Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: 5 May 2015
ISBN: 1619634449
Pages: 416
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Add it: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon|Book Depository



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.

I went into this book with some really mixed feelings. I had high expectations because it's Sarah J. Maas and her Throne of Glass series is phenomenal! However, I had low expectations because I knew that it was intended to be a Beauty and the Beast retelling and, from my experience, retellings almost always end up badly.

I am glad to say that Sarah J. Maas definitely exceeded my expectations for this book and I don't think I can wait a year for book two. While I was reading, I often forgot about the Beauty and the Beast aspect because she did such a fantastic job of bending it and making it her own. Her world building was fantastic and all of the various types of Fae were so well depicted. She also did a fantastic job of describing Prythian, the place were the Fae reside, but I would have loved to see a map that showed all of the places that were mentioned. It would have made understanding Feyre's movements easier.

I also loved the villain, who I will refer to as V. V was such an interesting character to get to know mostly because V was actually present in the novel where as in Beauty and the Beast, the villain wasn't explored. V was extremely intense and was a villain I enjoyed disliking. V's sidekick was probably more fantastic because he was so complex. From the first time we meet him until the very end, he's... different from any other villainous sidekick I've ever seen. He's an all around confusing and multifaceted character who I loved and hated immensely.

Despite all of the greatness, there are some things that I really didn't enjoy. Most importantly, I was really not a fan of the masks which were a result of the curse (not a spoiler, remember Beauty and the Beast). I thought it was childish and vain because even with the masks all of the characters were these beautiful, god- like creatures. The masks were useless and made the characters less interesting than they could have been. I was also extremely disappointed by the instalove . Fortunately, Feyre didn't act on her instalove but the fact that it even existed was so frustrating.  In fact, Feyre as a character wasn't one of my favorites. I don't really know why but I didn't like her. Maybe it was because she was blind to see what was right in front of her but whatever it was, she was irksome. However, she didn't act on her instalove and for that I do have to give her props.

Overall, A Court of Thorns and Roses was a fantastic book. There are somethings I was pretty unhappy with but they were definitely outweighed by the things Sarah J. Maas did amazingly. I seriously cannot wait to see book 2 (which comes out May 3, 2016). I would recommend this book to anyone whose in for a little romance and great fantasy. And even if you're not a huge fan of retellings, I think you'll enjoy this one.