A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas

     After reading the Throne of Glass series, or what's available of it, I decided to read the newest book by Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses. I was skeptically optimistic. The cover looked a little dark & the general synopsis I found for it sounded like it could be a little too modern for my liking. I was optimistic because I had had similar thoughts about the Throne of Glass series & ended up loving it! So I gave it a whirl. Once again I was very pleased. Though I won't lie there were a couple of romantic scenes that I could have done without, luckily they were very short! I don't know where to start for this review so I'll try & start with a simple summary.
     Feyre is a mortal girl, living in poverty with her father & two older sisters. One day while hunting for some much needed food, Feyre kills a large wolf. But this wolf is unlike any she's ever seen or heard of before. She finds out that it was a Fae, a magical being. Decades ago, Feyre's home country was divided by a war & a wall, mortals on one side, Fae on the other. A treaty was made to insure that each side would keep to their own. By killing this Fae, Feyre is found & made to substitute her life for the one she took. Tamlin, a High Fae, takes her back to his court. Unfortunately the world that awaits is full of magic & a darkness that is threatening to hurt hundreds, both mortal & faerie alike. 
     I absolutely loved this book! I think I actually liked it more than the Throne of Glass series. It was like my favorite authors got together & decided to write a book using all their amazingness! It has a little bit of Beauty & the Beast, some Graceling, a pinch of Lord of the Rings, and a touch of Wheel of Time. I still can't get over it. It starts out with the basic Beauty & the Beast story... girl goes to live in the house of a monstrous man, spends months there getting to know him, falls in love... oh & there's a spell & doom. 

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     Feyre is your typical mortal. She carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. After her father loses the families wealth, he falls into a deep depression that he never shakes. Her sisters, though older, are pretty much useless when it comes to helping with the family needs. So it is up to Feyre to do most everything. She hunts, slaughters, cooks, cleans, & buys what little supplies they can afford. She is disconnected from her family. 
     Tamlin is your run of the mill, amazing "beast". He is a High Fae Lords, which means he rules over one of the seven faerie courts (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Dawn, Day & Night). Being a Fae Lord gives him extra magical powers. He can shapeshift into a monster from another world. (I kid you not you guys, the description was almost exactly the beast from the Disney Beauty & the Beast movie.) He is broody, nasty, scary, distant... at least to begin with. Not much to fall in love with. Then add in the fact that all of the Spring court that Tamlin rules over was "cursed" to live with masks on their faces, so Feyre never gets to actually SEE his face. He does give her the option however of living either with him or anywhere in the Fae kingdom she wants. But given that 99.9% of Fae hate mortals & would more likely kill her than look at her, she chooses to stay with him, if only to try & win him over & get him to release her. 
     There were a slew of side characters that I loved as well as the main ones. Tamlin's friend & court emissary Lucien. I like his character developement a lot! When Feyre first gets there, he's all for just killing her & squaring the debt she owes. Because of their mutual distaste for each other, Feyre & Lucien are very candid with each other & that actually creates a sort of friendship & loyalty between them. 
     However my fast-approaching-favorite character has go to be Rhysand. He's one of those character you just LOVE to hate. He is the Lord of the Night court & has some very wicked magic. He can enter anybody's mind, either to find out that they are thinking or to torture them. He just gives you the willies in pretty much every scene he is in. I can't go into too much detail as to why he's my favorite, but I have to say I always try & appreciate a deep, well done villain. He is just that. He's multidimensional. 
     I LOVED this book! It brought just about every element I love in a book. There's good news too! Apparently it is a series! I'm still trying to figure out how that works because, while it wasn't a strong ending, it pretty much covered the major story plots. So I'm very interested to find out where it is going in the next installment. 

-----Second Thoughts-----

     Okay so I am in the process of rereading A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I loved it the first time I read it... which was maybe 2 weeks ago. I ended up going into Barnes & Noble this week to get my nieces some books & I HAD to get this book for my personal library. All I can say is that I don't think this book will ever get old! I have come to find out that I love Sarah J. Maas' books! I read the Throne of Glass series & loved it as much as this book. So into my thoughts of the book.
     Okay so I'm going to start at the VERY beginning! Feyre & her family... WoW! I pretty much couldn't stand her family. Nesta was just nasty. I mean if the author had not told us that she was in fact Feyre's sister, I probably NEVER would have come to that conclusion based on how she behaved towards Feyre. Her only redeeming quality, from the beginning of the book, was that she would do anything for Elain. So she isn't completely useless. The moment I gained respect for her came when Feyre returns from Prythian & finds out that Nesta went after Feyre when she was taken. I DID NOT see that coming. It was such a shocker, but in a good way. However it did raise questions for me... Why didn't Tamlin's glamour work on Nesta? I mean she never believed the story about their Aunt taking Feyre, she even thought she was going insane. WHY DIDN'T IT WORK ON HER?!?!
     Elain... She rubbed me the wrong way. It's really hard to pen down why she did. The only thing I can really think of to describe my irritation with her is the fact that her family is destitute, on the point of starvation & I can't think of a single thing she does to help her family's situation. She is blissfully ignorant that her sister is risking a lot going out & hunting for them, she prepares all the food & she has to handle the money. All she seems to see is the money & the fact that she can get a new cloak or some novelty that they probably could do without. She dotes on their father who is just about as useless as the rest of them. Her ignorance really bothers me. I kept having to remind myself while reading that she wasn't the baby of the family, even though I could have sworn she was maybe like 8. It was frustrating. & unlike Nesta, Elain doesn't have any character growth. She doesn't change her ways. I couldn't stand her in the least. 
     Then you have their father. I want to punch him, probably more than I have ever wanted to punch another person, fictional or otherwise. He messes up their lives by not handling their finances accordingly, then HE get's depressed to the point of uselessness?!?! I don't think so! You caused this mess, you better dang well be doing SOMETHING constructive to either fix it or live with it! No he just became this useless waste of space. I get it he became seriously handicapped when an angry creditor came & crushed his leg into a million pieces... but you still TRY! You don't leave it all to your child... & his leg doesn't seem to slow him down too much when they magically regain their wealth. One thing I found interesting & I couldn't help but try & find a double meaning behind, was when Feyre is taken & he tells her to not come back if she finds a way to escape. He's made to sound like he's meaning it as in she's better than the life he gave his kids, but I don't know it just hit me weird. I mean she is the only thing keeping him & his family from death because he can't seem to be bothered to help & at the chance of having her back he tells her to stay away. Why? It was just one of those weird moments, especially given that Feyre makes it sound like they never had a good relationship.
     However the one I'm pretty sure I hate the most... is Feyre's mother. Thank goodness I didn't have to deal with her in the storyline. I'm pretty sure, given the character that Feyre remembers I would have hated their homelife even more. Not only did the memories of the mom remind of Secret Garden, what with the liking to party & socialize & never really liking/wanting her kids, but WHO makes a, if I counted right, 11 year old (not to mention the baby of the family) PROMISE to keep their family together & safe?!?! That's too much pressure for a kid & what about her husband?!?! If I'd have been her I would have made my husband promise to keep my kids safe, not the other way around. That was just an inexcusable move on her part. So even though she isn't "in" the book... she is my least favorite character.
     Tamlin... I pretty much loved him. Then again I've always had an obsession with the "beast" characters from Beauty & the Beast spin offs. I liked that you could really see him transition from anger & resentment to trying to be kind to caring about her to loving her to willing to do anything for her even at his own expense. That character arc is what makes me love the "beast" characters. I mean it is literally like he couldn't stand her when he first brought her over, & maybe to an extent that is the case. But now that I'm rereading it knowing the full extent of the curse, I can also see how he might be very skeptical about her too. Here he needs her to tell him that she loves him, but he can't tell her about the whole curse, & not only does his life & those of his court depend on it but pretty much all of Prythian does too. That's a lot of gamble on one human, one creature that they have zero faith in. When I first read the book I thought it was so sweet of him to spare her life instead of killing her. Then I end up finding out that that was pretty much the whole plan from the beginning. I mean Fae are going to the mortal side to TRY & get killed by a mortal woman who could fall in love with Tamlin & break the curse. That just shatters the romantic effect of the act. However he makes up for it amply! I mean right out of the shoot he glamours up her family, besides Nesta of course, by easing their minds about Feyre by making them think that she has gone to live with a wealthy Aunt. Then he goes a step further & restores their wealth by glamouring it to make them think it was lost at sea & suddenly turned up, as well as finding her dad more creditors. He amply provides for her family. & while I know Feyre struggles with being inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, this almost makes that true. Here she has been slaving away to scrimp & save for them & at the flick of a wrist he does a a million times more for them than she ever could. He doesn't mean it that way, but that was the main way I felt when I read that. The subtlest thing he does that I found very touching was that when Feyre first came to the Spring Court he glamours the house & all the servants so that Feyre doesn't see their, what would be to her, startling & scary forms. I felt like this irritated her a little bit when she discovered he'd done that, but personally I think that is so sweet. Here she is, taking to the Fae realm against her will, all ready frightened & he had the good sense to think about that small detail. I also loved how he wanted to share his world with her. Not only did he do the stereotypical "beast" thing & give her the art gallery but he also shared a lot about his court, her new home, also. One of my favorite scenes was when he takes her to that rainbow lake that he loves so much. I think it speaks volumes when someone shares something that meaningful to them. To me that was this scene. 
     Lucien was an amazing character. I love how I never really knew what he was going to do. The first time that happened was when he sent Feyre to catch the Suriel. Here he's "helping" her by telling her how to catch this thing, the difficult way all be it, then he tells her that he will be out on patrol in the area & would probably be able to hear any cries for distress. Then when she does need his help, he hesitates, but does end up coming to help. That whole scene I found interesting because it is like he's wanting to toy with her then struggles with actually caring about what happens to her. The most surprising part to me is that he admits his hesitation to her. I don't think I'd be able to do the same thing if I hesitated helping someone (that I'd probably put in danger in the first place) after I told them I'd be there if it came it that. However I think my two favorite Lucien moments came during two Under the Mountain scenes. The first when she's running for that worm creature & he shouts directions even though it could very well get him punished or killed, which I wouldn't put past the antagonist, Amarantha. That small act helps Feyre in that first challenge but wasn't something I would have expected. The biggest OMG Lucien moment was when he went into her cell after she gets beat & hurt & healed her. That was a huge risk that again cost him & yet he chose to do it anyway. Given how much he harassed her throughout her time in the Spring Court about how insignificant & helpless she was, it amazed me how much faith he put into her during her time Under the Mountain. Here her surefire way of ending the curse has passed, now she has to compete in unfair challenges that everybody knows are going to be stacked against her, & he continues to put his neck on the chopping block to make it more even a match. Love it!
     However, probably my favorite character of them all is Rhysand. He was the emotional roller-coaster for me in this book. So first he saves Feyre from at the Calanmai ceremony (swoon). They have a small conversation & even though she lies about her name, he gets a good look at her face. Then he comes to Tamlin's house & not only threatens her but humiliates her by voicing her deeps thoughts about Tamlin, which are embarrassing to say the least (grrr utter hatred). At which time I'm SURE he also could have been able to tell that she lied about her name the first time they met. Then behind the scenes when Amarantha asks him the name of the human that could break the curse he gives the false name she originally gave & that girls family is killed & she is tortured instead of Feyre. Which is still a horrible thing, but I think in some twisted way it was his way of protected Feyre, both the physical pain of torture but also the emotional pain of loosing her family (I forgive you for your previous dumbness). Because I am sorry there is no way someone with his powers could be lied to. Then after she gets hurt during the first challenge & she's almost at the point of dying, he comes to her cell & offers to heal her (swoon). Unfortunately it's if she'll swear 2 weeks every month for the rest of her life to come live with him (pervert). However she gets it down to 1 week. Then when he does heal her, he leaves a very hard to conceal tattoo that takes up her entire arm & hand, as if to say to Tamlin "yup she came to ME for help because YOU can't do anything for her." (Once again you are the scum of the Earth Rhysand!!!) Then he makes matters worse by making her come "party" with him every night. & he doesn't just get her out of her cell, but he makes her dress provocatively, he has her entire body painted to match the tattoo she got from his help. The purpose of the tattoo is to make sure nobody touches her, less they want to smudge her pain. He makes her drink Fae wine, which intoxicates her but about a billion times more than human alcohol. During which time he makes her dance provocatively & hang all over him (again PERVERT!) The only saving grace about it is that it makes her days Under the Mountain pass by in a flash, I'd like to think that that was his purpose for doing that. The first moment that made me start to really second guess Rhysand as a villain was during Feyre's second challenge. It was a reading challenge, which for those of you in the know know, SHE CAN'T READ! Right as she's about to make the wrong choice, her tattoo "magically" starts burning. I just loved how he inconspicuously helped her in this challenge (swoon). Then the moment I absolutely fell in love with him was when Feyre & Tamlin are making out & he catches them. He send Tamlin away. Then he grabs her & starts kissing her (I know at first I was like ummmm... excuse me). Seconds later Amarantha walks in, dragging Tamlin along & catches them. Of course she uses this to try & hurt Tamlin. However as Feyre is having this inner Rhysand bashing, which is deserved, all I can think is "You idiot he just did you & Tamlin a HUGE favor!!!! Had Amarantha caught you & Tamlin she would have killed you both! & because you guys couldn't control yourself your body paint was all smeared so he covered that up by making it look like HE did it NOT Tamlin!!! SHEESH!!!!!!" Seriously I was SO upset at her during this scene! I mean she did finally come to the conclusion that he really did save their bacon! But that was really the moment I was like he's on her side! Then I nearly cried when he fought for her when Amarantha was killing her! I mean he went full on amazing trying to help her & save her! The only thing I really hated, was at the very end when he just vanished! I mean WHAT!?!?! Still he is probably my all time favorite character in this book! He started as a character you love to hate, moved into this mysterious character that you aren't really sure what his game is, to one of those people that doesn't care about glory if it is for a cause that he believes in he will do whatever he can. He better be back in the sequel!
     I just realized that I talked about pretty much every character except Feyre! LOL! I should probably say something about her since she's the main character & the narrator! I've heard a lot of opinions about Feyre from online & Youtube reviews. The main one I've heard is that for someone who is suppose to be this strong huntress who's main concern is keeping her family safe, yet when she goes to Prythian &  she keeps falling for every trick the Fae throw at her. Which is especially frustrating given that most tricks had to do with her trying to escape to get back to her family, even after Tamlin told her that her family was taken care of. I can see how that is frustrating! I mean seriously!?! You are under the (incorrect) impression that Fae can't lie yet you don't believe him when he tells you that your family is safe & are being provided for?!?! You make no sense Feyre! & while I agree she wasn't as strong or intelligent a heroine as I like in books, I didn't hare her as much as I have others. She does have some character arc, but not as much as other heroine's I've read or even other characters in this book. So in that regards she was disappointing. However I love that she has that never say never attitude! She doesn't need a man like so many heroines seem to need in books. She is actually the one that is needed. It's a refreshing change of pace. Pretty much I'm neutral about Feyre. She's not my favorite character or heroine but she's also nowhere near the worst one I've read before either. 
     Finally I want to talk about my favorite plot twist of this book. Unlike in the usual run of the mill Beauty & the Beast storyline, Feyre doesn't break the curse in the allotted time, by saying I love you. Instead she has to physically fight for him, back to this not so average heroine. This whole idea hit me. I mean I am not a feminist by any shot, I think that women have certain places & men have certain places, but I think that it's all about being equals in a relationship, but that is a conversation for another time. But throughout history you've had mean fighting in challenges to EARN the woman's hand. I thought it was neat that Sarah J. Maas took that & did it in reverse... it was finally time the woman had to fight to earn the man, especially given the view of women's rights in our modern world. I would have never thought to come up with it myself but I found it kind of a nice refreshing twist. Loved it!