Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Pages: 419 pages
HB or PB: Hardback 
Genre: YA, Romance, Fantasy,New Adult
Publication Date: May 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
How did I get this book: Bought
Format (e- or p-): Physical
Purchase Book: Book Depository
Synopsis

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. 

Review

After reading some reviews, I couldn’t wait to start reading my first book from author Sarah J Maas. I’m glad I chose “A Court of Thorns and Roses” to start with, Claiming to be a retelling of yet my favourite childhood fairytale, Beauty and the Beast - I had very high hopes for this. This series is said to be written in YA Fantasy evolving into New Adult Fiction.

The story starts off with Feyre who comes from a wealthy household which turned poor. At a young age and being what looks to be the youngest of three girls, she has to teach herself to hunt to get any food and money for her family since her mother passed away when she was eight and her farther wasn’t very bothered and would have probably let them starve once money stopped coming in.

Over the wall in the forest was a land of faerie and then there was the mortal world where Feyre and her family lived. When Feyre enters the woods to hunt one fine day, she sees not only a deer but a rather large wolf which would likely be a faerie and she chanced it and used an ash bow ( which is used to kill faerie" to kill and skin it. Let’s just say it didn’t end up well for Feyre as the wolf’s friend came to claim his “prize” because of a Treaty made between the mortal and the faerie lands. He gave her two options, to be killed or to go live in the faerie world with him and never to see her family again. Let’s just say she followed him To Prythian. Tamlin is a High Fey, rules one of the seven lands in Prythian and is cursed. As much as Feyre tries to hate him, after a number of events he falls for her and she the same. To protect her he lets her go back home and during a “conflict” she returns to help. Let’s just say another man Rhysand tickles my fancy in the near end of this book. He’s mysterious, and somehow she definitely had something in her as she felt something the moment she meets him at Calanmai. Not only that but he also saves her life in a number of events during the last third of the book. He was a love/hate character but at the same time rooted for him more than the controlling freak Tamlin turned out to be. I found Tamlin to be more of a controlling “lover” - who will lock you up in a cage and let you rot to "protect you" whilst Rhysand wasn’t her “lover” but helped Feyre through all the obstacles that faced her and helped her when she couldn’t even stand the guy!

They then faced the almighty wicked Amarantha who was like the wicked witch in my eyes and Feyre faced a couple of dreadful challenges and guess who helped her? Rhysand! Tamlin just sat in the chair by Amarantha and said nothing, not even flinched or look at her. Needless to say, there are three books after this one and I’m rooting for something with Rhysand even if it doesn’t look like it would happen. 

Overall, this book had a lot of story building, it’s something I’ve learnt with any book that is a series to take its time to build slowly. Once you pass the half way mark, it picks up and you don’t want to put it down! The rating is purely because I feel that Tamlin was a little bit too controlling for my liking, The peak of the story was literally inthe last 100 pages and to be fair, I wished there was more when the book ended which is frustrating. But the story is beautiful and cannot wait to read more from the series!


StefyTalks Rating
A Court of Thorns and Roses ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️