A review by francestal
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I finally caved after (subconsciously) avoiding this book for so long. I went into this knowing nothing about the series, so it threw me off when I was introduced to the magical realm of fae when my original vision of fairies was Tinkerbell instead of muscly or stunningly beautiful people. I was also a fourth of the way through it when I said, “Oh. This is just Beauty and the Beast but with pointy ears.” Despite the disappointment, I appreciated the world building because it’s been a long time since I read a fantasy/other worldly book. My biggest gripe with this book was the pacing. You’re telling myself there was all this happy romance and pining just to be thrown into a whirlwind plot line during the last ~100 pages of the book?

Yet even worse was the “big reveal” at the end with Amarantha’s riddle (if you could even call it that). Call me pessimistic or whatever, but I actually had to blink, set my book down, and laugh when my dumb guess was correct and Feyre says “The answer is love.”

 

Despite my complaints, I will say that the story had me very invested. Though the characters often felt archetype-y, it’s been a while since a book has had me running to the library to get the next one, so props to SJM.