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A review by finding_novel_land
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
4.0
In this episode of BookTok made me do it, I have a second attempt at starting Sarah J Maas' ACOTAR series and I am so confused.
I don't know about anyone else, but YouTube keeps recommending me BookTok compilations at the moment. I love them, I feel very seen, but the biggest take away was that if you have any interest in YA Fantasy Romance novels (aka my jam) then you must read this series. Seriously, ACOTAR rules BookTok as Queen. Due to all the hype, I went into this book with some basic knowledge: 1) There's two guys called Rysand and Tamlin and I probably shouldn't look up their fanfic. 2) This series is pure smut. I will also preface this review by saying that I DNF'd it around 4 years ago by chapter 3 during a reading slump.
Anyway, onto the review.
^ACOTAR content appearing every 5 seconds^
This is a book of two halves.
The first half was very dull and probably one of the easiest and issue free romances I have ever read. After Feyre gets taken away to fairyland, she falls and adapts into her new life too easily (ok fine there were some hurdles, but it didn't feel like *enough*), and, more importantly, falls for Tamlin (well, his back muscles) too quickly. On top of that, Tamlin was wayyyyy too nice to someone he was begrudgingly forced to bring to his home after killing his friend, Lucien was overly ok to be the third wheel, and that sex ritual was one of the most cliché things I have read in a long time. When it hit me that this was going to be some lazy attempt at a Beauty and the Beast/Stockholm Syndrome retelling I nearly lost it. I was genuinely confused about what the fuss was about, and it was only the belief that it had to get better soon (due to the hype), plus the short chapters, that saw me reading until the early hours.
And then we hit Chapter 32.
Suddenly everything came out in the wash. The curse was explained and everything suddenly made sense. Doesn't mean I forgive Maas for the pain caused up until this point, but at least it wasn't just shoddy writing.
By Chapter 34 things got good.
The plot did a complete 180 into a depraved dystopian story, with pure-evil villains, intrigue, double crossing, a lot of blood, guts and gore, and a slight hunger games feel (I'm not a sadist honest), which ended with me, yet again, reading until the early hours. Did I spend most of the time starring at Rhys wondering what on earth he was up to and how he has made most teenage girls fall in love with him? Maybeeeeee... Positives aside, the second half didn't fully redeem the book as the trope of the fae being this lewd, sexually-depraved species with alcohol flying freely etcetc was a little cringe, if only because I've seen it so many times before.
And so here is our conundrum.
The first half of this book was a 2* as best, while post chapter 34 was a masterpiece and a 5*er. What's a girl to do? I'm settling at 4* even though it feels wrong as I would not put this on the same level as my beloved Grishaverse books I completed before picking this up, of which many were 4*ers, but equally even 3.5* feels mean.🤷♀️
And finally, purely because these books' reputation is that it's 50 shades for teens, I think I have to address the smut in this book. Well, that is, the surprising lack of it. Genuinely, I spent most of this book very confused what all the fuss was about. There's one sex scene that, while graphic, isn't even that wild. If you are hesitating reading this book at least (I've heard the rumours about book 2, don't worry) because of its sexy reputation, then I wouldn't worry too much, though having a fan on standby isn't the worst idea.
TLDR; this book did a complete zero to hero, wrecking my sleeping pattern in the process, and now I can't wait to read Book 2!
I don't know about anyone else, but YouTube keeps recommending me BookTok compilations at the moment. I love them, I feel very seen, but the biggest take away was that if you have any interest in YA Fantasy Romance novels (aka my jam) then you must read this series. Seriously, ACOTAR rules BookTok as Queen. Due to all the hype, I went into this book with some basic knowledge: 1) There's two guys called Rysand and Tamlin and I probably shouldn't look up their fanfic. 2) This series is pure smut. I will also preface this review by saying that I DNF'd it around 4 years ago by chapter 3 during a reading slump.
Anyway, onto the review.
^ACOTAR content appearing every 5 seconds^
This is a book of two halves.
The first half was very dull and probably one of the easiest and issue free romances I have ever read. After Feyre gets taken away to fairyland, she falls and adapts into her new life too easily (ok fine there were some hurdles, but it didn't feel like *enough*), and, more importantly, falls for Tamlin (well, his back muscles) too quickly. On top of that, Tamlin was wayyyyy too nice to someone he was begrudgingly forced to bring to his home after killing his friend, Lucien was overly ok to be the third wheel, and that sex ritual was one of the most cliché things I have read in a long time. When it hit me that this was going to be some lazy attempt at a Beauty and the Beast/Stockholm Syndrome retelling I nearly lost it. I was genuinely confused about what the fuss was about, and it was only the belief that it had to get better soon (due to the hype), plus the short chapters, that saw me reading until the early hours.
And then we hit Chapter 32.
Suddenly everything came out in the wash. The curse was explained and everything suddenly made sense. Doesn't mean I forgive Maas for the pain caused up until this point, but at least it wasn't just shoddy writing.
By Chapter 34 things got good.
The plot did a complete 180 into a depraved dystopian story, with pure-evil villains, intrigue, double crossing, a lot of blood, guts and gore, and a slight hunger games feel (I'm not a sadist honest), which ended with me, yet again, reading until the early hours. Did I spend most of the time starring at Rhys wondering what on earth he was up to and how he has made most teenage girls fall in love with him? Maybeeeeee... Positives aside, the second half didn't fully redeem the book as the trope of the fae being this lewd, sexually-depraved species with alcohol flying freely etcetc was a little cringe, if only because I've seen it so many times before.
And so here is our conundrum.
The first half of this book was a 2* as best, while post chapter 34 was a masterpiece and a 5*er. What's a girl to do? I'm settling at 4* even though it feels wrong as I would not put this on the same level as my beloved Grishaverse books I completed before picking this up, of which many were 4*ers, but equally even 3.5* feels mean.🤷♀️
And finally, purely because these books' reputation is that it's 50 shades for teens, I think I have to address the smut in this book. Well, that is, the surprising lack of it. Genuinely, I spent most of this book very confused what all the fuss was about. There's one sex scene that, while graphic, isn't even that wild. If you are hesitating reading this book at least (I've heard the rumours about book 2, don't worry) because of its sexy reputation, then I wouldn't worry too much, though having a fan on standby isn't the worst idea.
TLDR; this book did a complete zero to hero, wrecking my sleeping pattern in the process, and now I can't wait to read Book 2!