Review | A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Release Date: May 15th, 2015 from Bloomsbury
Genre: Young Adult > Fantasy > Faeries
Source: Bought
Find It: Amazon | GoodReads | B&N
Summary:

Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

I know this is one of those super cult favorite series and everyone has a favorite character so I finally decided to jump in and see what all the fuss was about. Well, honestly I started this because I saw a candle that A Court of Candles has sent to thebookcraft that had glitter in it. So OBVIOUSLY I wanted to know more about the candle and the inspo behind it and Amanda was nice enough to let me in on it!

So I started ACOTAR not really knowing what it was about. But that it was fantasy and it sounded very action-y which I like.

We’re introduced to Feyre, the main character. And she lives in a world where humans and faeries don’t exactly get along. In a world like this you can already assume there’s a lot of misunderstanding and he said she said’s. Feyre has two sisters and her father. They live in a small cottage and they struggle to get by. The only way they survive? Because of Feyre and because she hunts for food. Sort of like Katness, if you will.

There’s rules in this land. You obviously don’t kill a faerie because I mean, hello are you new to YA? YOU JUST DONT. But Feyre ends up face to face with a problem. The original animal she was to hunt is being stalked by a wolf that could be a fearie. So what does she do? She kills them both in order to survive.

Feyre’s sister Nesta is not my favorite. Like, at all. She’s such a selfish brat for someone who doesn’t do anything to sustain the family and acts like she’s entitled to shit. Like no, go hunt your own rabbit or something Nesta, MOVE! Then one day a faerie shaped into a wolf pretty much just barges into her front door, didn’t even knock just completely tore the thing down like some kind of animal claiming that Feyre’s sentence is to spend the rest of her life with him. A life for a life.

What intrigued me about this was how stubborn Feyre was in the beginning. Though I can understand why, she didn’t like her sentence all that much despite the perks it came with. The fact that the royal court had a spell over them that kept their masks over their faces. I wish I had pictured it better in my head because it made them sound elegant and mysterious. I wanted to know more about the Spring Court grounds. And more about the other servants.

I’m not gonna lie, Lucien was my favorite from the beginning. HIS SNARK. Oh his snark. I felt like Tamlin wasn’t as fleshed out as I would had liked him to be… I know he had places here and there and he was all busy and stuff; I guess this is where it helps when you switch pov’s though cause while he was away we didn’t know what his though process was like or how he was advancing in the story along side Feyre. So when they fell for each other I was a little confused. She seemed to have a better relationship with Lucien, if you ask me.

The thing I didn’t like about this book was the overly obvious sex scenes. I don’t mind sex in YA but it does make me feel a little… bleh if that makes sense. Like I don’t need details, can we just get to the next attack/fight/adventure? I also didn’t like Amarantha though I guess you’re not suppose to. But her whole breaking of the code was expected and disgusting at the same time. Just another girl who uses the fact she’s a girl to gain power over a kingdom of boys.

I will never understand why people get so damn power hungry. Does it really make you feel better about yourself?! And just the things she did to the others around the realm was just cruel and really unnecessary.

Rhysand gets a lot of attention in the bookish community and I sort of see why. He’s got a good amount of snark/idgaf. It was hard to tell if he was  good guy or a bad guy. Though he did seem to know how to play his hand well when it came to the politics of it all. At least that’s what it sounded like. Him opening up to Feyre was probably one of my favorite scenes though. The all mighty tough Rhysand isn’t as strong as everyone thinks! I really can’t wait to see where his character goes after this and why everyone’s so in love with him.

Overall I enjoyed this book, not as much as I thought I would if I’m being honest. Someone else has mentioned it has a sort of Beauty and The Beast vibe to it and you know, looking back, it kinda does! I’m curious to see where the next books will go!

FAVORITE QUOTES:

“The food is not enchanted or drugged, and it will be your own damn fault if you faint. So you’re going to sit at this table and eat, Feyre. And Lucien will do his best to be polite.” He threw a pointed look in this direction. Lucien shrugged.

“Compared to you – to your borders and magic being weakened – I suppose my self pity is absurd.” “If it grieves you,” he said, the words caressing my bones, “then I don’t think it’s absurd at all.”

“What is that bruise?” Lucien demanded. I pointed with my fork to Tamlin. “Ask him. He did it.” Lucien looked from Tamlin to me and then back again. “Why does Feyre have a bruise on her neck from you?” he asked with no small amount of amusement. “I bit her,” Tamlin said.