Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

       Synopsis: Feyre lives in a world separated by a wall. Invisible and impossible to pass, it keeps the human and the Fae worlds divided. Or so Feyre thinks. When she kills a faery, disguised as a wolf, that has come over to the human world on a mission, she must pay for the death she has caused by traveling to the other side of the wall and living the remainder of her days there. As Feyre gets to know her captor, Tamlin, and the others faeries she now lives with, she starts to see that everything she has been told about the Faeries and their world is drastically different from the truth. Though some faeries, especially the mysterious "her" that everyone keeps mentioning, are evil, some of them are kind, protective, and loving. Losing her life in the human world, may actually be the start of a life full of love, truth, and adventure.

       Review: I actually didn't know that this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast when I bought it. As soon as I realized, though, I was incredibly thrilled, because it's one of my favorite fairytales. Maas did a wonderful job of bringing a new twist to this classic story and of changing it just enough to make it an all new, unpredictable and exciting read.

       I loved the characters. There were dynamic and deep, each with moving relationships with others and understandable and realistic motivations. My favorite character had to be Feyre. She was so realistic to me. I felt like her feelings and thoughts were always the perfect mix of rational and passionate, and her fiery nature, competence, and countenance towards the end of the novel made me root for her even in the moments when hope was gone and she wanted to give up.

       The supporting characters were wonderful as well. From Tamlin, who I, like Feyre, grew to love, to her sister Nesta, who at first was annoying but who comes to surprise you. Rhysand was an interesting character, who I'm not quite sure what to make of. I feel like there was some tension towards the end of the book that could possibly make him a love interest later on down the road, but I feel like, for now, I'm still going to have to ship her with Tamlin. They're too cute together.

       Which brings me to another point that comes as a sort of warning for some readers. This book does have sex scenes in it. Usually I wouldn't warn against this, because this is pretty common in YA books, but I feel like some younger readers should maybe be wary of this one because it is more explicit than other YA books. Older readers may actually really appreciate that this was a little bit more explicit than most YA sex scenes, though. So, this is just a point that I wanted to bring up for those wanting to maybe read the book. You know what you're comfortable with and what you're not.

       Moving on, the plot was slow-going at first, but I think this worked well, because you really get to know the characters and the world. Once the plots begins to pick up, though, there is no going back. The story takes off and drags you along, making you flip through pages fast in order to find out what's going to happen. I read this the weekend before finals, and I had a hard time stopping to study. All I wanted to do was keep reading until I had nothing more left to read.

       Sarah J. Maas has provided yet another amazing fantasy world to love and to obsess over. I cannot wait for the next book and to find out more about these characters and where there lives are going to lead. I have no doubt that it will an exciting, emotional, and fun ride, just like the The Throne of Glass series.

       I would recommend this book to those who love fairytale remakes, passionate love stories, and great world-building. This is sure to be the start of a great new series, and I would highly recommend it along with anything else written by Maas.

Rating:
5 out of 5 Cups of Tea

     




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