A Court of Thorns and Roses, widely known as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, by author Sarah J. Maas.
I came late to the party and am quite aware that this is a hugely popular series. There are two sides of the spectrum, of course. One side dismisses the book (and the entire series) as poorly written young adults’ self-projection material, the other praises it for the creativity and the… memorable romance.
So, not wanting to jump on the hate-wagon without actually knowing the material, I picked up the book a while ago. And having finished it, I’d say both sides have their points. And below is my brief and honest assessment.
6/10
BASICALLY
This book isn’t that much Beauty and the Beast.
Beauty and the Beast is, at the core, a story about forgiveness and inner beauty, while A Court of Thorns and Roses does not exactly focus on these two themes. Not that I expected it to.
Feyre, the heroine of the story, is captured and brought into the fairie world by Tamlin – a green-eyed, part elk, part wolf, part bear, part lion, part… whatever, he’s the Beast, that’s the point.
But the thing is – Tamlin is described as incredibly attractive from the beginning. And toward Feyre, he’s more overly-protective than antagonistic. The rest of the story is more about Tamlin and Feyre (mostly Feyre) fighting against a more frightful villain than learning about inner beauty or forgiveness.
I can’t say much about the whole series at this point, but this book alone doesn’t deliver any Beauty and the Beast theme.
Next…
THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK
The simplicity of the story – You have a heroine who is taken to a strange land. She falls in love with a High Lord of that land. They get separated. She comes back to fight for love. It’s a story as old as time executed with much creativity and tension.
Word building – High Lords, human world and Fae world, mystical creatures. You’ll find yourself as excited as Feyre to take a walk around and figure out this world as you follow the story.
The side characters – We have Lucien, the male lead’s sidekick. He admires Feyre’s bravery but also hates her guts in the beginning for accidentally killing one of the fairies from their land. But gradually their friendship grows, and Lucien actually has a sense of humor. Next, we have Rhysand, the anti-hero. Rhysand is powerful, ruthless, proud, sarcastic, and is probably the only guy who uses his head as frequently as he should. As far as this book goes, he keeps you interested in the plot more than the male lead himself, simply because you cannot guess his intentions most of the time. At times, you wish he would get hit by lightning because he’s unforgivably brutal; but at other times, you feel grateful he’s there to play the game.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
Tamlin – As the male lead of the story, Tamlin is rather lacking in personality. There isn’t much about him to talk about except that he has a temper and is secretive. A lot of times, it is unclear why Feyre is interested in him in the first place.
The romance – Simply put, if you look at Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship as a love-at-first-sight-is-forever thing, it’s fairly convincing. But it is extremely hard to believe that they share this deep love that drives both of them to sacrifice their lives for each other. And this goes back to Tamlin’s characterization – he offers too little to hinge the romance on. To be fair, however, from Feyre’s perspective, Tamlin is the first person to care for and shelter her and give her any genuine affection at all. Hence, it makes sense that Feyre would do anything to fight for this person.
The main villain – Amarantha sounds like a promising villain in the beginning, but as the story progresses, she does not deliver the intelligence and skills she has been said to have, making some parts of the story rather anti-climatic (yes, I’m talking about the riddle that any reader could guess the answer before Amaratha even finishes reciting it).
The cursing – It isn’t excessive, but why is it necessary at all?
BOTTOM LINE
This book is certainly a page-turner. Take away the romance and the whole Tamlin’s-abs-are-so-well-oiled thing, you also have a story of a young girl who has spent all her life taking care of other people out of obligation, who goes on this journey to learn more about herself.
Does the book delve into her character deeply enough? Probably not; her hobby, beliefs, and relationships with other characters could have been explored more. Her bravery as a huntress could have been highlighted and been a central theme instead of being made into sheer recklessness near the end.
She also has silly, incomprehensible leaps of logic from time to time because… plot, I guess. But she is brave and definitely independent.
The narrative is written in First Person – from the female lead’s perspective – and it can be confusing at times. Once in a while, it takes multiple rereads of a section to understand who says what and what exactly Feyre is thinking. But the pacing is quick enough to keep you engaged.
So give it a try, but keep the bar low and enjoy it as a simple tale with a twist.
Additional information: This book is generally categorized as New Adult due to the graphic descriptions of violence and some intimate scenes between the lead characters (which, honestly, you can skip; because they don’t advance the plot in any way).
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