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A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Sarah J. Maas

Start date: June 22, 2015

Finish date: June 30, 2015

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What Members Thought

Jun 19, 2018 Angie Taylor rated it liked it

I decided to finally give these books a try since I've had so many people tell me I need to read them.
Here's what I liked: Maas has created a unique telling of Beauty in the Beast by using the fantasy trope of fairies' and humans' worlds colliding. This is done very well and draws the reader in with the magic and mystery Feyra discovers bit by bit. I liked Feyra's strong fire and her hard worth ethic to provide for her family despite her education limitations and order of birth. I loved the sac ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 Lauren⁷ 💜 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult-teen-new-adult, book-boyfriends, library-has-a-copy, fantasy-science-fiction, favorites, best-books-read-in-2016, romance

This was a change of pace but not for Maas. Whereas the Throne Of Glass series is fantasy/romance with the romance being secondary, this was romance/fantasy with the romance coming more to the forefront. Don't get me wrong, the fantasy was here in droves and certainly did not suffer for the romance, but the romance came first. And that's okay by me. According to Maas, this book does exist in the same Megaverse as TOG and I did pick up some similarities. I really liked how Maas wrote the fae in t This was a change of pace but not for Maas. Whereas the Throne Of Glass series is fantasy/romance with the romance being secondary, this was romance/fantasy with the romance coming more to the forefront. Don't get me wrong, the fantasy was here in droves and certainly did not suffer for the romance, but the romance came first. And that's okay by me. According to Maas, this book does exist in the same Megaverse as TOG and I did pick up some similarities. I really liked how Maas wrote the fae in this book. They're almost nothing like the fae in TOG. Here, they are truly the fae of legend, many are utterly terrifying, others are good and decent and still others are somewhere in between. She explored fae nature and the faerie courts in a lot of depth which I greatly enjoyed. This is supposed to be a loose retelling of Beauty And The Beast with elements from other myths and legends and I though that Maas did an excellent job of taking all those elements and making them into a unique and beautiful story all her own. I'll start with the characters. I really liked them all. Feyre had quite the journey here, from being a very angry and closed off person to being one who opens herself up to Tamlin's love and softens and grows and changes and ends up making an enormous sacrifice at the end of the book. Tamlin was so refreshing for a love interest, instead of being this douchebag who magically gets reformed by love, he's a good guy from the onset and one that I rooted for, he had some nice growth of his own. I found that Maas kind of flipped the Beauty And The Beast trope on its head with Feyre being more the Beast and Tamlin being more the Beauty. Lucien was another great character and I was so glad that (view spoiler). (view spoiler) I didn't think much of Feyre's family, they were pretty crappy to her. (view spoiler). The plot itself was great! It was very action packed and moved swiftly and was also very suspenseful! (view spoiler)[Having Feyre kill Tamlin's friend (whom he'd actually sent out for just that reason) and Tamlin then coming to get her to live in the Spring Court for the rest of her life as atonement was an original spin on getting two characters together. I enjoyed seeing Tamlin and Feyre's relationship slowly blossom from fear and suspicion on her part to friendship to love. Theirs was a very sweet and believable romance that I loved. The descriptions of the Spring Court were just gorgeous and it's a place I'd love to visit. Rhysand and Feyre's first meeting was interesting to say the least and I never dreamed that he'd end up playing such an important role in the series. I just figured he was another jerky guy. I'm not sure if the idea for Amarantha having cursed Tamlin having 50 years to meet a human girl who killed a fae out of hatred and then make her fall in love with him so that the curse may be broken is from a myth or legend or it's a wholly original plot, but I liked it quite a lot and I felt that it was a good and organic way of creating conflict. Under The Mountain was a very interesting if extremely sinister place. Rhysand ended up playing a most interesting role, even saving Feyre's life in exchange for her agreeing to spend one week a month with him in the Night Court for the rest of her life, which ends up playing a big role in the next book. The three tasks Feyre must complete to free the Tamlin and the other Courts are, ah, well, interesting to say the least. The first task, defeating some behemoth worm thing was a clever way to show off just how resourceful Feyre really is, it was a well written scene and pretty harrowing! The second task, read and solve a riddle on the wall or be impaled by spikes on a slowly descending chandelier was reminiscent of more than a few action movie scenes, especially a scene in Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom. Rhysand of all people came to her rescue there, telling her the answer through the mental bond forged by the bargain they'd struck. The third task broke my heart, kill three innocent fairies or the Courts and Tamlin remain enslaved forever, I couldn't imagine having to make such a choice myself. And to have Tamlin be the third fairie she has to kill? My jaw dropped. I was so thankful that Feyre was able to put two and two together and realize that he had a literal heart of stone and could not be killed by being stabbed in the heart. And then having Amarantha decide to be the biggest you know what ever and not release everyone?! And then to begin torturing and killing Feyre because she's so mad that Feyre had was able to do it? Oooooooooh! I was steaming. But seeing Feyre, with her last dying breath, gasp out the answer to the riddle Amarantha had presented her with earlier in the book and the curse be instantly broken so everybody could unleash whoop you know what? Oh, yeah!! And Tamlin and the other High Lords saving her and turning her into a High fae?!?! BOO YEAH!!!! What an ending! (hide spoiler)] This series is a nice change of pace for Maas and one that is superbly written and highly enjoyable and one that I recommend to all fantasy fans and fairy tale retelling fans. This is not for the younger fans though, this is new adult for sure and does have a steamy and frank sex scene. ...more

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Dec 06, 2023 Rachel rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-some-via-audiobook, read-some-via-ebook

I finally broke down with all the hype and read this book and .. it's definitely giving Twilight vibes.

Not a lot happens in the first half and I found the character of Feyre so whiny and insufferable. I had a really hard time caring what happened to her, which is the point of the whole book.

After reading ACOMAF, I'd almost say you could just skip this one and just read a recap. Yes, the books get "better", but you shouldn't have to suffer through a first book just for the series to "really get g ...more

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Nov 30, 2017 Charlene rated it it was ok

Shelves: dnf

DNF’d at around 50%...
if you’re into abusive relationships, this might be your thing...

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Jan 23, 2019 Ketutar Jensen rated it it was ok

Shelves: dnf, it-should-have-been-good

Might be spoilers ahead. Now, I didn't finish this book, so I'm not spoiling any end, but there might be some information here that spoils the story for you. Read on on your own risk.

I HATE Sarah Maas' heroines!

Feyre kills somebody and is to pay a life for a life.
She gets to choose whether she dies in front of her family, or goes to the fairyland and never sees her family again, giving her life to the fairies as compensation for the life she took.
She chooses to live.
And starts immediately to Might be spoilers ahead. Now, I didn't finish this book, so I'm not spoiling any end, but there might be some information here that spoils the story for you. Read on on your own risk.

I HATE Sarah Maas' heroines!

Feyre kills somebody and is to pay a life for a life.
She gets to choose whether she dies in front of her family, or goes to the fairyland and never sees her family again, giving her life to the fairies as compensation for the life she took.
She chooses to live.
And starts immediately to whine about it.

The fairy is doing his best to give her as nice a life in the fairyland as he can, and does a good job, but she is whining and moping and trying to get away from the deal. He does nothing but nice things to her, and she complains. He tells her to do things for her own safety and wellbeing, and she disobeys, and when the shit hits the fan, she blames him for it.
I mean, she says she worries about her family, that they can't survive without her, and the fairy tells her they are being provided for, but only for as long as she stays put in the fairyland. He tells her that there's a reasonable cover story in place, and that the people aren't worried about her.
What she does is start whining because her sisters who despised and bullied her, don't care about her, and her father who was too weak to do anything to defend her, save her, protect her, didn't defend and protect her (from the consequences of her own actions) and doesn't come to save her. HOW, miss Feyre, HOW COULD HE?! He's an old, crippled, poor man with no friends or influence in the world, HOW COULD HE COME AND RESCUE YOU? HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! And all that is the fairy's fault. He's being mean for keeping her away from her family, it's his fault that the people who didn't care about her before, don't care about her now. Geesh!

She's 19 and basically grown in a barrel, but she is smarter than the fairies and everyone falls in love with her, because she's... what ever. I suppose it's because she's a marysue, and smells irresistible or something. I don't know. We are supposed to believe she's all that, and when in Throne of Glass Sarah told us her heroine is all that, here she tries at least to make her heroine do some stuff to explain her amazingness. Fails, though, because some staged shows of how smart and kind and noble she is, can't outweigh how she behaves and reasons the rest of the time.

And the constant "I'm not as pretty as...", "i'm not as good a painter as..." Stop comparing yourself to others and learn to take a compliment!

The writing is OK in my mind, the story is interesting, but Feyre is just too much. Life is too short to read books you don't like, and there's enough books you like in the world to DNF books that irk you. ...more

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