This is my book review of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and does contain very minimal spoilers, so if you don’t mind reading minor spoilers please feel free to continue reading. I would also love to hear your thoughts on this book, so please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments so we can have a book discussion!
Summary
In this book we meet our feminine heroine Feyre Archeron and how she came to the world of Prythian. Throughout her childhood, Feyre has been taking care of her two older sisters and her disabled father and has never had anyone take care of her. One day Feyre goes hunting out in her woods kills a wolf and is suddenly swept up in the fairy world of Prythian. She goes and lives in the Spring Court and ends up learning more about the faeries she was meant to fear her whole life, and realizes that not everything she knew was true. Feyre soon learns that the land of Prythian is under a terrible magical curse that could possibly cross over into the human world. She does everything she can to learn about the curse and how to break it. Will she figure it out soon enough or the world of Prythian fall under the magical curse?
Book Review
Recently I reread A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and decided to take notes throughout the book this time around. I know that this time around I had a very different perspective since I already knew what was going to happen later on in the series. This reread was more interesting than the first time I read the book because I was looking for foreshadowing in this book and other hints relating to future books and other series. Sarah J. Maas does a wonderful job with the world-building in this book and provides just enough basic information about Prythian and how it works and came to be that it is not too overwhelming, which is sometimes hard to do in fantasy. Her characters in this book are phenomenal even minor characters in the book are written so well that you want to learn more about them and their stories. There are 2 issues that I have with this book and they are the romance aspect and Feyre’s character. This book was not as interesting as the books later on in the series and it did drag until the last 100 pages of the book.
the romance aspect
It was a very blah kind of romance and I think it is mainly because it felt like a forced romance rather than a natural romance. I see now why everyone wanted Feyre to end up with Lucien rather than Tamlin because Lucien’s character is much more likable in the long run. To be honest, the romance between Tamlin and Feyre never made sense to me because they don’t seem to have any natural chemistry. There is no deep connection between the two of them and their romance just seems to come from out of nowhere in the book. The main issues with their romance boil down to the fact that they have nothing important in common and communication errors.
Tamlin and Feyre do not have anything in common other than the fact that they are both martyrs and that they like art. Feyre finally has someone in her life who puts her first and takes care of her, and she does deserve that after the life she has had. He also does take care of her family which is very important to her and is considerate of him to do so. He provides for her in ways that no one else ever has and I think that’s part of the reason she falls for him to be honest. She is also able to relate to him to a certain extent when it comes to running the Spring Court as Highlord because he was forced into this position he did not want to have. I think they could have been great friends who leaned on each other throughout their lives, but they found each other and fell in love with each other because of this similarity. The most memorable thing they have in common is the fact that they both enjoy artwork and that they both have artistic tendencies. Like I said before they would have been good friends that could rely on each other in difficult times, but there was just nothing romantic about their relationship.
Feyre and Tamlin are both very hot-headed people who have a tendency to speak/act first and then reflect on what they say. Throughout the book, they just were not good at communicating their feelings and their thoughts to each other. They both also think that having feelings is a burden on the other person and don’t want to voice those feelings for that reason. Then there’s Lucien who I am sure had many frustrated nights just internally yelling at the both of them to get their acts together, and just admit to each other their feelings. They both just jump to conclusions about the other before really learning about the other and that’s probably the most infuriating part about it all.
Feyre
I like Feyre’s character in the beginning and at the end of the book but in the middle portion of the book I don’t like her that much until I really thought about it. Her character in the beginning of the book is a very cautious and skilled hunter because she had to be if she wasn’t then she could have died and her family along with her. Towards the end of the book, she becomes this incredibly strong and badass female warrior who is fighting for love. Then in the middle of the book, she seems to forget that she is a badass who took care of her family for so long and has some wits because she taught herself how to hunt and how to swim by watching others. That’s what I thought initially at least. Thinking about the fact that she has taken care of her family basically the majority of her life and was never really thanked for it, I think I would take advantage of finally being taken care of. At first she is standoffish towards Tamlin and Lucien, but when she realizes that she’s safe with them I think she realizes also that she finally doesn’t have to provide anymore. She relaxes and she makes dumb decisions at times, but that’s because she has a safety net for once in her life.
Now I’m not going to say she didn’t have stupid moments because she did, but we also have to remember that she is what only 19. We all have stupid moments at 19 sure they’re not always life and death moments, but we still have them. I know that she doesn’t trust Tamlin and Lucien because they are faeries but the fact that she blatantly ignores their advice multiple times and each time is surprised by the consequences that follow is maddening. Of course she is trying to escape this land by any means necessary, but it would have been appreciated if she had some common sense. She doesn’t seem to learn from previous times that they might actually be telling her the truth and to not do the thing for her own safety. The most frustrating one and the one that makes no sense was Calanmai it didn’t make any sense why she left I just don’t understand why that one time she would ignore both Lucien and Tamlin. They did say that she was drawn to it outside and got more drawn to it the closer she got, but she should have stayed in her room. Of course if she did stay inside we wouldn’t have gotten the scenes that we got with it, so should I be complaining probably not. I’ll keep my mouth shut Sarah you obviously know what you are doing.
“Because I’d want someone to hold my hand until the end, and awhile after that. That’s something everyone deserves, human or faerie.”
– Feyre, A Court of Thorns and Roses
I do love Feyre because she is truly a good person at the end of the day who got thrown into this crazy world because she was trying to provide for her family. She has a lot of heartwarming moments throughout the book specifically when she holds the dying faerie’s hand. That scene always cements my love for her because not many people would be able to do that at the end of the day. I mean Lucien did vomit because of the scene apparently not even all faeries could do it either. Another moment that I love is when she bandages Tamlin’s hand that scene brings a silly smile to my face. Before that moment they were at each others throats constantly but at that one moment there is peace.
Those last 100 pages of the book though my heart wept for Feyre. For all she endured and suffered for love, for Tamlin. She went to hell and back for him because he was worth it in her eyes. He was worth fighting for, dying for, and suffering for. She ended up becoming a female main character that I could admire because she fought and never gave up even when all hope seemed to be lost. That might not have been the case though if it wasn’t for certain people that came to her aid towards the end of the book. Feyre becomes a main character that you end up rooting for in the end and that’s all I can ask for.
conclusion
This book overall is a decent read because it has really great world-building in it and the characters are multi-dimensional and you hope to learn more about them and their individual stories in later books. Also in this book, we do see character growth through Feyre and Tamlin primarily which makes sense since they are the two main characters. Tamlin eventually softens and becomes a very likable character rather than the cold and distant faerie he started off as. Feyre becomes a more open-minded human rather than being completely closed off to the possibility of faeries being decent. She also realizes that there is more to herself than just being a provider and that she is someone who has interests and should have a life but was never properly given that opportunity because of her family’s poverty. All in all, I know that this book is slow and may seem uninteresting at first, but it is a stepping stone into a much more intriguing and intricate story.
If you would like to read some of my other book reviews please feel free to look at my Book Reviews page!