T;LDR: A cross between a Beauty and the Beast and the Hunger Games retelling, A Court of Thorn and Roses (ACOTAR) is flawed, yet good enough to not be DNF’d. And it is not YA.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
This book has a lot of hype around it, especially on BookTok (TikTok). I had not planned on reading it, but when I found it at my local library, I gave it a shot. I liked it enough to keep reading past the irritating and flawed portions of the book that had many other reviewers putting it down forever.
I can see why many people love this book and I can see why many people don’t. I will most likely read the second book, if only to see more of Rhysand’s Night Court, but I’m not rushing out to get it. Because of all of that and more, I gave it 3.5 stars.
The Plot
Feyre is a human living in abject poverty and hunting for food for her family’s survival. Out hunting one day, she sees a deer, one that would feed her family for a month. The only problem? An enormous wolf also pursues it. She makes a decision that will cost her the life that she knows.
The night after the kill, a Fae bangs on the door and demands retribution for the death of the wolf, because it wasn’t a wolf, it was a faerie. The Fae, Tamlin, drags Feyre home to the other side of the wall separating the Fae from the humans to Prythian and his palatial mansion there.
Tamlin has more to hide than just his face behind the mask he never takes off. There is a blight upon all of Faerie that may well bleed over into the human lands as well… and Feyre is the key to stopping it.
Can Feyre step up and take her part in ending the blight before it destroys her world as well? And will her passion for Tamlin be enough to save them all?
What I liked & liked less
Where to start with this… at the beginning. When we first meet Feyre, I was intrigued. The story was immersive, her family was completely unsympathetic (I actively disliked them – and that didn’t change the more I read), and her insecurities were made very clear.
After the death of the wolf and the arrival of Tamlin, however, is where I found her extremely irritating. She spends half or more of the book trying to escape, thinking Tamlin and his emissary Lucien as evil. HALF OF THE BOOK. Repeatedly, we see her distrust them, actively work against them, and never be grateful for anything she is given. And she’s given a lot. It was annoying.
Tamlin, on the other hand, goes out of his way to make her comfortable, does his best to give her what she wants, gives her space, gives her food and a safe space to sleep in that is warm and clean, something she hasn’t had in years. Yes, he has temper slips, but I would have too if I had to deal with her.
Two nice outings later and some music and she’s fine with him. Even finds him attractive. And then is suddenly in love with him. And he with her.
Wait, what? I’m all for enemies to lovers, but I need the shift to at least be realistic, and this was not.
But, the book and the world building was interesting enough for me to continue to read it and I’m glad I did. The book gets much better in the second half, when Feyre realizes what she gave up and goes after it. Her actions, thoughts, and words in the later part of the book feel a lot more realistic than the entire 2/3rds of the first part of the book.
I also really liked (and no spoilers here, I promise) that everything she goes through isn’t magic-wanded away. She ends up a bit broken and she should be by that point in the book.
However, for a human in Fae lands, she appears to be a bit like Superman – she can do everything – except at the end, where she can’t. It felt like the author set us up to like her and root for her because she survived all of these ‘impossible for the fae’ challenges earlier in the book. While it didn’t really bother me, it’s just one more factor for why I wasn’t enamored with this book.
I liked Tamlin, but found him to be a bit bland compared to Rhysand, the soon to be a third triangle of this triangle love story. No, I don’t know for sure if that’s coming in later books, but the author is certainly trying hard enough for it to feel that way.
Rhysand is dark, twisted, has a sense of humor, and doesn’t show everything he can do or everything he feels. Tamlin is the white knight figure, killing himself to protect everyone else. Feyre spends a lot of the later part of the book say, “Poor Tamlin” and “Damn Rhysand,” which should give you an idea as to how these two men/love interests were set up by the author.
I thought the backstory for the antagonist was fairly strong. I didn’t have the issues with it that some reviewers had because I’ve read quite a bit of books with the Fae in it and it fit with the overall mythology presented by the genre.
I did, however, agree that too much of the backstory and lore in the book is presented in exposition dumps instead of showing it to us. The full history is laid out in one very long dialogue block when Feyre returns to save Tamlin, rather than revealed in sips and whispers. Feyre’s understanding of the situation is well-planted earlier in the book, similar to clues in a mystery, which I found well done.
And my last gripe with it is this – this is NOT a young adult book and I don’t mean because of the sex scenes in it (which I skipped). YA is supposed to be for readers 18 and under. The characters are also supposed to be 18 and under and the themes they face should be – you guessed it – what an 18 and under person would face. Feyre’s age, 19, the tone of the book, the issues she faces, and the love story read much older than a YA book. I get it – this book published in the height of YA and there wasn’t as many strict guidelines around what is classified as YA vs not, so it slipped through. But I would never classify this book as YA.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
ACOTAR has a lot of hype and I can see why. I can also see why not everyone thinks it’s the bees knees. While I found the mythology interesting and the setup for future books intriguing, the first part of the book was dull and irritating, and the love story uninspiring. It also needed to show more than it told. With all of that in mind, I gave it 3.5 stars – not horrible, but not great either.
About the Author
Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Crescent City, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the Throne of Glass series. Her books have sold more than twelve million copies and are published in thirty-seven languages. A New York native, Sarah lives in Philadelphia with her husband, son, and dog. To find out more, visit sarahjmaas.com or follow @therealsjmaas on Instagram.
If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice here, or just cave to the man and get it from Amazon here.
This book fulfills another square in my Fantasy Bingo Card — the square with Title: XXX of XXX.
Originally published on Feedium.