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A review by revived_reading
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Where do I even begin? This book is one of the worst I have ever read (I say one of because the rest of the books in the series are 10x worse). ACOTAR is *supposed* to be a beauty and the beast retelling… it isn’t even close to being one. The “plot” (if you can even find one) is incredibly boring and slow. The characters are so two-dimensional it’s… so bad that I don’t even have words. The characters show no growth or development whatsoever and to be honest, Feyre is just Aelin in a brown wig and dumbed down.
As for the story contents itself, there is a scene where SJM butchers what is a Welsh holiday known as Calan Mai (spelt Calanmai in the book). From my understanding, it is a celebration on May 1st marking the start of summer. In ACOTAR, it has a… somewhat similar purpose but not really. It gets ruined when you account for the fact that Tamlin, the love interest and the “beast” of this “retelling”, is basically supposed to get super horny because of the magic and fuck another person because that causes magic to flow through their court/home and replenish the land???? Tamlin comes across Feyre and FORCIBLY tries to get with her! When he comes out of this frenzy the next day? It’s her fault because he told her to stay in her room and not come out. Not to mention, Feyre almost gets assaulted during Calanmai too.
At the end of the story, Feyre must go through trials… I won’t even get into that because they’re so utterly boring but I do want to mention 2 things. The first being that Rhysand, the character who ends up being Feyre’s love interest, abuses her so much and no one in this damn fandom blinks an eye. He forced her to get drunk and do horrible things. Secondly, Amarantha (the villain) comes up with a riddle… one that makes no sense and I have no words for how stupid it is.
Then there’s the writing. There are so many problematic things, where do I even begin? First of all, there are waaaaay too many em-dashes in use. Sjm is so so repetitive, too. I am sure there is more, but I have tried to erase this monstrosity from my brain as best as possible.
Tl;dr DON’T READ THIS BOOK. It’s a waste of your precious time.
As for the story contents itself, there is a scene where SJM butchers what is a Welsh holiday known as Calan Mai (spelt Calanmai in the book). From my understanding, it is a celebration on May 1st marking the start of summer. In ACOTAR, it has a… somewhat similar purpose but not really. It gets ruined when you account for the fact that Tamlin, the love interest and the “beast” of this “retelling”, is basically supposed to get super horny because of the magic and fuck another person because that causes magic to flow through their court/home and replenish the land???? Tamlin comes across Feyre and FORCIBLY tries to get with her! When he comes out of this frenzy the next day? It’s her fault because he told her to stay in her room and not come out. Not to mention, Feyre almost gets assaulted during Calanmai too.
At the end of the story, Feyre must go through trials… I won’t even get into that because they’re so utterly boring but I do want to mention 2 things. The first being that Rhysand, the character who ends up being Feyre’s love interest, abuses her so much and no one in this damn fandom blinks an eye. He forced her to get drunk and do horrible things. Secondly, Amarantha (the villain) comes up with a riddle… one that makes no sense and I have no words for how stupid it is.
Then there’s the writing. There are so many problematic things, where do I even begin? First of all, there are waaaaay too many em-dashes in use. Sjm is so so repetitive, too. I am sure there is more, but I have tried to erase this monstrosity from my brain as best as possible.
Tl;dr DON’T READ THIS BOOK. It’s a waste of your precious time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent