ARC Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

"A Court of Thorns and Roses was grippingly addictive!"

 

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J Maas
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: May 7th 2015
Page Number: 432
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

 

Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price.

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

 

REVIEW

 

“I was as unburdened as a piece of dandelion fluff, and he was the wind that stirred me about the world.” Most people know that I was not a fan of Throne of Glass, it was interesting, but there was so much work that needed to be done. However, A Court of Thorns and Roses is sensational. It's very true to the retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the elements of masks were.....different, but good. The world building is phenomenal, the details to the characters are so refined that you know exacI was actually a bit wary going into this one because I wasn't the biggest fan of Throne of Glass, but this book actually blew my mind. I'm not a High Fantasy reader, it's actually the one genre that I'm uncomfortable reading, but A Court of Thorns and Roses had me addicted from Page 1. It was so vivid and Feyre as a main character was everything that I wanted Celaena to be like in Throne of Glass. While Throne of Glass follows multiple POV's, A Court of Thorns and Roses just follows Feyre's and that really helped me get into the book. Her narrative voice was spot on and I knew she'd be a character I'd come to love. She knew about hardship and loss, yet always had hope. It was so fresh to see that, it also helps that Feyre has a loose tongue that gets her in quite a bit of trouble. World building has to be well done, but I don't just think the world building was well done, I think it was exceptionally done. While reading I could imagine the places, like I was going on a journey with Tamlin and Feyre. And while I wouldn't want to go into the Faery Land, just the fact that it was vivid shows just how well Sarah J Maas knew this world. However, despite myself loving this book there was one problem: pacing. About 3/4 into the book the story became slow and dragged on for quite a bit. The action scenes should have made it fast-paced, but it just was not happening. I didn't actually mind the slow pace of it, but I think other people will. Overall, I can't really say anything else about the book other than I'm super duper excited for the sequel. I'm also hoping I get to say a few things to Sarah J Maas about it when I meet her next month, but who knows.   Physical ARC provided by Bloomsbury for an honest review Buy the book (Waterstones) | Buy the book (Book Depository)