Review of A Crown of Thorns and Roses

I’m dedicating today’s post to a book review and wanted to share my thoughts on a book I gave into reading because of all the hype. It was reported that the books would be made into a TV series, so I submitted and accepted that I had to read it to know what all the fuss was about. I believe the author has had a lot of bad press recently, but putting that aside, I took the plunge and dived straight in with no preconceptions and no real idea what the book was about other than it fell into the Romantasy genre.

For me, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was slow in starting, although the first few chapters gives you a good insight into the life that Feyre is leading, living hand to mouth, destitute and the sole provider for her family. Once wealthy, the tables have turned, and they are now living in a dilapidated cabin deep in the woods, removed from the life of finery they had once experienced. Feyre needs to hunt to find food for her family; her injured father and two sisters cannot provide anything they need, and the story begins as the huntress kills a Faerie, who has shifted into his wolf form.

The story unravels in a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast as Feyre finds herself at the mercy of and bound to a High Fae Lord of the Spring Court, who holds her to a Treaty long ago signed between human and faerie-kind. The faerie wolf she killed in an unprovoked attack is the catalyst that propels her into Prythian, the land of the fae, which borders the human realm. She is expected to live out her days there, in a life for a life exchange.

The story continues as the reader is opened up to the beauty and dangers of Prythian as Feyre navigates the spring court and the mask-wearing High Fae she has been forced to spend her days with. An enemy-to-lover theme becomes obvious early in the book as Tamlin, the High Fae Lord, begins to thaw and reveal parts of himself, and Feyre learns that the masks are a curse his entire kingdom must suffer, unable to remove them.

I will admit that I didn’t entirely fall into the relationship that began to grow between Feyre and Tamlin. It felt a bit forced and unnatural, but then that was possibly the author’s intent as the story introduces other High Fae Lords, one of which Feyre is drawn to but dismisses as she learns he is dangerous and in league with Amarantha. We learn more about the secrets that Tamlin kept from Feyre as her world completely collapses; the reader begins to understand the power struggles and centuries of war that have been fought between the different courts of Fae-kind as she starts on a voyage of self-discovery to save the man she loves.

By the end of the book, and without giving anything away (if there is still anyone out there who has not read this series), I was intrigued to find out what happens in the next book, A Court of Mist and Fury. I wasn’t disappointed as the story picked up pace, and we quickly discovered the many elements and facets of the different characters and courts the reader comes to know. The darker High Fae Lord that we meet in book one, Rhysand, is the focus of book two, and he is as charming as he is dark and instantly draws the reader in.

I’m currently reading book three, A Court of Wings and Ruin, and I have to say, by this point, I am sold on the story – hooked and eagerly reading to find out what will develop and be introduced through this instalment of the series. I have heard many readers and fans of this series say that they wish they could re-read it like they were delving into it for the first time and that there is a hole in their lives now that they have finished the series in its entirety. So, with this in mind, I will savour each page I read, immersing myself in Prythian and enjoying what the series has to offer before I, too, finish the books and feel as other readers do.

If you haven’t read the series but would like to give it a try, find the link below to the first book:

A Crown of Thorns and Roses