A Court Of Thorns And Roses

A Court Of Thorns And Roses Book One , #1

eBook, 230 pages

English language

Published May 5, 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens.

ISBN:
978-1-61963-444-2
Copied ISBN!
3 stars (56 reviews)

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.

4 editions

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

I don't really get the hype on this one. 

The world building feels rather bland and generic feywild. Its full of the classic tropes of fey trickery and deal making, trying to eat the heart of the mortal, etc. If that's your thing, you'll feel right at home. There wasn't anything that felt truly original or creative about it though, just the same fairy magic played out over again in familiar settings. 

The prose feels similarly. Its certainly not bad but its nothing to make praise of either.  Its easy reading and that the only reason I didn't put it down in the middle somewhere. </spoiler> Specifically, I would have stopped when Tamil assaulted Fehre in the hallway</spoiler>

Maybe the characters are really compelling then? Nope. Feyre and Tamil are both incredibly annoying and unlikable. Feyre is 19, still practically a child, shes dumb and rash and puts herself in …

reviewed A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Excellently done trope

5 stars

If you’re thinking “ah! I know this trope and so I know basically what the plot is!” you are probably correct.

But.

Nothing is ever quite that simple. From the particular details of what it takes to make things better, to the absolutely delicious character of the guy you instantly know is bad news, this is superb execution of the genre.

Also, I cried.

Jennifer Ikeda’s narration is excellent.

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I listened to the cinematic audiobook of this series from GraphicAudio, and let me just say - the GraphicAudio cast and production was literally the only reason I stuck around to listen to this "Wattpad Fanfiction" of a series.

What I expected (based offreviews):
An amazing fantasy with a good fae world ant great romance, as a twist of beauty and the beast - an older young adult fantasy to rival GOT.

What I got: A softcore erotica fanfiction...The writing was atrocious.
No world building (much, if at all), zero consequences for anything at all, literally deus ex machina ever reason and no reason at all! (Oh, a hundreds year old, trained, and strongest fae had difficulty breaking a spell - but the MC's normal human sister wasn't effected by the exact same because 'she didn't want too?' are you kidding me?¡), the MCs bowels contently being 'watery' any time …

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I enjoyed this book so much, just tore through it! I read it right on the heels of Throne of Glass and while I enjoyed that book, you can just see how much Maas has improved as a writer. I'd also note that while Throne feels very YA in plot, characterization, tone, etc. Court could easily have been marketed as adult fantasy rather than YA (which is probably why I liked it more).

The plot is an interesting mash-up of the traditional version of Beauty and the Beast and the ballad of Tam Lin: Feyre (= Fair = Beauty, btw, took me a while to pick up on that) is the youngest daughter of a failed merchant, and while hunting to feed her family she kills a giant wolf she knows is one of the Fae. As a result, the high lord Tamlin, in the form of a huge beast, …

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

The first third is essentially an edgy 'Beauty and the Beast' retelling followed by a plot that devolves into mythology/every-fairy-tale-ever bargain with three tasks.
The characters are often frustrating and half the time the 'attractive' men came off as mercurial (if I am being kind) or emotionally unstable (if I am not).
That said, I read this book in two days. The ending is satisfying and I had a really good time yelling at the protagonist.
All in all I can't in good conscience call it a good book but I can say it was oddly enjoyable to read despite that.

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I expected it to be a nice fantasy and the beginning was promising. The author drew me into the magical world and things were going well, there was mystery and strange creatures. Then it turned into a fairy tale and a cheesy one. The characters were well defined and thought out but I feel the plot turned too much of Cinderella/Snow White/Beauty and the Beast like.

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I picked up this book since it was recommended as similar to another story I enjoyed. To start with, it wasn't similar.

What this is for the first 50% of the book: a re-telling of the story of The Beauty and the Beast, which has inherent issues. Because there is no telling of Beauty and the Beast that doesn't have some sort of weird Stockhom Syndrome thing going on. It's highly problematic.

This may be my unfamiliarity with the current young adult genre, but there seemed to be stolen themes and characterizations from other stories. Feyre gives a strong Katniss vibe. Possibly that's unfair, and maybe YA themes and tropes make that a routine characterization. Then there are the two male characters that could be borrowed from the story that I was told this was a "vanilla" version of. I guess, if someone wrote poorly contrived fan-fiction and didn't really …

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Formulaic pandering to teenager fantasy!

I would highly recommend this book to any teenager wanting a romance or fantasy, especially any fan of Cassandra Clare or the Selection Series. The writing is fine, the plot moves fast, the characters reasonably interesting. It is just absurd to read as an adult, so I must say this rating might be a little biased... The one-girl, 2 loves theme once again, the get rich and wear beautiful clothes theme, the she is so tough except when it is sexy to get saved thing.... Not to mention 'girl meets (500 years old) boy' love story. It was disturbing in Twilight, and is a bit silly here. Especially since said ancient one looks and acts like a teenager. The petty jealousies, the posturing, the near-sex misses, those elements take up too many pages. However, the monsters are excellent, and I just like fairies, and when …

reviewed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Happily smiling I just closed the book. Well, this is my kind of novel. This is how I like to be entertained and how a story would look like if I had to mix some of my favourite books.

A few <3 words in no specific order:
Action. Fantasy. Love. Fae. Murder. Evil women. Monsters. Beasts. Strong women. Hot men. Strong men. Hot and strong men. Fights. A card in the beginning of the book and a pronunciation overview in the back. That. Cover.

Actually, it is a Beauty and the beast retelling. Yes. Somehow. The beginning has definitely similarities to the fairy tale but all in all it is really an outstanding story with an own plot.

Feyre. I love her. Really. She's a great protagonist. She's not dump, she's clever and she acts (quite) logical. Also she's not displayed as the perfect heroine.

The men. Hell yes!

I …

reviewed A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Review of 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I went into Sarah J. Maas’ new series with high expectations that just weren’t met. I enjoyed A Court of Thorn and Roses well enough but it felt a bit of a generic fantasy romance. I love novels about dark fae and faerie politics so I thought this one would be right up my street. However, I felt you could have substituted the faeries for vampires, and it could be one of many urban fantasy stories I’ve read over the years.

Once Feyre goes beyond the wall, she discovers not everything she’s been taught about faeries is true. There are some terrifying and dangerous races amongst them, but there are also faeries who are little different from humans. All is not well in Prythian, and the fae magic is weak. I was interested in the world-building, and which parts of faerie mythology were incorporated; I definitely found some of the …

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Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Young Adult
  • Fiction
  • New Adult
  • Fae
  • Fantasy Romance
  • Magic
  • Retellings
  • Young Adult Fantasy