A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J Maas had me electrified from beginning to end. Maas built a magnificent and unique world where humans and faeries coexisted amongst each other. She managed to make scenes from ACOTAR realistic and magical. We’re initially introduced to Feyre, who is a 19 year old huntress caring for her poor family; who once had been wealthy, but because of a poor investment of their father’s part, they now remain destitute. Despite being the youngest of three, she takes charge and becomes the family’s main source of income. Immediately, Maas makes you sympathize with Feyre’s predicament and I found myself becoming her friend and cheering her on during difficult moments. Feyre had such a character that made me |
Feyre meets two other people in the duration of her stay – Lucien and Alis, who unwittingly befriend Feyre. Lucien is a courtier and Tamlin’s emissary. He deals with most of Tamlin’s issues with other fae and occasionally acts as a patrol guard. Alis is Feyre’s handmaiden, helper, and even an adviser at times.
Tamlin and Feyre’s lives intertwine as they each get to know each other and come to have affection for one another. Feyre soon becomes determined to figure out the secrets behind Tamlin’s mask, along with the rest of his courts’. As she attempts to reveal those secrets, an evil and wicked blight is harming fae all around Prythian, and might even come to affect the human’s world as well.
Feyre’s findings leave her bemused and soon she will be forced to face this evil blight and destroy it. Will she free Tamlin and his court from this destruction, or be destroyed herself?
And now for my personal views and opinions: All in all, I enjoyed ACOTAR and fell in love with it at the end of day. There are some questions and concerns I have about this book, but I feel they will be answered and I shall tell you why in a minute.
The character development on this story was incredible: At the beginning of the story, you immediately knew how Feyre felt about the fae and who they represented, even humans who sympathized with them. She was already a strong character, but she became stronger throughout the book as she dealt with certain situations. (I’m trying not to go too deep as I want to keep this spoiler free.)
Tamlin also had some immense character development. Although he wasn’t a hateful character, he did have some personal struggles to overcome, especially when it came to Feyre. Their attraction to each other further in the book becomes achingly obvious, but something holds both of them back, whether it be their conscience or even guilt at the way they felt for one another. Tamlin also struggles with not being open to Feyre and this, in turn, causes some problems for both of them that could have been avoided.
Lucien also faced very good character development. He was definitely a hater and you could call on that fact immediately after you’re introduced to him in the book. He certainly has a strong dislike for humans and what they are and who they had become.
One other character caught me by surprise with her own character development that I had to save her for last. This was Nesta, Feyre’s older sister. In the beginning of the book, Nesta is self-conceited and nasty to everyone but her other sister Elain. She can only think of getting things for herself and spending what little money they had on the vainest things, but later on in the book we gain a little more insight on why she did this.
Throughout the book we learn more about fae and human history and how fae ended up in the predicament that they are in now. Feyre comes to play a huge part in finding the cure to this plight.
So, yes, I very much enjoyed this novel!
I give A Court of Thorns and Roses 5 out of 5 Stars!
OK, so remember I mentioned that my questions and concerns would be explained later on for this book? That’s because there is, to my knowledge, going to be TWO OTHER BOOKS following this first one. Which means ACOTAR is part of a trilogy, which means we are getting more Tamlin and Feyre action! I am greatly excited for these upcoming books.
As far as I know, the second book (which remains unnamed) will be published next year, and the third (which also remains unnamed) the year after that! I will provide more info later on, so keep up to date with my homepage to hear more exciting news!
*Prythian – land of the fae, the seven High Lords dwell here and rule over their own specific courts. No human is allowed over the walls guarding this land. Any trespassing humans will immediately be punished/tortured/killed.
**Hybern – an island across from Prythian ruled by a wicked and powerful king who reigns over other wicked fae. His hatred of humans and their so-called “freedom” angers him enough to plans to overthrow them.
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