This is the first time I have read this book and I was very pleasantly surprised, while also rolling my eyes on occasion at some of the dialogue and tropes present in the narrative. It tells the story of Feyre, a young woman who is trying to survive with her family by hunting for deer in the woods. When she shoots and kills a wolf, she is taken to the Fae world of Prythian and enters a world on the brink of disaster and suffering under a curse.

The positives: This was quite a bit grittier than I was expecting, with some fairly graphic violence and some steamy scenes. I enjoyed the world of Prythian immensely and thought that Maas' depiction of the fairy realm was definitely the best part of the book. The world felt visceral, dangerous on one hand while also being beautiful and utterly magical on the other and the balance is precarious throughout, which works well to keep the tension high. The relationships between Feyre, Tamlin and Lucien were well drawn and we spent enough time with them to get invested in their plight. I also loved Amarantha as antagonist and Rhysand is a very intriguing character.

The negatives: There were a lot of tropes at play in this novel, some of which worked better than others but all of which were quite obvious. I also thought that the plot was fairly predictable and it definitely took a backseat to the interactions of the characters.

Overall, this was a solid and enjoyable fae fantasy. I can see why it is such a popular book of the genre and I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book has been on my TBR for quite some time so I was delighted to get this ARC from Netgalley. A great storyline and a fantastic world created. I shall definitely be reading the rest of the series. The characters are well developed too. All round it was a hit for me. As a small aside I love the new cover (more adult, than young adult) .

I first read this back in 2015, and in all honesty when rereading it for review in 2020 I expected my rating to drop. However, I enjoyed this just as much. I think it's easier to read the problematic aspects of ACOTAR when you know that they are challenged in ACOMAF - though the lack of diversity in this series is kind of painful. ACOTAR shows us an amazing, fantastical world of magical fae. Straight, white magical fae. I found it tiring so it's no wonder that POC have very justifiable problems with this series.

For a Beauty and the Beast retelling, I do like this series. Feyre as a protagonist grows and grows across the remaining books, but it's ACOTAR that shows us where she started. I like that she's not shown to be entirely soft and sweet, she kills a wolf in cold-blood when she suspects it to be a fairy and she's ready to fight her way out of the Spring Court if she has to. Without delving into spoiler territory, she continues to show this harsh edge throughout the book and in the final act she does things that are <i>not</i> the behaviour of a soft MC. I like it much better that way. I also love that she's not shown to be naive or innocent. She's had relationships before and she's had casual sex before. For the older reader this is a nice change from most early to mid 2010's fiction focusing on the magical purity of virginity 🙄.

I find Tamlin to be a controlling and irritating character. I remember adoring him in 2015 but now I see red flags, red flags everywhere and I'm glad that his controlling behaviour is challenged later in the series but I do wish there was a little more awareness of it in this book. Calling out those toxic behaviours is important, and while the rest of the series does it well there's a risk that someone could read ACOTAR on its own and see controlling behaviour being romanticised.

I do <i>love</i> the setting. I love that the fae have different powers depending on themselves and their courts, and I love the idea that the court's power represents their court itself. The beauty and the beast mythology was interesting and well woven into the story without it feeling too overtly like a rip off of beauty and the beast, and I liked that the final conflict didn't just come down to the power of love, but to Feyre's strength and skills.

I would say ACOTAR is worth reading, if only to get you to ACOMAF and ACOWAR which are excellent, but please take with a pinch of salt and be aware and conscious of the controlling relationship behaviours portrayed, and the complete lack of diversity that should absolutely not be encouraged. I haven't read House of Earth and Blood yet but I'm hoping it has more diversity and that it's true diversity and not just lip service.

Having read The Throne of Glass series, I was intrigued to see what else the author had to offer in this new series.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a thrilling story and I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

I haven’t read fantasy for quite a long time and I love a dose of magic and faery. But this book is bonkers!

Firstly, the plot doesn’t really make any sense and explanations are added in randomly in an attempt to explain the motives of the characters.

The novel perpetuates the normalisation of toxic relationships and there are several hugely problematic scenes which are not confronted. It includes enslavement, seduction by a captor, drugging and exhibitionism as well as non consensual sexual contact. All this is supposedly justified by the need to save the faery lands.

Neither of the male characters take responsibility for their actions and Feyre is blamed for creating the situations that lead to her being assaulted.

I think a big part of my problem with this book is the way that the book is marketed to young adults. The sexual content is explicit and the nature of the relationships as I have highlighted above make it highly inappropriate for teen readers.

It’s 2020 can we please start being conscious about how we portray sexual relationships in fiction?!

I’ll start by saying that I so wish I had started this earlier. This was such a good read that I finished it in three nights. It’d have been quicker if it wasn’t for work. I actually went out and bought the next two books in the series when I was halfway through this because I couldn’t wait to see how this ended. I really struggled to put this down.

The story was well-paced and the way she created the tense moments was well done. With it being a loose retelling of Beauty and The Beast I had a feeling I was going to love it but this was so much more than I was anticipating.

This is a must-read for any Young Adult Fantasy fan.

One of the best books I have read in this genre in along time.
Real fantasy with a cracking good story which I just couldn’t put down and read in just two days.
Going to read the rest of the trilogy
What a treat.

I love love love this book! Sarah j maas is such an amazing writer, and I was hooked from the beginning. I have now ordered the whole series, as I need to know what happens!! 100% recommend

I just finished re-reading this fabulous novel after being granted a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review. I initially read A Court of Thorns and Roses in March 2019 and quickly devoured the rest of the series. Despite knowing the twists and turns that await our heroine in the books that follow, I quickly found myself re-emerged in the story, from the beginning.

Author Sarah J Maas introduces us to our heroine, Feyre (Fay-ruh), as she navigates the frigid winter woods, in search of prey. Dangerously close to Fae borders, she is desperate to find food for her family before the approaching sunset forces her to return home empty handed.

Home is a tiny run down cottage where she lives with her disabled father and 2 sisters who have never truly adapted to an abrupt change in fortune. With the money all gone, and no steady household income to replace it, Feyre has taken on the burden of providing for them all for she is honour bound by a promise she made to her mother.

When a stranger arrives at their door, Feyre discovers she has made a serious error in judgement - one that presents her with impossible choices .

Whatever decisions she makes, Feyre will need to live with the consequences.

This magical tale introduces us to a world where the Fae and humans are at odds. It also teaches us how, despite appearances, and stereotype based assumptions, connections can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Sarah J. Maas is easily my favourite author. Every single one of her books takes me on a journey of emotions and I can't help but fall in love with all of the characters she creates. She is a one of a kind author who draws me in with her beautiful descriptions and tears me apart with unexpected plot twists. ACOTAR does just this and more.

I cannot recommend this book series enough (hell any books by Maas). If you enjoy fantasy novels with badass female protagonists, dreamy love interests and nail-biting adventures then this is definitely the book for you (and the rest of the series)

This is one of the best novels I have read, and I can't help coming back to it time and time again. Definitely worth a read.

I hate Tamlin I love Tamlin I hate Tamlin I love Tamlin
Welcome to Feyres merrygoround in a Beauty and the Beast style story.

I like Feyre as a character (even thought Im pretty sure i say her name differently each time in my head!) shes intelligent, strong and you just know you d want her on your side.

This is a world of magic and power - and having read some of Sarahs other books im pretty sure theres some easter eggs hidden in this for later on, either in this series or others.

Romantic fantasy novel which is exciting and intriguing

Firstly I should say that I think that this novel is aimed more at a female fantasy fan than me, a 66-year old jaded male, as it has a strong romantic feel which isn't really my forte. This fantasy novel is nicely put together dealing with Feyre, a human young lady who finds herself embroiled in the politics and power struggles in the Fae world just beyond her home. With a storyline at first reminiscent of the Beauty and the Beast, the book then gets involved in all sorts of shenanigans in the Fae world. There's thrills and tension as well as many rewarding characters. It's a good yarn but I'm not sure that I'm going to read the next instalments in this series. I was given a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass a few years ago, but found that it didn’t resonate with me. I devoured A Court of Thorns and Roses. It’s a deliciously intoxicating faerie-filled fantasy with gorgeous forests, beautiful art and immortal romance.

Feyre Archeron, a nineteen year-old mundane human, lives in a world split between the lands of the faeries in the North and humans in the South. An artist turned huntress, she hunts to provide for her sisters, Elain and Nesta, and their widowed father, following the death of their mother and loss of their wealth. When she unknowingly kills a faerie wolf in the forest, Tamlin, faerie High Lord of the Spring Court, demands she live with him in Prythian, as punishment for her crime…

This loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a richly woven delight. Bookish Belle becomes plucky heroine Feyre; Belle’s love of books is replaced with Feyre’s love of art; the Beast is the faerie Tamlin, his faerie face permanently shrouded in a mask as a result of the “Blight” on the faerie lands. In this tale there’s a library and an art gallery.

Tamlin, Feyre and Rhysand are delectable. I adored the faerie lore, the split between the faerie and the human realm and found great joy in Feyre’s sisters, the ever-joyous Elain and pragmatic Nesta, and both the “good” faeries like Alis and the “bad” faeries like Amarantha, who was a tantalizing villain. The plot was entrancing, and I swept through this story in two sittings, pausing only to sleep in-between.

This story is a little bit magic. If you’re looking for a sumptuous faerie fantasy and alluring romance/s, this will knock your actual socks off.

A Court of Thorns and Roses and I have a tempestuous relationship. I love fairy tale retelling and I absolutely adored it the first time I read it and I still do to some extent but as I've grown older, I've come to like Feyre less and less. She's uninteresting, there are so many more interesting characters in the novel. I always seem to prefer SJM's side characters which is why I can't wait for Nesta's book. I find myself preferring colder, edgier heroines with darker storylines. I still enjoy the ACOTAR trilogy, the world building is great and I enjoy the plot, but I'm just not wild about Feyre. Still, it's the only trilogy that that I own in both paperback and ebook format which is a testament to how much I love it.

The thing that first attracted me to ACOTAR is the cover which along with ACOMAF and ACOWAR is among the most beautiful covers I own so I was disappointed that they're being released with new covers but I was pleasantly surprised by the new ones. It still isn't clear who the book is aimed at. The original covers were very YA despite the novels being more NA. These new covers while more mature, still seem a bit YA. It is a bit frustrating since I hate when book changes covers halfway through the series, now the Nesta book won't match the rest of the series.

I enjoyed this one... though it wasn't as much as I hoped it'd be.

With a blurb like "Think Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E. L. James" I expected this to read like a complex adult novel, but it felt a little more like convoluted YA with tame violence and sex scenes.

The world building was okay, and I liked Feyre for the most part. The conflict was overwrought to be sure. And the final conflicts and conclusions were mostly interesting.

As much as I hate a love triangle, this one was better done than most - Rhysand was definitely written every bit as if not more compelling than the book's original hunk (Tamlin).

I'm trying to summon up more enthusiasm to like or dislike this one, but it just isn't there. A lukewarm reaction to a tepid Beauty and the Beast retelling with - I'm sorry - one of the worst covers I've maybe ever seen. The typography is okay, but that bad cgi chick just screams 'The Sims do cosplay.'

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the arc to review.

I love Sarah J Maas SO much! I stayed up until 3am to finish this. I was nervous, loving Throne of Glass so much that this would fail to live up but it certainly does. The faery spin on Beauty and the Beast sees the myth stuck to very closely, but the book is massive and in the gaps this full, inventive story is created that is more erotic than anything she's done before. Lover Tamlin has moments of well roundedness, but this falls down a bit in the final third and overall he's less well explored than Rhysand. I'm unsure about the prospect of a trilogy, it seems unnecessary as the BatB theme has been fully explored and evil vanquished. SJM does friendship between men and women (Feyre and Lucien, Caelena and Dorian) exceptionally.

Dreamy, magical, tricksy and romantic this is one of my absolute favourites! I think even more so than Throne of Glass. It's part malevolent fairy tale, part modern fantasy romance and completely addictive

Sadly, this is such a garbled ARC withalmostallwordsrunonlikethis that it's impossible to read. As well as words run on together and random line breaks sometime mid-word, 'f', 'l' and 'i' are sometimes missing so we get things like 'wehadnochanceofescapingthisthrough ghting' where the 'fi' of 'fighting' is missing, or 'daggerlikeclawsandyellowfangs could in ict' where 'fl' is missing in the middle of 'inflict'. Sorry, I don't mind some typographical issues in an ARC but I just couldn't read this - sorry! I've left a neutral 3-stars so as not to skew the ratings.

The first book in the ACOTAR series is a vividly imagined and engaging story from start to finish. I couldn't put the book down and have ordered the next two in the series! I loved the fae-human world Maas transported the reader to and found it to be thrilling, clever and unique, particularly in an over-saturated YA fantasy market.

It was a breath of fresh air to read a novel that had strong world-building, characters that were layered and interesting and a genuinely enthralling plot, which changed about halfway through. This change sparked attention to the fact that the first half of the novel was only the beginning of a multi-layered story that would continue into the rest of the series. The main love interest Tamlin gave the novel a fairytale like romance but with darker and more intense moments that show this is a series leaning more towards an older YA audience.

I found this book captivating and loved Maas' style of writing - I cannot wait to to continue the series to follow Feyre's adventures and challenges.

I can, and will, always recommend Sarah J Maas as an author, her books are amazing and there hasn't been one I have read and not enjoyed.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a great book that continues on to be a great series. I am still weighing it up against Throne of Glass but they are all amazing!