Right
off the bat, I’d like to start off this review by mentioning that A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first
book by Sarah J. Maas that I’ve ever read, and Maas definitely made a phenomenal
first impression with this book. It has been a goal of mine to read at least
one of Sarah J. Maas’ books for about a year now, since I’ve heard a lot of
great things about her books from people on BookTube. The reason I chose to start
with A Court of Thorns and Roses,
instead of her book, Throne of Glass, is due the fact that A Court of Thorns and Roses is very
loosely based on the story of Beauty and
the Beast, and I’m a HUGE fan of fairytale retellings. Once Upon a Time and Grimm are
two of my favorite TV shows, I love the movie Into the Woods, and I’m also a huge fan of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series. As for A Court of Thorns and Roses being
somewhat of a retelling of Beauty and the
Beast, I thought that this book was a very clever take on the story.
The
overall pacing of the plot of the book was definitely handled very well, in my
opinion. The book starts on a very interesting note, and I thought that Maas
did a great job of not taking forever for the plot of the book to really get
moving after Feyre kills what she thought was a wolf, but was actually a faerie
in disguise, and unwittingly breaking the treaty that exists between the humans
and the faeries by doing so. When a wolf faerie shows up at her family’s home,
demanding retribution for Feyre killing the wolf faerie, she chooses to
willingly go live with Tamlin, who’s the High Lord of the Spring Court, at his
manor for the rest of her life, as payment for breaking the treaty.
Now
that I’m an adult, when it comes to the story of Beauty and the Beast, there’s always been a part of me that has
felt compelled to make jokes about the relationship between Belle and the Beast,
and her falling in love with him being a case of Stockholm syndrome. That being
said, I honestly can’t say the same thing about Maas’ writing for the
relationship between Feyre and Tamlin. There’s definitely quite a bit of
tension between the two of them when Feyre first comes to live with Tamlin, but
I still feel like he acted fairly civil and accommodating towards her. I really like the fact
that at the beginning of the book, when Feyre is first getting to know Tamlin,
it’s clear that she has come to believe a lot of lies and misconceptions about
faeries that she was probably raised to believe. I found that initial tension
between the two of them rather interesting, and I felt like Maas handled the
progression and evolution of their relationship throughout the book very well.
Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship definitely isn’t a case of insta-love.
Personally, I think that’s great to see, because a lot of YA and New Adult
books seem to be plagued with cases of insta-love, which is pretty much always
beyond frustrating. In my opinion, the relationship between Bella and Edward
from the Twilight series is one of
the worst cases of insta-love that I’ve ever encountered, but I digress.
One
thing that really surprised me about A
Court of Thorns and Roses is how steamy it was at times, particularly when
it comes to the sex scenes between Feyre and Tamlin that are featured in the
book. While the sex scenes in this book never get to the point where they come
across as being full-on erotica, the writing for the sex scenes in this book is
pretty steamy. I honestly found myself thinking that the sex scenes in A Court of Thorns and Roses were much
steamier than the sex scenes that are featured in Fifty Shades of Grey are. However, I’m saying that as someone who
thinks that the writing for the sex scenes in Fifty Shades of Grey is actually pretty tame for a book that’s
considered erotica. I should also probably mention that unless I’m mistaken,
there are only two sex scenes in this book, so this book doesn’t actually have
a lot of sex in it. Plus, I definitely don’t consider Maas’ writing for A Court of Thorns and Roses to be truly
vulgar, and the quality of her writing in general is vastly superior to the
quality of E.L. James’ writing.
While
I thought that Maas did a great job of handling the progression and evolution
of Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship throughout the book, and I thought the
overall pacing of the plot was handled very well for the most part, one of the few
complaints that I have about A Court of
Thorns and Roses is that once Feyre and Tamlin have genuinely fallen for
each other; there was a small portion of the book where I felt like the pacing
of the overall plot started to stall a little bit. I was briefly left wondering
what exactly Maas was building up to in terms of the direction of the book’s plot,
aside from the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin. Thankfully, I didn’t feel
that way for very long, and the plot picked up again when Rhysand, who’s the High
Lord of the Night Court, shows up at Tamlin’s manor and discovers that Feyre is
there with Tamlin. Even though Tamlin tells Rhysand not to tell Amarantha, the
self proclaimed queen of Prythian, about Feyre; this prompts Tamlin to send
Feyre back home to be with her family, out of fear that Rhysand will tell Amarantha
about Feyre anyway, since Rhysand is apparently close to her.
Once
Feyre returns home, she saw that her family was indeed doing well, and that
they were being taken care of like Tamlin had told her earlier in the book. Although,
I should probably mention that it had been established earlier in the book that
Tamlin had compelled her family to believe that Feyre had left to take care of
a long last aunt. That being said, Feyre discovered that Tamlin’s attempt to
compel her family hadn’t been completely effective with her sister, Nesta, and
Nesta had started to figure out that something strange was going on, before
Feyre even returned home. However, Feyre was horrified when she discovered that
Clare Beddor, which is what she had told Rhysand her name was when he visited
Tamlin’s manor and had found her there, had been killed. Personally, while
Feyre does come across as feeling bad about Clare being killed, because she had
told Rhysand that her name was Clare Beddor; I found her reaction to Clare’s death
rather underwhelming. I really felt like she should have expressed more remorse
for her role in Clare’s death than she did. It was as if she found out about
Clare being killed, was momentarily upset about it, and then she just moved on
with her life. That just seemed rather cold and self-absorbed on Feyre’s part,
if you ask me.
I
was really glad to see that Feyre didn’t stay with her family for very long,
before she decided that she needed to return to the Spring Court. That being
said, while I was relieved that Maas didn’t drag the whole thing with Feyre
being back with her family and inevitably deciding to go back to the Spring
Court, I still thought it was slightly contrived that Feyre figured out how to
enter the faerie realm so quickly. Earlier in the book, the characters made it
seem like it was very difficult, if not almost impossible, for humans to find
their way into the faerie realm. While it was established that it apparently
took Feyre a while to find a way into the faerie realm, I still felt like Feyre
finding a way back into the faerie realm happened much more quickly than I
think it should have. If Maas really wanted to sell the idea that it was very
hard, if not impossible, for humans to find a way into the faerie realm, I
think that she should have dragged the whole thing with Feyre actually being able
to find a way into the faerie realm out just a little bit more than she did.
I
have to admit that for most of A Court of
Thorns and Roses, I thought that the book’s connection to the story of Beauty and the Beast felt very vague for
the most part. While this book is described as being somewhat of a retelling of
Beauty and the Beast, the extent to
which the book is based on the story feels very, very, very loose to me.
Honestly, I actually like that while A
Court of Thorns and Roses is based somewhat on Beauty and the Beast to a certain degree, it really seems to be its
own story for the most part. Maas definitely did a great job of taking the
basic story of Beauty and the Beast,
and really putting her own unique spin on the story; rather than write A Court of Thorns and Roses in such a
way that the book’s connection to Beauty
and the Beast repeatedly felt rather obvious throughout the entire book,
which definitely wouldn’t have been a good thing, if that had been the case.
It
honestly wasn’t until Feyre returns to Tamlin’s manor, discovers that it has
been ransacked, and only finds Alis there, who gives her the backstory about
Queen Amarantha and what she did to Tamlin and the other faeries, that the
book’s connection to Beauty and the Beast
was more apparent. Once Alis takes Feyre to Amarantha so she can rescue
Tamlin, Feyre makes a deal with Amarantha. Basically, Feyre has to complete three
tasks, one per month, and if she successfully completes each of the three
tasks, Tamlin and all of the Fae Courts will be freed. Feyre is also given the
option of solving a riddle at any time, and if she solves it, they’ll be freed
immediately.
Feyre
goes on to complete each of the three tasks, suffering from injuries and facing
various obstacles along the way. Personally, I felt like the tasks that Maas
came up with for Feyre to complete in the book were all pretty clever, and I
enjoyed the interactions that Feyre had with Lucien throughout the entire
process. The whole thing with Feyre having to complete three tasks as part of
her deal with Amarantha honestly reminded me a lot of Harry having to compete
in the Triwizard Tournament in Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I digress. Not only was Feyre ultimately
able to complete the three tasks, she also managed to finally solve Amarantha’s
riddle, freeing all of the Spring Court from the curse. Personally, I was
really surprised that Tamlin was the one who ultimately killed Amarantha. I
figured that Feyre would be the one to defeat her. That being said, I really liked
that Maas went the route that she did with Tamlin being the one to kill
Amarantha, because it wasn’t predictable in my opinion.
One
thing that I really liked about this book is that it didn’t consist of too many
characters that were around for the entire book. Throughout the book, Feyre,
Tamlin and Lucien were the characters that were focused on the most, with
various other characters being briefly featured throughout the book; long
enough to serve a purpose to the story and help progress the plot, but they
weren’t featured in the book more than they needed to be. However, Amarantha is
one character that I really think should have had more of a presence in A Court of Thorns and Roses to help
build her up as a legitimate antagonist in the book.
The
characters mention Amarantha several times throughout the book, but Amarantha
isn’t actually physically introduced in the story until after Feyre returns to
Tamlin’s manor and discovers that not only is Tamlin not there, his manor has
also been ransacked, prompting her to go and seek out Amarantha. The fact that Amarantha
wasn’t actually introduced “on screen” until it was pretty far into the book
made it so that I personally had a hard time viewing her as being a character
that was truly important to the overall plot of the book. To me, aside from
being the person who cast the curse on Tamlin and the other faeries, the
purpose Amarantha ultimately serves in A
Court of Thorns and Roses is that she’s a part of the book, simply because the
book needed to have a villain in it.
Before
Amarantha is physically introduced in the book, a summer court faerie is found
at one point in the book, with his wings having been ripped off. He repeatedly
tells Tamlin and Lucien that “she took them” (His wings) as he dies, but he doesn’t
specifically say that he’s referring to Amarantha. Perhaps Maas was trying to
build Amarantha up as someone who’s very mysterious and give the book as a
whole a certain level of mystery by having things like that happen throughout
the book. However, for most of the book, it was hard for me to get a sense of
who and what those vague references throughout the book were referring to, and
what exactly Maas was ultimately building up to in terms of the overall
direction of the plot when she made those references to Amarantha. Personally,
I think that A Court of Thorns and Roses
could have really benefitted from Amarantha making her first appearance in the
book earlier than she first appeared. Even if Amarantha’s first appearance in
the book had been brief, I really would have liked to see her introduced “on
screen” earlier in the book than she was.
Aside
from that, the only other complaint that I have about A Court of Thorns and Roses is that there were a few times throughout
the book where I felt like Feyre and Tamlin’s interactions with each other were
being given the “Yada Yada” treatment; when I really felt like Maas shouldn’t
have glossed over those particular conversations between the two of them. The
one example of this that definitely bothered me the most was how the resolution
for Tamlin’s behavior towards Feyre the night of the solstice, where he
participated in a strange ritual with some other faeries that led to Feyre and
Tamlin having a brief sexual encounter, during which he bit her, was handled. At
one point in the book, Maas mentions in Feyre’s internal narrative that she and
Tamlin did work things out, but she didn’t include any dialogue from that
conversation. Maas pretty much just said in the narrative of the book that
Feyre and Tamlin smoothed things over between them while they were having
breakfast one morning. That’s a conversation that I really think Maas should
have actually shown the reader by including some dialogue in the book from that
conversation; rather than simply mentioning in Feyre’s internal narrative that
she and Tamlin made up.
Personally,
I love that Feyre isn’t a submissive doormat, who simply accepts her
circumstances, lets people keep her in the dark when strange things start
happening, and doesn’t stand up for herself. For example, when Tamlin and
Lucien weren’t telling Feyre about what was going on with all of the faeries,
she sought answers from a Suriel, a kind of low Fae, who has been compelled to
tell the truth. The Suriel gave Feyre information regarding the questions that
she had about what was going on with Tamlin and other faeries, and the problems
that they were dealing with. After her sexual encounter with Tamlin, she
intentionally dressed in a way that would show off the bruises that he left
when he bit her, so he would see them. That was definitely pretty passive
aggressive on Feyre’s part, but I love that she did that.
The
ending of the book definitely left me feeling very excited to read A Court of Mist and Fury, because I felt
like Maas did a great job of resolving things like the curse on the faeries
being lifted and Amarantha being killed; while leaving certain things open-ended
at the end of the book that can be developed further in future books. For
example, Feyre made a deal with Rhysand after she was severely injured when she
was completing the first of Amarantha’s three tasks, and he offered to heal her
injuries. In exchange for Rhysand agreeing to heal her injuries, she has to
spend one week with him every month for the rest of her life, and Rhysand put a
tattoo on her to seal the deal. I’m not only really excited to see how Feyre’s
deal with Rhysand will affect her relationship with Tamlin as the series
continues, I’m also excited to see how the whole thing with Feyre making a deal
with Rhysand will ultimately be resolved.
All
things considered, as I said at the beginning of this review, I read A Court of Thorns and Roses because I
had heard a lot of great things about both the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and the Throne of Glass series; and I wanted to see what I thought about Sarah
J. Maas’ writing. As far as I’m concerned, A
Court of Thorns and Roses definitely lived up to the hype that seems to
surround Maas’ books. Personally, I thought that this book was more addictive
than cigarettes. It completely sucked me in whenever I was listening to A Court of Thorns and Roses on
audiobook, and I often listened to large portions of the book at a time. When I
wasn’t listening to A Court of Thorns and
Roses on audiobook, I was constantly thinking about the book. Once I’ve
read A Court of Mist and Fury, which
will hopefully be pretty soon, I’m definitely going to check out the Throne of Glass series. A Court of Thorns and Roses is
definitely a very interesting and clever retelling of the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. Feyre and Tamlin
were both very well written characters, in my opinion.
As
I discussed earlier, while I thought that Maas did a great job of handing the
progression of Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship, one of the few complaints that
I have about the book is that the plot of the book itself does briefly lose
steam once Feyre and Tamlin seem to have really fallen for each other. Fortunately,
it wasn’t long before the pacing of the plot picked up again. That being said, I
really think that A Court of Thorns and
Roses could have benefited from Queen Amarantha having a little bit more of
an actual presence in the plot. While it did bother me that there were a few
conversations between Feyre and Tamlin that Maas pretty much glossed over, that
thankfully didn’t hinder my overall enjoyment of the book too much.
When
it comes to A Court of Thorns and Roses
being the first book by Sarah J. Maas that I’ve ever read, Maas definitely made
an excellent first impression with me. I’m really excited to read A Court of Mist and Fury, which will
hopefully be very soon, and I’m also really looking forward to checking out
Maas’ Throne of Glass series.
That
being said, my final score for A Court of
Thorns and Roses is 9 out of 10.
