A review by katreads2022
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A compassionate three stars. The writing is okay, speckled with an excessive amount of “growls” and “purrs” and other strangely anthropomorphic characterizations. The world building is not stellar; we are introduced to a world of humans and faeries, the humans living north and faeries south, who are sworn not to interact with each other as a result of a centuries-old treaty. Not much else is given to populate the world. Despite this book’s name, there is not royal intrigue or exploration of the different courts. It focuses on the fairly bland main character Feyre, who finds herself beholden to her faerie overlords. Stockholm Syndrome or not, she falls in love with the beast- sorry, Tamlin- and vows to balance his well-being with that of her family back home. In an exceptionally slow paced first half their relationship is sort of (?) fleshed out. The ending half is much faster-paced, conservatively filled with the beasts and royals and such that one might expect from a fantasy novel. Without expanding further, I found the ending to be lacklustre. Overall, this book was just okay. However, I admit it might land better for more fantasy-heavy readers.