A Court of Thorns and Roses (Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

by Sarah J. Maas

[nannah]

DNF @ 56%.

Yikes.
Warning: this review will not be positive.

Book content warnings:
dubious consent
slavery mention

I'm completely shocked this book made it this far, that it has so many fans, and that it even got published in the first place. It reads like bad fanfiction: it's messy, it doesn't have a plot, and the protagonist is the most reactive protagonist I've ever read. This is like an example of what not to do in fiction. And yet, and yet, and yet . . .

Feyre (pronounced Fay-ruh ??? awful, awful) is the only provider of her once-wealthy family, struggling to get her disabled father and two sisters fed through the harsh winters. One day out on the hunt, she accidentally kills a faerie in the shape of a wolf, and when a High Fae comes for her in exchange for the wolf's life to take her back to his world, her life is changed forever.

Again, I only read halfway, but it was enough. I couldn't go on, and even getting this far was a struggle.

I think the plot is actually not about Feyre struggling to fit into this new life in faerie world, but actually about this magical blight affecting the faerie world and the faerie courts, etc. But if that's the case . . . it's the most lazy and un-immediate plot? It's only ever mentioned about every other chapter in passing, it never seems to affect Feyre (the protagonist!) personally, and the stakes aren't high. The plot is supposed to drive everything! It made this book a meandering mess. The plot's structure can be defined as

dangerous faerie land thing; High Faerie (Tamlin) warns Fayre not to be involved; Feyre does it anyway; bad thing happens.

and repeat.
Over and over and over and over and over.

That's it. Except after each repeat, Tamlin and Feyre become more attracted to each other. Hence the comparison to bad fanfiction.

But no, the comparison doesn't end there, because it also has dubious consent in the form of romance! Here for young adults to consume and be influenced by. :// In this case, their very first kiss was when Feyre was incredibly drunk on wine. But no! It's romantic. Plus there's some random Spring festival where Tamlin becomes crazed and animalistic (.... why ?) and """mates""" with "females" to bring in Spring, and he warns Feyre to stay in her room so he won't "smell" her and want to sexually attack her. What does she do? Leave her room. And he finds her and nearly sexually assaults her. What's worse? She likes it. While knowing he has no control of himself. I really don't know which is worse.

In any case, I couldn't stand this book. There's more, but I've said enough and I don't want to spend any more energy on this. There's better books to read.