A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4.8 stars

Synopsis: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Review: If you remember, many months ago, I did a blog post of some of my most anticipated books of 2015 and one of them, was this book. It came out in May and, embarrassingly, it's taken me until now to read it. This is my first trip into Sarah J Maas' writing (Throne of Glass IS on my Kindle, I just need time to read it!) and, I really enjoyed it.

Now, this book was inspired in part by Beauty and the Beast and, maybe it was just me, but, until I found an interview with Sarah where she explained her inspiration, I didn't really see the connection. Our 'beast' Tamlin wasn't very beast like (on the contrary, he was really sweet) and there were no dancing teapots (although that might just be Disney's movie coming into play). Despite this though, I really enjoyed the book. The world that Sarah has created is so intriguing and different. The numerous courts and their corresponding 'High Fae leaders' was really interesting and I actually would have liked to have seen more of them.

It took me a while to warm up to Feyre. Yes, she supports her family (which, as the youngest is really not fair) but, she did seem to repeat herself a lot, especially in the first 100 or so pages. She questioned everything Tamlin did and said, despite him assuring her that she was safe and her family was being looked after. I can understand you might not trust him to begin with; but after a while it does get annoying. To be fair to Feyre though, she's never had a reason to trust anyone, not even her own family. So, that does get her a few bonus points; and she does make up for it in the final portion of the book. That was the best part in my opinion, those last 100-150 pages where Feyre really came into her own and started showing signs of being the kind of heroine I wanted her to be from page 1.
On a quick side note, I loved how Sarah used Feyre's 'weakness' in one of the challenges. I think it was something a little different and her love of painting and art that come from that weakness is intriguing and different and I really enjoyed it. I would have liked some more time spent on the particular challenge but, apart from that, I really enjoyed that aspect of Feyre's character.

Tamlin - oh Tamlin. I do love him. He's so sweet and caring and protective and everything I think Feyre needs. She's had to look after everyone else for so long, that I think Tamlin will be good for her. I can understand why some people don't like him. While I wouldn't say he's a pacifist (he does play the role of the beast after all, and so does have an aggressive nature) he's very good at controlling himself and reigning himself in which doesn't make for the most stand out character. But I loved him and I want a Tamlin. Which brings me onto my next point - I really don't want Feyre to end up with Rhysand! Rhysand is an intriguing character and I would love to learn more about him, but I really don't want him and Feyre to end up together, not after everything she's done in this book to end up with Tamlin. Yes, I ship Feylin and I'm not even sorry.

All of the characters in this book I could learn more about those. Lucien, for starters, was an amazing character and was a complete contrast to Tamlin with his sarcastic comments. He's stubborn and loud and infuriatingly sarcastic, but, he does come through for Feyre in the end, and tries to help her when Tamlin can't. Amarantha was an intriguing villain and I kind of wish we'd met her earlier. There was a lot of build up about her, throughout the book, but because of the curse, it took a while to learn about her. I really liked the idea that her and Tamlin used to be friends, but she fell in love with him. While it's not a new idea, Sarah made it feel like it was which was a pleasant surprise.

The curse itself was incredibly specific. It was almost a thinly veiled prophecy to me. Not only must you fall in love with a human but the human must kill a fey out of pure hatred and hate all of fey-kind. It did make me laugh a little when I read it but hey, I guess fey HAVE to be incredibly specific when making deals. The riddle as well wasn't particularly complex. I'm awful at riddles and I knew what the answer would be but, knowing that didn't detract from the book.

All in all, I really loved this book. It was intriguing and interesting and I loved the characters and the world. I'd really recommend this book and it's made me even more excited to start the Throne of Glass series!

Image and Synopsis from Goodreads - no Copyright intended