A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas | Fantasy Book Review
Here I am late to yet another party.
A Court of Thorns and Roses bby Sarah J. Maas
Released May 2015
Source: Purchased from Audible
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
My 2 Cents for Free!
Hmmm, what to say about this one?
The beginning scene put me off immediately and I suppose I never did recover. In order to be vague and annoying and avoid spoilers (even though everyone has read this years ago) I can only say the heroine Feyre kills something while she's out hunting for her good for nothing family and it sets off a series of events that land her in the world of the fae as "punishment". Her "punishment" is being fed well and cared for in what sounds like a lovely home for the rest of her days. If you want my honest opinion, to me this read more like the fae were being punished by having to house, clothe and feed her after what she'd done. This set up was very strange and didn't make a lot of sense. I can't dwell on that forever I suppose. Go with the flow, someone told me, so I did.
What followed was not great but not horrible or boring enough for me to toss the book. The problem for me here were all of the missed opportunities for emotional engagement with the reader that were missed. By setting up Feyre's sisters and dad as useless and in some scenes as sometimes shrieking, terrible, lazy people I felt it very difficult to buy into the fact that Feyre was so very desperate to get back to them so they could make her do all the work again. wth? I thought this might be a Cinderella story or something but nope. Again, this made no sense. Maybe I have no heart, but I can only go with the info the was presented to me and the info I got was that the family were shit to her. If they had been written better and shown as caring, loving, helpful people doing their best, I would've bought it easier. But they were do-nothings and complainers and ungratefuls in the beginning and Feyre was better off kicking them to the curb. Her agony over leaving them made me give her some serious side-eye. Enjoy your good fortune girl!
Anyhow, I kept going with the flow and things got a little bit better here and there, but it dragged on at times and I got annoyed with Feyre's tendency to ignore all advice and do whatever she pleased. I felt very little connection with the love story and zero connection with Tamlin who was barely a character. Two of the secondary fae dudes had better plotlines and backstory and connection with Feyre than this guy did. Another BIG missed opportunity. I felt like there was going to be some sort of love triangle which I usually hate but it might've helped Tamlin come alive for a minute. And the love scenes? Please, so meh.
Ugh, this is turning into a rant and I didn't mean to rant. I didn't hate this book but I absolutely didn't love it either. It's a 2.5 or the lowest of the lowest of 3's for me. I'll read the next one only because I hear it gets better and I want to learn more about the other two fae dudes.
If you loved this, I'm super happy for you. I wish I had but I'm too jaded by all of the better books I've read over the years.
The beginning scene put me off immediately and I suppose I never did recover. In order to be vague and annoying and avoid spoilers (even though everyone has read this years ago) I can only say the heroine Feyre kills something while she's out hunting for her good for nothing family and it sets off a series of events that land her in the world of the fae as "punishment". Her "punishment" is being fed well and cared for in what sounds like a lovely home for the rest of her days. If you want my honest opinion, to me this read more like the fae were being punished by having to house, clothe and feed her after what she'd done. This set up was very strange and didn't make a lot of sense. I can't dwell on that forever I suppose. Go with the flow, someone told me, so I did.
What followed was not great but not horrible or boring enough for me to toss the book. The problem for me here were all of the missed opportunities for emotional engagement with the reader that were missed. By setting up Feyre's sisters and dad as useless and in some scenes as sometimes shrieking, terrible, lazy people I felt it very difficult to buy into the fact that Feyre was so very desperate to get back to them so they could make her do all the work again. wth? I thought this might be a Cinderella story or something but nope. Again, this made no sense. Maybe I have no heart, but I can only go with the info the was presented to me and the info I got was that the family were shit to her. If they had been written better and shown as caring, loving, helpful people doing their best, I would've bought it easier. But they were do-nothings and complainers and ungratefuls in the beginning and Feyre was better off kicking them to the curb. Her agony over leaving them made me give her some serious side-eye. Enjoy your good fortune girl!
Anyhow, I kept going with the flow and things got a little bit better here and there, but it dragged on at times and I got annoyed with Feyre's tendency to ignore all advice and do whatever she pleased. I felt very little connection with the love story and zero connection with Tamlin who was barely a character. Two of the secondary fae dudes had better plotlines and backstory and connection with Feyre than this guy did. Another BIG missed opportunity. I felt like there was going to be some sort of love triangle which I usually hate but it might've helped Tamlin come alive for a minute. And the love scenes? Please, so meh.
Ugh, this is turning into a rant and I didn't mean to rant. I didn't hate this book but I absolutely didn't love it either. It's a 2.5 or the lowest of the lowest of 3's for me. I'll read the next one only because I hear it gets better and I want to learn more about the other two fae dudes.
If you loved this, I'm super happy for you. I wish I had but I'm too jaded by all of the better books I've read over the years.
Sorry to hear this one didn't really work for you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this book, but it doesn't sound like one I would like very much.
ReplyDeleteI had this book way back when it was just supposed to be a trilogy but it's spun out of control and doesn't seem like my thing so I passed it on.
ReplyDelete