Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date: May 5, 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

419 Pages / 11 Hours 55 Minutes

Date Read: April 2-24, 2025

Format: 🎧

Source: Audible

As always, if you prefer a spoiler free review please read my quick review instead of the in depth review below.

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About the Book

Nineteen-year-old Feyre Archeron thought she was just killing a wolf to feed her family. Soon after, a terrying creature showed up and dragged her to the faerie lands across the wall to settle the score. Her captor, Tamlin, turns out to be a Fae ruler and is not actually a beast at all. Feyre begins to learn that everything she has been told about the faerie lands are twisted lies. She also finds that that there is a mysterious darkness threatening to take over the faerie lands and Feyre might be the key to helping Tamlin... or dooming him.

Quick Review (Spoiler Free)

I have put off reading this book for so long but I’m so glad that I finally did. I gave it 4 ½ stars because I loved the book but I wanted more and because SJM made me hate one of the characters that I wanted to love (just kidding... kind of). The world building is fantastic and plentiful. The characters are varied and have thought put into them. The plot flows nicely. I really enjoyed this one.

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Now, let's get into the details!!

I avoided finally diving into this series because of all the hype and opposing opinions from the reading world. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be disappointed. I absolutely love reading fantasy and I was afraid that I wouldn’t like the romance aspect within it. There were so many posts on social media of whose "team” people were on and I thought there would be way too much. I should have read this sooner.

The pacing is this book changes as the story progresses but in a good way. The beginning is slow and calm. The mid-to-end of the book ramps up rapidly and it a race to the end. With the events that happen it is a whirlwind of content and emotion. I’m not sure what I expected since I was able to avoid spoilers up to this point but this exceeded my expectations. The characters are well written and the relationships felt genuine.

I don’t have any major complaints with this book. The things that I wish were different are solely opinionated based on character personalities. It was very hard for me to like or root for any specific character up until the end twist of the book. Even still I am not a fan of Tamlin in any way and really am not a fan of his relationships with his court and his friends. I still really enjoyed this book despite these little things.

Ratings