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Title & Author: A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 4.8 stars
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 1
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, YA
Release Date: 2015
Pages: 416 (not enough)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s books
Format: E-Book on Kindle
Source: Amazon
Description: Synopsis from Goodreads:
“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.
Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!”
Book Review: It’s official: Sarah J. Maas has stolen my heart, and I won’t even attempt to get it back. She (and her characters) are welcome to keep it. I swear I’m going to gladly 
buy any piece of writing this woman ever publishes, even if it’s a cookbook. Actually, that would be pretty great—I need more cookbooks. Maybe hers can be fae-themed? 😉
Anyway, to the good stuff. This book is amazing. It’s well-written, has complex characters and good character development, and manages to breathe life into an often-retold fairy tale. If you like fairy-tale retellings, (dangerous) fae, and kick-butt heroines and villainesses, A Court of Thorns and Roses is perfect for you. Oh, and there is a nice side of Maas’s usual sexy men—always a great bonus.
Pacing: 4 stars Alas, while I love love loved the characters and world-building for ACOTAR, the pacing was a bit slow for the first half of the book when Feyre is at Tamlin’s estate in the Spring Court. Things definitely pick up in the second half when Feyre journeys Under the Mountain and completes Amarantha’s tasks, though. Even if plot speed was a bit slow at times, the tension and conversations between characters kept me turning the pages.
Plot: 4.5 stars I have read A LOT of Beauty and the Beast retellings lately, many of which have not been very good. Maas does a lovely job breathing some fresh air into this old plot, however, mixing this fairy tale with other myths like East of the Sun and West of the Moon, as well as her own mythology. (Also, bonus! Book 2 is going to have a Hades and Persephone spin – YES.) If anything, ACOTAR isn’t so much a retelling as it is a story whose roots and inspiration come from a fairy tale; you can see the influence, but it isn’t overwhelming the new story.
Charact
ers: 5 stars They are all my bae. I love them and want to protect them all. As always, Maas does an excellent job with character development and complexity. Like Beauty, Feyre cares about her family and is forced into a contract with a Beast-figure that she falls in love with, but there is a LOT more to her character. For one, Feyre is a hunter, a survivor who has a lot of thorns. Besides that, she can’t read. Instead, she’s a painter. I really loved the juxtaposition of these character traits: the hunter and the painter. It’s such an unusual combination and really speaks to the complexity and beauty of her character. She is definitely a kick-butt heroine – much recommended.
As for the other characters, they are also fun and complex. There is much witty bantering, especially with Lucien and Tamlin, who are the best of bros. On the other hand, you also have the dangerous High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand, who very much has the appeal of the Darkling from Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy. The conversations between Rhys and Feyre are probably my favorite parts of the book—they have a lot of chemistry and unanswered questions that will make you want to time travel to next spring to read book 2.
World-Building: 5 stars As I’ve already mentioned, Maas brings in her own mythologies to this story, many of which draw on the idea of the fae courts
that you may have encountered in other series. Rather than just having a Seelie/Unseelie dynamic or the normal Winter/Summer/Autumn/Spring court system, though, Maas opts to create a 7 court system, with seasons and times of the day (e.g., the Night Court, the Day Court, the Spring Court, etc.). There are larger powers at work, too, with an ever-present threat from two incredibly powerful fae who have had a strangle-hold on the courts for several decades. All of the fae “world” is further separated from the human realm by a wall, which both sides are forbidden to cross. There is a lot of history to it all, making it seem very real. I’m really excited to see how books 2 and 3 continue to expand this world.
Overall: 4.8 stars I absolutely adore this book and can’t wait for the next book to come out next Spring! The characters and the world-building are complex and the plot is fresh, with a main heroine whose strong will is able to compete with the fae who are trying to control her fate.
A Side Note to Those Souls (like me) who are wary of love triangles: Although there is no definite love triangle in this book, I will say that there seems to be some groundwork being laid out for one in the future. As someone who is generally sick of love triangles in YA, I understand readers’ trepidation towards getting involved with another one, but I have a feeling that if Maas goes down that route, I think it will be very well done. In the past with her Throne of Glass books, Maas has done an excellent job showing different types of love and how they influence character development. Relationship growth and break down are all very natural and realistic, and the feeling I’ve gotten from ACOTAR is very similar. If anything, I appreciate how Maas handles relationships for her YA audience because of how realistic she makes them. Many times, your first love—though powerful—is not your last love. Things happen, you grow and change, and so do relationships. Maas does not fall into the trap of One True First Love, for which I’m thankful. That’s why I have faith that any further romances will be very well done.
Recommend buy or borrow: BUY. DO IT. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.
Reading with Dragons 