Until quite recently, I was unaware of the hype surrounding the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas. I’m not sure how I missed it, to be honest. It seems to be everywhere. As I was told it was a must-read, I bought it a couple of weeks ago and…wow. Not bad at all, indeed!
A familiar re-telling
There is no lack of Beauty and the Beast retellings, but A Court of Thorns and Roses is arguably the most successful one. The first chapter introduces us to Feyre, a human girl who tries desperately to support her family by hunting, even in the dead of winter. This is not without danger, seeing that the forest borders the faerie kingdom, Prythian. Although separated by an invisible wall, humans are never truly safe from the cruel faeries. So when Feyre happens upon one on her side of the wall, she decides to take no risk and kill him.
Soon enough, though, Feyre learns that you cannot go around killing off magical beings without having to answer for it. She’s presented with a choice: death or leaving her world behind for good. Joining Tamlin, one of the High Lords of the Fae, at his court, Feyre starts to slowly realise that something is awfully wrong in the magical kingdom. Something that might very well nip the blossoming romance between her and her captor in the bud…
Entertaining and enthralling
I’m no stranger to fairytale retellings, but I have to say I really appreciated this one. There are clear elements of the original Beauty and the Beast story, without having a déjà vu on every other page. Furthermore, I also really liked that other stories and characters are woven into it, like Tam Lin (from Scottish legendary ballads) and East of the Sun and West of the Moon (a Norwegian fairytale).
A Court of Thorns and Roses was not my favourite book in this series, though. Sarah J. Maas‘ writing is very fast-paced and quite easy to read but it took me some time to get used to it. It felt a bit amateurish, at first. It didn’t help that I wasn’t too fond of Feyre, either (Sorry, Feyre, I never became your biggest fan, even after having read the first four books). I know everyone seems to long for strong female main characters, but Feyre came across as a petulant teenager sometimes and that prevented me from truly connecting with her.
Nevertheless, the story really sucked me in as soon as Lucien appeared. He’s one of the courtiers at the Spring Court and I really appreciated his wit and banter (he’s cursed to wear a fox mask, that should say enough, no?). I was also intrigued by the Courts. There are four seasonal Courts (i.e. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) and three solar ones (i.e. Dawn, Day and Night). Tamlin is the lord of the Spring Court, your typical fairytale setting with a pretty mansion, gardens with roses etc. While lovely, I’m a night kind of person, so I was very much interested in learning more about the northmost territory of the Fae, the Night Court. I was not disappointed 😉
I finished this book in two days, because I could simply not put it away. Once I got into the story, I had to know the end. And then order the next book right away. Careful if you’re only now going to start part 1: addiction is highly likely!
I gave this book four gemstones out of five:
Age Category: New Adult and older (There are some spicy scenes in this book and the rest of the series)
Trigger Warnings (click here, may contain spoilers)
Warnings for drugging, emotional abuse, violence and manipulationDo you want to discover more?
If my review inspired you to pick up the book, don’t hesitate to check it out at Goodreads or at the below online stores. If you decide to buy it via one of the following links, I will receive a small percentage at no extra charge for you!
Amazon.nl: Paperback English Edition
Amazon.nl: Collector’s Edition (English)
Similar to this
I guarantee you that you’ll want to continue this series once you’ve finished this first book. A Court of Mist and Fury is part two and my personal favourite. It’s so…Dreamy 😉 Update: my spoiler-free series review can be found here.
If you are as much into Beauty and the Beast retellings as I am, I highly recommend A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, one of my all-time favourite versions. You can read my full review here.
I’ve also enjoyed Among the Beasts and Briars by Ashley Poston. Strangely enough, I have not been able to find any online “proof” that this story was also based – although less clearly – on Beauty and the Beast, the entire book just screamed “Belle” at me. Not my favourite read of all time maybe, but definitely worth checking out and proud to have it in my collection. You can read my full review here.
Next up in my line of to-be-read versions of Beauty and the Beast are The Beast Within By Serena Valentino (Disney Villains series) and Rebel Rose, part one of The Queen’s Council series by Emma Theriault. If you’ve read either of these, let me know what you thought!
Update: In the meanwhile, I’ve started both novels mentioned above, but I didn’t finish either of them. In The Beast Within, he story is told from the point-of-view of the beast, and although that’s an interesting take, the book was clearly written for a much younger audience so I decided to put it down after a couple of chapters. Rebel Rose is a continuation of the Disney version, and although it’s premise is quite interesting (it heavily mixes elements from French history), there’s something off about the characters as they are mere shadows of the original ones. Because of this, I was not able to get into the story and put down this book as well.
Finally, if you are into Sarah J Maas‘ style, I’m told that From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout is similar in some aspects. This series tells the story about a fallen kingdom and a maiden chosen from birth to usher in a new era. This book is definitely high on my TBR list!