoilers

Some points I wanted to bring up:

• I'm not a fan of Tamlin being Feyre's love interest. I did not like that when she snuck under the mountain to find him he would rather have sex with her then insure her safety. Can't exactly get passed that.

• This may be my brain that just automatically goes to the bad boy types of characters but I love Rhysand. From the moment we meet him and Feyre thought he was the most beautiful male she'd ever seen to when he sent her music. I love the tattoo bargin, I love that he made Tamlin kneel when he came to the spring court. I LOVE IT. Maybe I'm just messed up.

• Feyre's sisters and their father seem utterly useless. They don't fend for themselves I don't know how they could possibly survive without Feyre.

"I've come to claim the one I love"

Recommend?

If you are a fan of the beauty and the beast story and enjoy retelling with twists then this book is 100% for you. I would definitely recommend it to anyone! I would also recommend it to someone more mature looking to start reading Sarah J Maas before recommending Throne of Glass to them.