Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 416 (not enough)
Rating: 9 out of 10

Summary (Goodreads is my rose): 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.

My Thoughts: This novel was great. I mean like wanted to reread it right after I finished reading it, which is weird because half the time, I don't even reread novels. 

Even though it was a retelling, and therefore is similar to the original story, it was a fantastically unique story to me. I thought that it was original. Especially the characters. Feyre (whose name is super annoying because I have to think about it to read it) is amazingly strong. I couldn't do 1/4 of what she did, nor would I even pretend to try. There are so many times when I would have given up or lost hope. Sure, she did lose hope a few times, but she always came back swinging harder than ever before. I couldn't have been her. Lucien was the perfect combination of annoying, snappy, and sarcastic. Tamlin was just fascinating. 

The world that was painted for the reader was so beautiful and also terrible that you couldn't help but find it attractive, even when it was scary and you wanted to run away from it. 

There were no instant relationships (yay) and there was a done of action (yay) that was well thought out and carefully laid (double yay). I believed where it was going and how everything happened. I didn't once catch myself wondering when the book would end or what was to come; I was living in the moment, book style. It was great. 

The end (not the actual end) was great. The whole last section had be sitting on the edge of my seat, scheming right along with the characters, trying to understand their motivations and who could be trusted. I swore at this book and argued with the characters and caught my heart beating faster as it went along. 

The vocabulary, the description, the structure were all wonderful and weren't a distraction. They only made me read more quickly since I wasn't stuck tripping over sentence structure or other problems with the writing. I forgot that I was even reading and ended up staying awake until 2am. Clear writing makes me so (so so so so) happy.

My only real (not actually an issue) issue is that this novel doesn't seem to belong in the young adult section. Violence, romance, nasty names, and some horrible thoughts definitely make this novel a new adult. Which is great for me because that section is really growing on me. So much was left for the rest of the series but it also could be read on it's own, I think. 

So: I thought that this was a fanatic retelling of Beauty and the Beast; it helps that I am a huge fan of that story as it is. I want the rest of the series right this moment and might cry because I can't. This novel might be my favourite by Maas. I think you should read it. End of story.

Best novel I've read in a while.