Court of Thorns and Roses

I had been promising myself that I would read this series but I always kept putting it off. Mostly, this was due to the fact I had read A Throne of Glass a long time ago and found the female lead not readily to my liking. I had always promised myself that I would eventually give it another try but first, I wanted to read A Court of Thorn and Roses. I had been hearing a lot of mixed reviews but my friends have mostly been the ones telling me that the series was much better once you started reading it.

I won't lie when I have been told that the series is a mixture of Hades and Persephone with Beauty and the Beast. I have always been a sucker for these and I had placed this series on my TBR. Now that I had time, I decided this would be the series for December. The final books that would end my 2023 reading year.

But now having read the series, I am a bit torn about where to rank it. While the story felt slow - too slow for that matter, it did have its moments. But again, the female lead is what drove me insane. I don't what it is about Maas's female leads but they end up being extremely annoying. I don't feel she improves much. I don't want to give too much away, but I found her decisions and actions frustrating at times. However, there were also moments where she showed strength and resilience, which I appreciated.

On the other hand, the world-building in this series was phenomenal. Maas has created a rich and vivid world, filled with different courts and creatures. I was completely immersed in this fantastical world and loved learning about the various realms and their politics.

The romance in this series felt slow. For one thing, I am glad that this was not some insta-love with both declaring how much they were made for each other, blah blah blah but it was taken slowly allowing the characters to see each other's flaws and strengths but at the same time I also felt that it was at a crawl. It could be frustrating at times and at other times it felt right.

Final Thought:

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy reading the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. The rich world-building and captivating romance kept me engaged despite some of the frustrations with the main character. I would still recommend giving it a try, especially if you enjoy fantasy and romantic elements.

4.35/5

You know how, in most stories, faeries are cute little creatures with translucent wings... and mostly female?

Well, not so in this world. In this world, faeries once enslaved humanity in ways analogous to how white people treated black people during South Africa's apartheid. Until hundreds of years ago, when we fought back, resulting in a protracted, bloody war that almost wiped out our race. Eventually, the two parties agreed to a treaty, which would see faeries taking control of a significant portion of the world, on the other side of a great invisible Wall that nobody from either side could cross.

That's the premise behind A Court of Thorns and Roses, as we meet Feyre, a young lady forced to hunt every day to keep her destitute family alive.

It's a great story, and I think it fits quite nicely into the Epic Fantasy genre. The book is young adult, but that doesn't mean the world is tame or the author pulls her punches. In fact, it can be very gruesome when it needs to be.

It's also a romance, and easily identified as such. There's lots of detail in the descriptions of how the characters FEEL about each other, and there's sex too, which is as detailed as it needs to be without being overtly erotic. I think it strikes a nice balance - I'm not usually a fan of romance, so I had some misgivings about this book. But I needn't have worried: the romance is appropriate. It's also believable. I've read books before where "boy meets girl" on page one, and by page three they're ready to spend the rest of their lives together. That doesn't happen in this book.

I have two issues with the story, however. Firstly, there are certain words used, certain phrases turned, which strike me as... too modern for the time period in which the book is meant to be set. I can't put my finger on it, but as I read each of these, my mind paused and sat on them for a few moments. "Um, I'm not sure those characters would say that," I thought. And that's bad, because it rips me out of the story, destroying my immersion.

Secondly, about 65% through the book, there's a long chapter with a lot of backstory. And it's very "info-dumpy". My eyes glazed over, and I think I skimmed MOST of that chapter. Turns out, I don't think I needed it at all, because I picked up all the information I needed during the rest of the book.

All in all, though, I think I'm going to add the next book in this series. One more book, just to be absolutely sure where I like it or not.