Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Source: Bought
Rating: 5 Billion Stars
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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.

My Review:

How do I adequately express how much I loved this book? Let me just start off by saying that Sarah J. Maas owns my soul. She is a master of her craft. The stories and characters she writes just leap off the pages. They make me feel like no other books make me feel. There is so much heart and soul in her stories and she is forever solidified as my favorite author.

This book was simply stunning. The writing is gorgeous. Sarah has such a way with words. She weaves sentences together in the most stunning way. You get completely sucked into her world and you can so easily picture the scene she is painting. I absolutely loved every word, every sentence, every piece of this book.

Our main character Feyre has had a hard life. Fallen from wealth, her family is dirt poor. They never have enough food to eat, can’t afford new clothes, can barely afford the roof over their head which is just a tiny shack with barely enough room to squeeze her father, her two sisters and herself in. And since her father has basically given up on life, Feyre is the provider of the family. She goes to the woods to hunt for food, she trades the pelts and skins she gets from the animals she kills, for without her, Feyre’s family wouldn’t survive. And they treat her like crap for it. I felt so bad for her at the start of this book. Her sisters are horrible, her father is a weak and spineless man who won’t stand up for her. This girl’s life is not easy. But she perseveres and one day is lucky enough to kill both a doe and a huge wolf. Unlucky for her, that wolf wasn’t just a wolf and an angry Fae beast comes to her house demanding payment for his life. With no other alternative she has to leave her family and go with the beast into the magical and dangerous land of the Fae.

And this, my friends, is where we meet some of the greatest characters ever created. Let me start with Lucien, a fox-faced Fae who is hard as nails. Lucien isn’t always the nicest person in the world, but I loved him. I loved his loyalty to his friend Tamlin (don’t worry, we’ll get to Tamlin), I loved his willingness to do anything to protect the Spring Court and the fragile balance between human and faeries. Everything about Lucien was just perfect. Can I ship myself with him? Don’t worry, I already did.

And then there’s Tamlin. Holy hell, Tamlin is one hot Fae. You think Rowan from Heir of Fire is hot? Tamlin is smoking. He’s arrogant and snarky, yet gentle and kind. He is everything good all rolled up into one sexy as hell package. Not to mention how powerful he is. I loved that even though it wasn’t under great circumstances that Feyre is brought to his home, he’s always kind to her. He never makes her his prisoner, never treats her poorly. Tamlin has a fierce desire to protect his Court, his people, to never again see humans as slaves, to always do the right thing, even when all sides are against him. God this guy was just fantastic. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

And then there’s Rhys, another sexy Fae who I’m not sure we can trust. There are a lot of layers to Rhys and I’m dying to know more. That’s all I’m going to say, because I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys.

And then there’s Feyre herself. She was such an awesome main character. She was tough, but still compassionate. She was brave. She was caring. She took her promises seriously. She loved deeply and fully. I would totally want Feyre to be my best friend.

Everything about this book is magic. I loved the parallels between this story and Beauty and the Beast. I loved the pacing, the world, the characters, the writing. Everything about this was perfection. I don’t think I need to tell any of you that you should read this book. It’s Sarah J. Maas. I’m sure this review doesn’t do this book any kind of justice and I expect this blog will be full of fangirling over this book for a long time. Sorry not sorry. 

Have you read this one yet? Care to jump in and fangirl with me?