Book Talk | A Court Of Thorns And Roses

Title: A Court Of Thorns And Roses

Author: Sarah J Maas
Page Count: 419
Genre: New Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads Rating: 4.3
My Rating: 5
Book Cover Rating: 5
Would recommend to: Everybody
Bad Book Review: That riddle wasn't that hard was it?
Review Type: First part spoiler free, second part spoilers
 

 

The Story
In this novel we follow a young huntress names Feyre (which is pronounced as fey-rah, I first said it as Faireh). She has been hunting since her mother passed away had her family lost their fortune. She is the only one who is keeping her loved ones alive.
On a winter day, she is out hunting and comes across a big wolf. Feyre thinks the animal might be a faerie or even worse, a High Fae, who you do not want to cross. Finally she kills the wolf. She can sell his hide and buy food for her family. At night, a terrifying beast bursts into her house shouting the word murderer over and over again. The beast is Fae and has come for the girl that murdered his friend.
What Feyre doesn't know, is that this is only the start of her journey.

My thoughts (spoiler free)
The first thing about this book is the world Sarah has created. I was really interested about Prythian and the way Humans and Fae live. I was so excited to find out more about the history of the land, which there was a lot more of in this book than in Sarah's other novels, Throne Of Glass. I can't wait to find out more about the land in the second book.
Another thing Sarah J Maas is really good at, is creating interesting characters. Her female characters are always incredibly strong and just generally people you can look up to. Her male characters are also incredibly intersting. I especially can't wait to find out more about Rhysand, who is also my favorite character. Lucien, Tamlin's best friend, was hilarious and never failed to make me laugh. Tamlin was just an awkward sweetheart.

That's the only non spoilery thing I want to say, so if you read the book, continue reading so we can discuss it together and if you haven't read the book: come back if you have :) Believe me, it will be worth it.


SPOILERS AHEAD

The book starts off with Feyre hunting in the woods, thinking about how she has to feed her family. Sarah immediately sets the tone of this book so well, though I did get some Hunger Games vibes here, if I am perfectly honest. After she kills the wolf, skins him and takes the deer he killed, she returns home where her terrible sisters wait for her. I didn't really care about Elain, but Nesta annoyed the hell out of me, ugh I hated her in the beginning of this book. Just pick up the freaking axe and help out your sister god dammit.

I loved the part where the beast, aka Tamlin comes to take her away. You could feel how intimidating and angry he was, and I never expected for such a sweet man to be hidden inside that beast. I thought the whole part about him giving her a save place to live in Prythian was very strange to me, since she just killed his friend, but okay, once you know why exactly he takes her, it makes sense.

A part I especially loved once Feyre and Tamlin arrive at his mansion is when she comes into the dining room after being washed and Tam gives her that horrible compliment: ''your hair looks clean'' and then Lucien nods encouraging, I just couldn't. I love how awkward Tamlin, an immortal High Lord, is acting around Feyre at the beginning of the book.

Creds to the artist:
http://www.deviantart.com/art/ACOTAR-A-Summary-579139931

I really liked Feyre and Lucien doing some bonding while out hunting. I loved how Feyre made this whole plan about getting Lucien to tell Tamlin to send her away, and he stopped the plan before she even started, I laughed so increbibly hard. I love Lucien so much of a character, I can't wait to see more of him in the next book.

Something I didn't really like was how obsessed Feyre was with escaping the mansion. Like, you know there is an evil world out there with creatures that will kill you on the spot. Tamlin tells you your family is cared for and don't need you to stay alive anymore and yet you are trying to leave. This kind of annoyed me, luckily it got better at the middle part.

Slowly Feyre starts falling for Tamlin and I was craving parts of them being together. I especially loved the festival they have, where Feyre drinks the faerie wine, Tam plays the fiddle and she dances and is happy. It made me happy too, I've reread that part so many times already.
After that the two of them go to this meadow to watch some magical creatures come to life and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever read about (so beautiful I almost cried tbh).

Something I found kind of strange was the whole Great Rite thing. The High Lord is taken over by magic and turns into some kind of predator that needs to find the most fitting girl to sleep with. It's so weird. I did really like that Feyre was drawn to the drums of the rite and decides to go anyway.
Here she meets Rhysand, now let me express my feeling about Rhys for a minute. I feel so incredibly attracted to this man. In books I always fall of the bad/dark guys and Rhys is no exception. I can't wait to find out more about him and his story in ACOMAF.

After Rhys crashed Tamlins mansion and threatens to tell Amarantha about Feyre, Tam and Feyre have a very hot sex scene. I felt so sad when Sarah skipped the sex part in the Throne Of Glass series, because no matter how much we don't want to admit it, we are all waiting for some OTP sex, let's be real. This scene was so satisfying and it felt so romantic.

The next day, Tamlin sends Feyre back to her family, because he claims it is not save her and the first time I read this book I was like ''no what are you doing I need more sex'', but she left anyway and decided not to tell Tamlin she loves him, if only you had said those three words Feyre.

We then get to the part that I honestly skimmed through the second time I read this book. Feyre is home again and her family is having a wonderful healthy life. It was nice to see everything Tam did for them, but I just wasn't interested, I wanted to get back to Prythian. It was nice to see Nesta show some real feelings and tell Feyre she went looking for her, which I had never expected from the girl we read about in the beginning. I have a feeling like Nesta will have an important part in the next books.

Feyre finally returns to Tam's house and finds the place all wrecked. Alice is still there and she tells Feyre the entire history of Amarantha, Tamlin, the war and everything around it. This was when the whole story really came together and finally I understood the choices Tamlin made. I have to say, I can't wait to find out more about this whole world in the next two books, because I think Sarah has created such an interesting one.

Feyre then, of course, goes after Tamlin, but is caught the second she enters the mountain, which again made me laugh, just like what happened with her Lucien plan. Every time she plans something ''smart'' she is caught immediately. After this we meet Amarantha for the first time and Feyre makes a bargain: if she completes the three trials Amarantha came up with. She can immediately leave with Tamlin and his entire court, if she solves the riddle, though.
Now let's talk about this riddle. I heard so many people on the internet say they immediately knew the answer to the riddle, but honestly, I had no idea. Even the second time I read this book and knew what the answer was, I still didn't know how the hell anyone could have know what, but maybe I'm just horrible at solving riddles.

I really liked the three trials Feyre goes through and I was excited to read about them. I also liked how much Rhysand is helping here, with the trials and even with telling everybody she won't have to do any more tasks.
I know a lot of people hate Rhys for drugging Feyre and making her dance for him, and yes, maybe it wasn't the nicest thing to do, but he did it so she could just survive the nights without remembering much from it and honestly I thought that was a very sweet thing. I don't really understand why people are saying he ''abused'' her.



Final Throughts
I have no idea who I ship Feyre with, I like her both with Tamlin and with Rhysand. I can't wait to see more of the Night Court and the people that live there, because I feel like it will be really interesting. I also really like the Hades and Persephone story line that might be going on in the second book, because I stalked Sarah's pinterest board and that seems to be a huge inspiration for book 2.
Basically: I need A Court Of Mist And Fury now