A Court of Thorns and Roses
By Sarah J. Maas (2015)
Fantasy Romance
★★★★☆ 4 Star Review
Description
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world. At least, he’s not a beast all the time. As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
Thoughts & Review: Characters and Romance
Feyre is brave and very smart, even though she thinks she is not because she is illiterate, but her survival instinct takes her far. She has had to make a living to support her older sisters and her father, after her mother died and they ended up in poverty. Feyre definitely has her own personal issues, mainly because she is broken and lonely and desperate to beat her status. She is human and miserable, mainly because her family is horrible. Her whole family was created to look like the typical fairytale family – an absent coward of a father, an uninterested mother, a sister full of wicked hatred and another one caught up in her own world, sensitive and naïve. I quite frankly hated how loyal Feyre was to her family, though it’s understandable. But it’s this level of loyalty without any concern for her own well-being that leads to her downfall. Beyond her mistakes, I appreciated her genuine and selfless nature. She was fiercely protective of her loved ones and refused to be a pushover; her stubbornness was impressive.
Tamlin High Lord of the Spring Court, seemed a bit stiff the whole book, even though I sometimes appreciated the occasional softness of his heart. I don't find him charismatic at all, it is true that he has a couple of cute moments with Feyre, but that's it. The way he behaved through different situations in the book seemed very poor to me.
Romance
The chemistry and romance is mid at best. It felt like infatuation more than love. I don’t think Tamlin could name five things about Feyre in any significant depth. She didn’t really trust him, until all of a sudden she was in love with him? I personally think it was more about safety and all the things Tamlin could provide for her. And as far as Tamlin goes, there was definitely an aspect of him using her for his own means.
“Everything became a blur of color and sound, and he was the only object in it, tethering me to sanity, to my body, which glowed and burned in every place he touched.”
Thoughts & Review: Plot and Writing Style
A slow start
Very quickly, Feyre is whisked away into the Fae realms, but after that point, the pace really slows and the worldbuilding is quite limited to Tamlin’s mansion in the Spring Court. Much of the plot relies on Feyre being in the dark on a lot of things, which results in the reader being in the dark as well. The plot really drives based on Feyre’s character development and her changing relationship with the people surrounding her.
Easy intro to magic/fae world
Provided everything I just mentioned about the book being slow, I do think that is perfect for someone who isn’t very familiar with the fantasy genre or even just fae lore. Things were not crazy complex, which allows the reader to absorb the world and dip their toe in before diving into another SJM universe.
“Your human joy fascinates me — the way you experience things, in your life span, so wildly and deeply and all at once, is... entrancing. I’m drawn to it, even when I know I shouldn’t be, even when I try not to be.”
