A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Review + Discussion

In this world, fae live beyond a magical wall and our main character Feyre lives in the town just before the wall. The only other thing separating her town and the faerie land is a forest where she hunts in in order to provide for her family. And on one unfortunate day she accidentally (but not so accidentally) kills a faerie disguised as a wolf. Demanding retribution, the wolf's faerie friend barges into her home and takes Feyre with him to live out the rest of her days in his mansion in the land of the fae. 

And Sarah J. Maas kills it again. With wonderful characters, an intricate world and lovely writing this book is all you could ask for. It is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and Tamlin. There are some slow parts but that in no way lessens my affections for this book. All in all I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on goodreads. I highly recommend that you check out all of Sarah J. Maas' books if you haven't already! 

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

I loved everything about this book. The slow parts, the characters, the action scenes, the romance, everything was amazing. 

I liked how this book was kind of made for older YA readers as it had more sexual scenes, it allowed the characters to be a bit more mature and to incorporate much more faerie lore which I really enjoyed. Even though I had to suffer through so much second hand embarrassment through Feyre because of it. (That scene when Rhysander read her mind in front of Lucien and Tamlin oh my god I was mortified.)

I especially loved Lucien and Feyre's friendship and how it evolved throughout the book. They are both so snarky and fun and putting them together just really brought light to the novel. I really enjoyed the poems Lucien and Tamlin put together for Feyre out of the words she didn't know and I loved the little tidbit about how it was a game for Tamlin and his men in the army!

I think I prefer Rhysander to Tamlin, I haven't completely made up my mind so I can still be swayed back over to Tamlin's side but I find Rhys to be so much more interesting and fun and yet still reasonable character. Despite that I still really loved all the romance and sexy scenes between Tamlin and Feyre! Especially the part where Tamlin comes back from the Spring ceremony thing it was hilarious and steamy and I loved it. (And then the next day Lucien asks Feyre why she has bite marks on her and she tells him to ask Tamlin and Tamlin and Lucien just end up scolding her. It was golden.)

When Feyre ran into Rhys at the ceremony and said something along the lines of "the most beautiful man I've ever seen" I knew they were somehow going end up together, so that is my prediction for the next book.

Somehow I forgot the whole plot of Beauty and the Beast so when they explained Tamlin's curse I didn't see it coming and it was so incredibly frustrating that Tamlin let her go 3 days early. However I do see how that benefited the story because without that Feyre would be forevermore worrying about her family and we wouldn't see Nesta's character development.

That curse was so specific. A human had to kill a faerie knowing that it was a faerie and hating it. That faerie had to be one of Tamlin's men. Then the human had to fall in love with Tamlin and tell him that they loved him before the allotted amount of time ran out. Also everyone had to have those masks on because humans are obsessed with looks and everything. It's ridiculous.

Then Feyre goes to the mountain without a plan like an idiot and gets herself captured. We find out that Rhys is quite the double agent and has been protecting Feyre this entire time. And then he does some questionable things but the drugging and the body paint gave her some peace of mind in the end so it's all good.

Okay I am not good at riddles but I figured that one out the second I read it. So much frustration.

Eventually Feyre figures it out but it's too late and she ends up dead but then they turn her into a faerie so all is well but now she is kind of immortal so she will be spending one week a month with Rhysand for eternity. I'm excited. Oh and Rhysand can fly again! And I wonder how much more powerful his mind tricks are and exactly how that tattoo thingy works. I can't wait for the next book.

I loved the history and the lore Sarah J. Maas created for this series it's all so intricate and complex, it will be fun to uncover more in the next few books. Especially the story between Rhysand and Tamlin. Rhys is such an interesting character I love him, Sarah is an incredible writer.

That is all for now I just hope that Feyre learns to read in the next book.