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

by Sarah J. Maas

[jeannamichel]

Whoa, it's a miracle I survived the end. So stressful; still reeling.

In this magical Beauty and the Beast retelling, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre vowed to always take care of her family. Naturally, when poverty strikes, she must hunt in the woods or starve to death. Feyre has gotten quite good at a bow and arrow and when an unusually large wolf crosses her path, she buries her arrow in its flesh. However, the wolf is no ordinary wolf but a fairy. According to Tamlin, a High Fae, there are consequences to killing fairies. Feyre must leave her family and live with Tamlin until the end of her days in order to fulfill her debt.

There’s an extreme hype surrounding this book and I know not to fall under the hyped spell unless it is deserved. But, guys, the hype is well deserved. It is hard not to be entirely enchanted from the very beginning as a Beauty and the Beast retelling sounds absolutely fantastic to me any day.

I adore fairies. In Cruel Beauty, a magnificent retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Hodge gave us a demon for the beast. In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Maas lets our eyes feast on her descriptive fairies. I haven’t read such a gorgeous fairy book in a long time, last being Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, so I am quite overdue. A Court of Thorns and Roses has lots of things going for it: quenching your thirst for both retellings and fairies at the same time.

There wasn’t too much information dumping in the world building that I found myself curious in the history rather than being annoyed.

I was hoping Feyre would be more similar to Belle—in her love for books and adventure, rather we get a character who is rough and strong—a hunter who seems less relatable than Katniss. Despite her un-relatability, you root for her all the same. Feyre is courageous, strong, exceptional with a bow and arrow, a master finder, a painter, and sometimes a bit stupid. These traits and many more make her—not so much relatable, but—incredibly friend-worthy. If she wasn’t fictional, Feyre and I would definitely be besties.

The plot itself was intriguing. The deeper I got into the story, the more I found myself liking Tamlin. Tamlin is my kind of guy: quiet, strong, intelligent, gentle. The list goes on.

One thing I always look for in Beauty and the Beast retellings is the friendship blossoming into romance. I’m always curious as to how authors will choose to execute the transition from captor to romance. I must say that I didn’t see the romance coming in A Court of Thorns and Roses like it did. From Feyre’s narration, we know that Tamlin and she were spending a little more time with each other than before. However, we get mere mentions of these meetings than concrete scenes of their dialogue. It is not until quite farther into the story do we truly see how they may have feelings for each other. In doing it this way, Maas put the romance on the back burner (for at least the beginning 60% of the book), which is sad considering Beauty and the Beast is essentially a love story. The romance wasn’t as romantic as I was hoping and in some ways, a bit unbalanced. As much as Tamlin’s kind gestures and actions spoke volumes, I didn’t really expect Feyre and Tamlin to get together at all.

With how much the fans discuss Rhysand, I was expecting him to be a main character. However, he seems more of the Magnus Bane of the series. He is precious but didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. However, the more I see of him as the series goes on, I think I will begin to like him even more.

Maas weaves her plot and characters into a gorgeous tapestry of layers. Her writing is truly incredible. A Court of Thorns and Roses is actually the first novel by her that I’ve read. I loved it immensely and will definitely be continuing on with this series and reading her other books as well (Throne of Glass series, here I come!).

The ending and climax had me in tangles. My stomach still hurts from the action thrown my way. It was perfectly executed. I was contemplating giving the book a 4 star rating, however, my feelings of the ending slid my rating up to where it deserves to be. This is an incredible start to a series that is guaranteed to put you in knots and leave you tangled (you know, in a good way).

Having never before read a book written by Sarah J. Maas, I can say that I was wholly impressed with her writing and look forward to reading more by her in the future (starting with A Court of Thorns and Roses’ sequel, A Court of Mist and Fury). A Court of Thorns and Roses surpassed all of my expectations; the hype is incredibly well-deserved. The story is magnificent and will keep you guessing until the very end.