Book: A Court of Thorns and Roses (The first in the trilogy)
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
Pages: 416
Time to read: 13 days

S Y N O P S I S

19 year old Feyre hunts to keep her family fed. She lives with a weak father and two greedy sisters. One day, she kills a massive wolf. Later, a faerie comes to her door demanding Feyre to come away with him because she killed one of his people (the wolf) and now she must serve her time in the Faerie Land (Prythian). She finds life in Prythian to be intriguing yet dangerous with many secrets at every corner. Throughout the novel, she realises that she has the strength to battle the deadly magic that is in the land and she must risk her life for both the faerie and the human realm.

 W H A T  I  L I K E D

Maas is a wonderful and clever writer. Not many times have I read a book that brings up so many questions that actually get answered. The entire way through I was asking ‘How? Why? When? Is this relevant?’ and all of it linked together. There were no plotholes which is an insane thing to do with the amount of subplots there were in this book. Bravo!

I also loved the action in this book. Maas makes the action tense and unique, which again is a difficult thing to do as a writer since reading is much slower than real time. Every time I finished a chapter (which were all pretty short btw which is also a plus), I wanted to keep reading, to know what happened next.

W H A T  I  D I D N ‘ T  L I K E

The characters??? I don’t know, just none of them appealed to me. Feyre reminded me of, yet again, another pathetic attempt of  Katniss. No one can be Katniss, ok? No one. The hunting, the little cottage, the strength. Although, I felt like Feyre had no identity. She got taken from her family, nearly died about 100 times and yet never seemed emotionally affected by it. The book was written in 1st person so maybe Maas didn’t want to say ‘I felt sad’ etc but there are still ways to portray your feelings without saying it. I just don’t understand how Feyre wasn’t traumatised.

The book was slightly confusing. This might be because it was my first time in about 12 years reading fantasy but I had to ask strangers to explain the book to me. My imagination was definitely stretched. I think I would have just liked a little more explanation in the book.

F A V O U R I T E  C H A R A C T E R

Like I just said, none of them really appealed to me, but if I had to choose I would say either Lucien, Amarantha or Rhysand.

Lucien was bitter with reason to be. Feyre and Tamlin also had reason to be bitter but they weren’t which I found unrealistic. Lucien had witty lines, a bad attitude and a real desire to kill Feyre but also protect her.

Amarantha is the queen of Prythian and full of evil. Although I think we were supposed to hate her, every scene that she was in was definitely the most exciting.

Rhysand, another apparently evil faerie who actually was vulnerable and showed it. I didn’t like him as a person but I did enjoy him as a character. He was complex, layered, clever, and unpredictable.

Personally, I didn’t feel a spark between Feyre and Tamlin. I think they had chemistry and that is it. Even after not being able to talk for ages, when they finally see each other alone together they just go straight to sex rather than conversation.

F A V O U R I T E  S C E N E

I loved all of Feyre’s trials. I worked up a sweat reading them – they were so intense! The last one especially. But I also loved the scene at the party where Feyre wasn’t drunk. I thought what Rhysand did was so clever.

 

D I D  I T  C H A N G E  M E ?

No. It is a fantasy book – how can it change me? I was hoping I would fall in love with it like I did with ‘The Hunger Games’. I’ve been waiting to get wrapped up in another trilogy and perhaps franchise. And maybe I will – apparently the second book is much better – but for now, no.

 

F I N A L  T H O U G H T S

The ending made this book good for me. Before Feyre went ‘under the mountain’, this book was okay. After that, this was a good book. Still not overwhelming or living up to all its hype but it was a brilliant ending. I am excited to read ‘A Court of Mist and Fury‘ and see what is next for all the characters because I really have no idea what it going to happen next. I only hope that I can like them better and Feyre becomes more than 1 dimensional.

4/5 stars.

Q U O T E S

“Bruises are harder to conceal than poverty.”

“I will grind your vines between my claws; I will drink your marrow; I will feast on your flesh. I am what you fear; I am what you dread… Look at me.”

“You aren’t what I expected – for a human.”

“As if whatever she felt for him – the love I’d already seen shining – was so new, so unexpected, that she was still worried it could vanish.”

“There is a better world out there, waiting for you to find it.”

“You’re a human – your flesh is paper thin.”

“Among a sea of mundane faces, yours is a work of art.”