A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas


BOOK REVIEW: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Release Date: May 5th, 2015
Genre: Fantasy, New Adult
419 pages
Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️My Goodreads rating


BOOK BLURB:

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.


MY THOUGHTS:

I’ve had A Court of Thorns and Roses on my #TBR for a while.  I’ve seen all the hype around the series but kept pushing it aside.

To my luck, one of my book club buddies also wanted to read #ACOTAR so we decided to do a Buddy read.  You can find her review here  https://www.instagram.com/p/Btro9okBM3o/

A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book in the fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas.  It’s constantly labeled as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, being the tale of a kidnapped girl, two Faerie High Lords and a curse that needs to be broken. I’d like to think it’s Beauty and the Beast meets Twilight, but that’s just me.

I will admit that the first half of the book was slow and didn’t quite impress me. I guess because it was clearly inevitable that Feyre and her captor, Tamlin would eventually fall in love (him being super handsome and all),  I wished their love story would develop a little faster.  That said, once the story picked up, I couldn’t put it down.

The attention to scenery and character development in this book is incredible.  Feyre started out unimpressive.  And by the end of the book, this simple mortal girl had grown into a confident warrior, who was not afraid to face evil while trying to break the ancient curse.  Tamlin, the shape-shifting High Lord and hero in the story, is stubborn, smart and sometimes a beast.  One of my favorite characters was Lucien, the loyal High Lord emissary.  He is funny, brave and downright adorable.  Oh, but let’s not forget Rhysand, the other High Lord in this story.  We’re never really sure of his intentions and the mystery behind his actions only makes him interesting and is the build-up we needed for book 2.

A few things I appreciated:  This is not a children’s book.  There is sexual tension and love making.  It was also refreshing to read a fantasy book where the heroine is not a virgin that needs to be saved.

Overall, I really enjoyed #ACOTAR and am looking forward to starting book 2, A Court of Mist and Fury.


“It’s a rare day indeed when someone thanks you for bringing them to their death.” 


“A High Lord who loved to fly - trapped under a mountain.
Shadows not of his own making still haunted those violet eyes.
I wonder if they would ever fade.” 

10 comments

  1. I have totally missed the hype around this book, and it's the first time I heard of it, I'll be sure to check it out :)

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    1. Sarah J Maas will be at a book event next month, ApollyCon, and I'll have a chance to meet her so I'm excited about that :-)

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  2. I’m not the biggest fan of SJM, and these books seem a bit overhyped so I’ll pass for now

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  3. This series keeps popping up, it seems to be a perennial favorite

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  4. Definitely going to check this out, great review

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  5. I read A Court of Thorns and Roses a year ago and didn't enjoy it. Glad you did!

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  6. Nice review. Not really my kind of book though.

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  7. A fave series of mine, great review!

    www.tbrandbeyond.com

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  8. This is on my TBR I so want to read it!

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