Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 5 do-you-have-to-ask hearts

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pub. date: May 5th 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Synopsis: She stole a life. Now she must pay with her heart.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only 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 over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever. (synopsis from Goodreads)

My thoughts: This is getting old. Another book by Sarah J. Maas that I loved so much I’m not even sure how to review it? Why, yes. Of course. It’s Sarah J. Maas. Her books are just exactly what a Fantasy lover like myself wants. Her books have everything. An original, interesting, and addictive plot? Check. A totally badass, independent and flawed heroine? Check. Not one, not two, but three guys that leaves you in love with all of them? Check. Amazing writing that is any bookworms dream? Check. I’ll try to do this properly without too much freaking out.

Feyre could be Celeana’s twin

Another amazing, badass, independent heroine, much like Celeana. Feyre is another example of how a YA heroine should be; badass, independent, flawed and doesn’t let anyone dictate her life. She is selfless and will do anything for the people she cares about, proven not only by her sacrificing a lot for her family by going into the woods and teaching herself to hunt in order to keep them alive when they lose their money, but also by what happens later in the book, which I won’t write about because of spoilers. Even when she is brought to the Spring Court after killing a Fae unprovoked, she does everything to keep her family safe and fed. But she also has flaws; she’s prejudiced (shown in her belief that all Fae are bad, at least in the beginning), and she makes mistakes, but what’s important is that she learns from them and she grows throughout the book. There is a lot of character development, and I love it!

   Let’s talk about boys. Yes, you read it right, boys. As in, plural. I will mostly talk about Tamlin in this review, because that’s the one you get to know the most in this book, but I’m sensing this might become really difficult, just like Throne of Glass (at least, through the first books).

   I really like Tamlin. He’s sweet, if a little overprotective, which Feyre hates, as she wants to be included, not protected. He’s certainly swoon-worthy, and, honestly, how many amazing, swoon-worthy guys can one author come up with? The amount of swooning I did in this book is almost embarrassing, and, to be honest, a little ridiculous. My mom came to check if everything was alright several times.

A great retelling!

This book is exactly what a retelling should be like; keeping some things from the original fairytale intact, keeping certain things that will be familiar for the reader, but still making it completely different and original and unpredictable. ACOTAR kept the key things from Beauty and the Beast (which is a story I really love, by the way), but it was still completely different. And the way Maas used the original story and what she turned it into was amazing!

   I loved getting to see Prythian, too, learning everything about mostly the Spring Court in this book, of their traditions and their ways, but I’m looking forward to learning more about the rest of Prythian in the next books! As usual, Maas’s world-building is absolutely amazing, and I got so invested in the world and characters that it was very hard to put it away and return to real life. After having a hard time of finding time to read, making it hard to really get invested in a book, this book was perfect for me.

   Basically, I loved this book just as much as her other books. And she continued writing about Fae, which I love reading about! This is definitely a new favourite! I seriously feel bad for the book I will read after ACOTAR, because there is no way it will be as good as this!