A Court of Thorns & Roses – Sarah J. Maas

Blurb

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

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STATS

Page Length:  421
Publication Year:  2015
Genre: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance
Characters: Feyre, Tamlin, Lucian, Amarantha, Rhysand, Nesta, Elaine etc

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Thoughts

I’m so excited to be reviewing this book! A bit of background, I first heard about this book back in May/June 2016 when it started blowing up on social media. I think I spotted it Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Facebook Group. Anyway, I’m a huge sucker for retellings so I added it to my TBR list which is where is sat for a couple of months I don’t think I read it until late July/Early August! This was probably the best reading decisions I made in 2016, it’s seriously one of my all time favorites now! 😊

Story

This story is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the original story not the Disney version! It’s written entirely from Feyres POV, in the first person. The writing of this book is magnificent! It’s filled with in-depth and rich descriptions. It’s just so beautifully done!

Characters

Feyre is a deeply complex and dynamic character. She has had a lot of responsibility thrust on her at a really young age, she is strong in a quiet way but she is also a bit naïve. Due to the fact she has been the sole reason for the continued survival of her family it’s clear that she has been starved of love and affection.

“I found him carefully studying me, his lips in a thin line. “Has anyone ever taken care of you?” he asked quietly.
“No.” I’d long since stopped feeling sorry for myself about it.”

One of the things that I really liked about her is that she is as ballsy as hell!

“Do you ever stop being so serious and dull?”
“Do you ever stop being such a prick?” I snapped back.
Dead—really, truly, I should have been dead for that.
But Lucien grinned at me. “Much better.”

Tamlin, who is this stories Beast is just that a beast. There is a lot of discussion about his character because of what occurs in the next book. But if we look at his behavior is this one first we can see that (well I can anyway) that he isn’t necessarily a good guy here either:

“So, if Feyre can’t be bothered to listen to orders, then I can’t be held accountable for the consequences.” “Accountable?” I sputtered, placing my hands flat on the table. “You cornered me in the hall like a wolf with a rabbit!

“We apologized at dinner. He even brought me a bouquet of white roses from his parents’ garden”

Here he is blaming her for his actions, then makes up for it by giving her a gift. Here’s an idea for you Tamlin, take responsibility for your own actions instead of being an ass!

Nesta – again another controversial character, a lot of people in the fandom do not like her at all because they feel that as she is the oldest in the family she should have been the one to look after the family, not Feyre and also she is, to put it bluntly, a bitch most of the time.  I personally think that she is very miss understood, reading her passages with Fayre again you can see that she does love her sister she may not say the words but she does demonstrate it:

“He stole you away into the night, claiming some nonsense about the Treaty. And then everything went on as if it had never happened. It wasn’t right. None of it was right.”

“I looked at my sister, really looked at her, at this woman who couldn’t stomach the sycophants who now surrounded her, who had never spent a day in the forest but had gone into wolf territory … Who had shrouded the loss of our mother, then our downfall, in icy rage and bitterness, because the anger had been a lifeline, the cruelty a release. But she had cared—beneath it, she had cared, and perhaps loved more fiercely than I could comprehend, more deeply and loyally. ”

Rhysand – I think Feyre describes him in the best way possible on their first meeting:

“I stepped out of the shelter of my savior’s arm and turned to thank him. Standing before me was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.” 

“Everything about the stranger radiated sensual grace and ease.” 

“I had never seen anyone so handsome—and never had so many warning bells pealed in my head because of it” 

I’m not going to write too much about Rhys because it will be super spoilery if I do! But he is definitely one to watch!!

Favorite Quote:

“It took me a long while to realize that Rhysand, whether he knew it or not, had effectively kept me from shattering completely.”

Conclusion:

Just.. if you haven’t read this book then go and read it! Its freaking amazing! The whole series is. I’m totally hooked I could not recommend it more

My Rating:  5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟