kit666's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
So, it took me ages to finish the book, because I was reading it along with the Last Podcast Deep Dives ladies. That kind of took me out of it at times, because I had to read in shorter increments and couldn't go at my own pace.
I did enjoy the book a lot! It isn't what I usually go for, but the podcast made me curious and I'm glad I checked it out! I will definitely be reading the next book!
Loved the hot and heavy stuff, but also really appreciate how it doesn't go with the stereotypes or puts a twist to them.
Maas also wasn't afraid to make things ugly for Feyre,
I certainly didn't expect her to die!!! OR GET TURNED INTO A HIGH FAE! I mist admit that I enjoy the relationship between Rhys and Feyre... It feels sensual and forbidden, with him opening up to her. But they also seem like they could develop a deep friendship, especially during her weeks at the Night Court. Very interested in how the sequel will play out. Though I must admit that the whole getting her drunk and making a dance while she's blackout drunk is very questionable of him. On one hand, he did her a favour by making her forget on the other it's still a cunt move.
Also interested in the whole geopolitical struggle between the King and the mortal realm. THAT FEYRE ISN'T A PART OF ANYMORE. I hope we get a view into how it feels to be a high fae now. I'd love to be shown the difference it makes and whether Feyre has magical powers now. If so, will they correspond with her personality? The spring court?a little bit of everything, because all the courts worked together to make her high fae?
Can't wait!
I also assume Nesta will play a bigger part. In general I'm curious to see how her family will respond to her being a faerie now.
Definitely a recommendation if you're into fairytale retellings, dirty action and a hint of lust.
I did enjoy the book a lot! It isn't what I usually go for, but the podcast made me curious and I'm glad I checked it out! I will definitely be reading the next book!
Loved the hot and heavy stuff, but also really appreciate how it doesn't go with the stereotypes or puts a twist to them.
Maas also wasn't afraid to make things ugly for Feyre,
Spoiler
like having her be beaten up with bruteIforce. No magic, justIviolence.I certainly didn't expect her to die!!! OR GET TURNED INTO A HIGH FAE! I mist admit that I enjoy the relationship between Rhys and Feyre... It feels sensual and forbidden, with him opening up to her. But they also seem like they could develop a deep friendship, especially during her weeks at the Night Court. Very interested in how the sequel will play out. Though I must admit that the whole getting her drunk and making a dance while she's blackout drunk is very questionable of him. On one hand, he did her a favour by making her forget on the other it's still a cunt move.
Also interested in the whole geopolitical struggle between the King and the mortal realm. THAT FEYRE ISN'T A PART OF ANYMORE. I hope we get a view into how it feels to be a high fae now. I'd love to be shown the difference it makes and whether Feyre has magical powers now. If so, will they correspond with her personality? The spring court?a little bit of everything, because all the courts worked together to make her high fae?
Can't wait!
I also assume Nesta will play a bigger part. In general I'm curious to see how her family will respond to her being a faerie now.
Definitely a recommendation if you're into fairytale retellings, dirty action and a hint of lust.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Body horror, Sexual content, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Xenophobia, Murder, Drug use, and Excrement
Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, War, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture
kimmy0__0's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Death, Blood, Injury/injury detail, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use and Death of parent
callit01's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use
princessblair's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It was really difficult to put this book down, I read it almost in one sitting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Violence
math5475's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Torture, Alcohol, Genocide, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug use, and War
ambrouille's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, and War
3mmers's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
There is something uniquely disagreeable about a novel in which all the female characters hate each other for no particular reason. There is no particular reason for me to like A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. It’s overwhelmingly formulaic with a huge disconnect between its first and second halves, an extremely frustrating and poorly characterized protagonist, and probably the shittiest map I’ve ever seen in a fantasy novel.
And yet… I can’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the experience.
No one is more surprised by this than me. I approach almost every book I read with the sincere hope that it will be great, but I have to admit that this was an exception. I read it to rubberneck. I don’t know anyone who actually likes it. My bookish groupchat is an ACOTAR hate zone. This is the book that gets hauled out to demonstrate the tiktokification of reading discourse (incorrectly, since it came out in 2015, before tiktok was released, and is in both premise and tone a super conventional book for that era).
ACOTAR definitely didn’t do any favours to help me overcome my bias. This is a book that puts its absolute worst foot forwards. It opens with our protagonist Feyre (the book condescendingly tells us its pronounced Fey-ruh because of course) subsistence hunting for her family who she hates and resents with an intensity totally unjustified by narrative tone, context, or sense. It is actually super important for the structure of the plot that Feyre should not want to abandon her family and stare a new life among the faerie. The in universe plot mechanics rely on it, and it’s an essential part of the overall tropes — it’s an enemies to lovers plot; they have to start as enemies. But instead we begin with Feyre explicitly longing for the day that she’s finally free of her awful freeloading sisters. She should be jumping at the change to be kidnapped by some fearie hunk!
Feyre’s relationship with her two sisters is beastly throughout. I’m not saying this because I’m uncomfortable with sibling rivalry and uncomfortable sibling relationships. I think we actually need more of those (ask me about Dragon Age 2, one of my favourite things about that game is Hawke’s troubled relationship with Carver. It’s very relatable to me, a person who has been low contact with both of my siblings for years after a tumultuous childhood). It would actually be a great choice for Feyre’s character to be about her complex feelings of loyalty towards her family and her desire to leave them behind to live with her love. This is not that arc though. Reading between the lines we get the impression that Feyre is a deeply unpleasent person with little compassion for women in particular. This is actually a pretty common problem with characters who are Not Like Other Girls; they end up reading as hateful and rude for no reason. It’s misogynistic and by far the ugliest thing about this novel (yes I know about Rhysand, no that does not change this opinion). Second guessing the protagonist this way is symptomatic of strain on the believability of the story elsewhere. If Feyre hates her siblings so much, why not just leave them? Her promise to take care of them starts to seem ludicrous considering the circumstances (also who makes a six-year-old promise that? Just make Feyre the resentful oldest sibling). The book needs Feyre to be reluctant to leave her family; throwing herself into faerie realm danger needs to read as a sacrifice. But it does nothing to set this premise up. It's taken as a given. The ugly step-sisters of myth. No need to think any more about it, let's move on to the real action.
This deeply unpleasant opening is the first symptom of a pervasive problem throughout the book. ACOTAR simply doesn't care about many parts of its story. It never gets away from telling over showing. We’re told that Feyre feels obligated to her family and wants to protect them but what we’re shown is that she resents them and can’t wait to be rid of them. It’s really important to the in universe plot stuff for Feyre to hate faeries and not want to be around them… but she never shows any fear or distaste. We get told all sorts of things about how she hates them, but shown nothing. Her two sisters wear iron bracelets to repel the fey and fight with fey cultists, but Feyre doesn’t for no real reason. My initial thought was that this was intended to show that Feyre is smarter than her sisters (also bad) and doesn’t buy into superstition. But the book backfills that she has also hated faeries all along. She's hated them oh so much! More than anyone else! ACOTAR wants to have its cake and eat it too. There is little of interest in the romance since it is super obvious that her actions are based on no more compelling an illusion than ‘what the narrative needs them to be.’ She’s supposed to be insightful and resourceful but she’s never able to take initiative (expect once in the second half) and misunderstands very obvious social cues. She’s very emotionally intelligent about her relationship with Isaac but mystified by Tamlin. The romance subplot suffers the most from the showing versus telling, but it is present in other things too. Promises are allegedly important in this setting, with penalties for breaking them (a common trope for the genre) but That sort of thing needs to be foreshadowed.
There’s also incredibly little description. This is perhaps the most boring magical faerie kingdom I’ve ever read about. It is divided into different courts which add little more than some fun colour-coding to a few of the characters. The map (yes I am talking about the map) looks like someone xeroxed a map of Westeros and then divided it into sections with a ruler. This is a world of precisely straight borders as though it was created by a round table of 19th century colonialists. Descriptive passages are also lacking. We are assured there are many bizarre and eye catching territories, they're just somewhere else, off-page. It's as if this book were written with the consideration that the budget of the inevitable mini series would only accommodate two filming locations. The entire second half of the novel is basically a greenscreen sound stage for all the setting matters. These are petty complaints but I'm putting them in here to emphasize just how little ACOTAR cares about anything other than its love triangle. Seriously, if you're not interested in the male characters then there is nothing in here for you.
This is a lot of complaints for a three star review, and I have more. Rhysand is obviously too dark to remain sympathetic.
Bad brain teasers and crappy female characters aside, this book genuinely does have some things to love. Upon reflection, I think it comes down to the dialogue. ACOTAR has unexpectedly strong dialogue for its otherwise pretty mediocre wordcraft, and it turns out that that’s all it takes. I’ll admit that I have a soft spot for snarkiness and smarmy dialogue. This book is able to have conversation that is cutting and sarcastic without sounding corny or entirely foreign to real human speech. The characters lie, hide their true feelings, and misrepresent their interests all the time. Rhysand’s conversation revealing that he is exhausted from the effort he has been putting into playing both sides this entire time is easily the best part of the novel. It’s a great scene both because we finally get to see a sympathetic — and lowkey straight-up pathetic — side to this smarmy bastard, and because it re-contextualizes all of his previous actions. The re-contextualization works because it rests on the strength of his previous dialogue, unlike the re-contextualization of Tamlin’s behaviour in light of his curse. The dialogue is a lot stronger than the behaviour in this novel, so Rhysand works and Tamlin is kinda hollow. ACOTAR is not afraid to have characters be genuinely mean to each other. One of the best elements of showing in the novel is the way the faerie characters to talk like they think they’re the smartest person in the room. It suits their personalities.
While Feyre’s dialogue is not nearly as good as any of the male characters, mostly because it suffers from the same confused motivations as the rest of her personality, it does greatly rehabilitate her likeability. She vacillates between easily keeping pace with conversations and being left lost for words by an extremely banal quip, but the moments when she can keep up are the ones where the dialogue really shines. It helps a lot that she is allowed to be frustrated by the male characters and call them out on lying to her. She’s way better and easy to read about when she can linguistically keep up with the others; its the best part of her character. And it helps that it is really the only thing she’s good at; she’s otherwise really underpowered for the setting. Theoretically her character ability ought to be lateral thinking and adaptability, but as it is this is never realized. The book is more obsessed with giving its male leads cool things to do so Feyre’s skill ends up as ‘being attractive to men.’
ACOTAR is unavoidably built around its male characters. That’s not terrible. One would hope that a romance novel would put its efforts into creating an appealing smorgasbord of fantasy boyfriends. And they are appealing, if you don’t mind the fact that each of them is kinda a dick.
Tamlin is the most Male Love Interest, ie generic. Brave, strong, noble, you get the picture. Are yall actually into uncontrollably aggressive dudes like this? Seriously? I don’t get it. Moving on.
The best character in the novel is Lucien. I just think he’s neat. Actually, he’s neat because he is the most sincere character in the novel. He doesn’t hide when he dislikes Feyre and also doesn’t hide that he is trying to help her. It’s a refreshing contrast from Tamlin’s emotional constipation and Rhysand’s two-facedness. Lucien is also one of the only direct characters. Even though he is witty and sarcastic he gives Feyre most of the information she asks for with much less of a runaround than anyone else. You know we’re going to advance the plot when Lucien is around. It’s easy to buy that he has Feyre’s best interests at heart. He’s the only major male character to not be powerful enough to solve most of his problems by himself , which means he and Feyre can plausibly work together and Feyre can have some agency finally. It is also not lost on me that part of what Lucien interesting is that unlike the other male characters he is not romantically interested in Feyre (actually the normal baseline of interaction), and that contrast is more interesting than either romantic arc. Great character, looking forwards to never seeing him again in the sequels.
Then there’s Rhysand. The other corner of the love triangle and the bad boy with a heard of gold. He’s also the most controversial character. I’ll admit, I like Rhysand a lot. He’s probably the most cunning character in the plot (there aren’t a lot of cunning characters for a novel about the faerie realm), and his 4D chess games are much more interesting than the plot itself. I also find his smarmy sarcasm to be much more charismatic than Tamlin’s awkward taciturnity. Also, let’s not ignore it, I have the personality to find Rhysand’s helping Feyre under the guise of antagonizing her, without telling her he’s on her side, charming rather than horrifying. What can I say, I like a dude who is hiding a horrible feeling of weakness behind a cavalier demeanour. Rhysand’s cunning approach to problems provides a good foil for Tamlin’s stubbornness. I found it was easier to appreciate the bravery inherent in doing the same damn thing no matter how many times it doesn’t work when contrasted with the choice to sacrifice everything including one’s own dignity for the chance of survival. It is enough to create the fascinating suggestion that this book could have meaning.
It is not lost on me that all the female characters being comically horrible bitches and all the male characters being the interesting emotional core of the story is a Bad Look. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to point out that a lot of romance novels, in spite of being explicitly directed towards a female audience, have a sexism problem. Part of the issue is that our cultural image of the everywoman isn’t especially nice. Feyre’s hatred of her sisters is part of her underdog backstory because it’s the sort of thing that the audience won’t question. We’ve seen it all before. There is an uncomfortable tension in reading this book between the knowledge that the male characters are the best thing about this book because they are genuinely good characters — Rhysand’s double agenting to protect his people by sacrificing his moral high ground is genuinely compelling, as is Lucien and Tamlin’s bromance friendship — and the knowledge that part of the reason they look so good is the choice to eliminate most points of interest and agency from the female characters. It make it hard for me to enjoy this book wholeheartedly.
In summary, A Court of Thorns and Roses is above all a fun and kinda trashy romance with a fantasy flavour. Don’t expect anything really new or fresh or innovative in the genre, but if you can get past the dogshit beginning and crappy implications of the overall story then there’s a good time to be had here.
And yet… I can’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the experience.
No one is more surprised by this than me. I approach almost every book I read with the sincere hope that it will be great, but I have to admit that this was an exception. I read it to rubberneck. I don’t know anyone who actually likes it. My bookish groupchat is an ACOTAR hate zone. This is the book that gets hauled out to demonstrate the tiktokification of reading discourse (incorrectly, since it came out in 2015, before tiktok was released, and is in both premise and tone a super conventional book for that era).
ACOTAR definitely didn’t do any favours to help me overcome my bias. This is a book that puts its absolute worst foot forwards. It opens with our protagonist Feyre (the book condescendingly tells us its pronounced Fey-ruh because of course) subsistence hunting for her family who she hates and resents with an intensity totally unjustified by narrative tone, context, or sense. It is actually super important for the structure of the plot that Feyre should not want to abandon her family and stare a new life among the faerie. The in universe plot mechanics rely on it, and it’s an essential part of the overall tropes — it’s an enemies to lovers plot; they have to start as enemies. But instead we begin with Feyre explicitly longing for the day that she’s finally free of her awful freeloading sisters. She should be jumping at the change to be kidnapped by some fearie hunk!
Feyre’s relationship with her two sisters is beastly throughout. I’m not saying this because I’m uncomfortable with sibling rivalry and uncomfortable sibling relationships. I think we actually need more of those (ask me about Dragon Age 2, one of my favourite things about that game is Hawke’s troubled relationship with Carver. It’s very relatable to me, a person who has been low contact with both of my siblings for years after a tumultuous childhood). It would actually be a great choice for Feyre’s character to be about her complex feelings of loyalty towards her family and her desire to leave them behind to live with her love. This is not that arc though. Reading between the lines we get the impression that Feyre is a deeply unpleasent person with little compassion for women in particular. This is actually a pretty common problem with characters who are Not Like Other Girls; they end up reading as hateful and rude for no reason. It’s misogynistic and by far the ugliest thing about this novel (yes I know about Rhysand, no that does not change this opinion). Second guessing the protagonist this way is symptomatic of strain on the believability of the story elsewhere. If Feyre hates her siblings so much, why not just leave them? Her promise to take care of them starts to seem ludicrous considering the circumstances (also who makes a six-year-old promise that? Just make Feyre the resentful oldest sibling). The book needs Feyre to be reluctant to leave her family; throwing herself into faerie realm danger needs to read as a sacrifice. But it does nothing to set this premise up. It's taken as a given. The ugly step-sisters of myth. No need to think any more about it, let's move on to the real action.
This deeply unpleasant opening is the first symptom of a pervasive problem throughout the book. ACOTAR simply doesn't care about many parts of its story. It never gets away from telling over showing. We’re told that Feyre feels obligated to her family and wants to protect them but what we’re shown is that she resents them and can’t wait to be rid of them. It’s really important to the in universe plot stuff for Feyre to hate faeries and not want to be around them… but she never shows any fear or distaste. We get told all sorts of things about how she hates them, but shown nothing. Her two sisters wear iron bracelets to repel the fey and fight with fey cultists, but Feyre doesn’t for no real reason. My initial thought was that this was intended to show that Feyre is smarter than her sisters (also bad) and doesn’t buy into superstition. But the book backfills that she has also hated faeries all along. She's hated them oh so much! More than anyone else! ACOTAR wants to have its cake and eat it too. There is little of interest in the romance since it is super obvious that her actions are based on no more compelling an illusion than ‘what the narrative needs them to be.’ She’s supposed to be insightful and resourceful but she’s never able to take initiative (expect once in the second half) and misunderstands very obvious social cues. She’s very emotionally intelligent about her relationship with Isaac but mystified by Tamlin. The romance subplot suffers the most from the showing versus telling, but it is present in other things too. Promises are allegedly important in this setting, with penalties for breaking them (a common trope for the genre) but
Spoiler
no character ever chooses to face a penalty or is explicitly forced into something due to a promise. This is a huge oversight since the climax is about rules-lawyering promises.There’s also incredibly little description. This is perhaps the most boring magical faerie kingdom I’ve ever read about. It is divided into different courts which add little more than some fun colour-coding to a few of the characters. The map (yes I am talking about the map) looks like someone xeroxed a map of Westeros and then divided it into sections with a ruler. This is a world of precisely straight borders as though it was created by a round table of 19th century colonialists. Descriptive passages are also lacking. We are assured there are many bizarre and eye catching territories, they're just somewhere else, off-page. It's as if this book were written with the consideration that the budget of the inevitable mini series would only accommodate two filming locations. The entire second half of the novel is basically a greenscreen sound stage for all the setting matters. These are petty complaints but I'm putting them in here to emphasize just how little ACOTAR cares about anything other than its love triangle. Seriously, if you're not interested in the male characters then there is nothing in here for you.
This is a lot of complaints for a three star review, and I have more. Rhysand is obviously too dark to remain sympathetic.
Spoiler
Drugging our protagonist crosses a moral event horizon for most readers, especially when he is capable of compelling Feyre to act interested in other means (in my opinion threats or even his mind control powers would have been a better choice than faerie wine). The riddle that forms the climactic turning point is the most hilarious bad brain teaser out there. If your whole plot hinges on not being able to solve a riddle until the right moment then that riddle better not be trite elementary garbage. Maybe try a junior jumble next time.Bad brain teasers and crappy female characters aside, this book genuinely does have some things to love. Upon reflection, I think it comes down to the dialogue. ACOTAR has unexpectedly strong dialogue for its otherwise pretty mediocre wordcraft, and it turns out that that’s all it takes. I’ll admit that I have a soft spot for snarkiness and smarmy dialogue. This book is able to have conversation that is cutting and sarcastic without sounding corny or entirely foreign to real human speech. The characters lie, hide their true feelings, and misrepresent their interests all the time. Rhysand’s conversation revealing that he is exhausted from the effort he has been putting into playing both sides this entire time is easily the best part of the novel. It’s a great scene both because we finally get to see a sympathetic — and lowkey straight-up pathetic — side to this smarmy bastard, and because it re-contextualizes all of his previous actions. The re-contextualization works because it rests on the strength of his previous dialogue, unlike the re-contextualization of Tamlin’s behaviour in light of his curse. The dialogue is a lot stronger than the behaviour in this novel, so Rhysand works and Tamlin is kinda hollow. ACOTAR is not afraid to have characters be genuinely mean to each other. One of the best elements of showing in the novel is the way the faerie characters to talk like they think they’re the smartest person in the room. It suits their personalities.
While Feyre’s dialogue is not nearly as good as any of the male characters, mostly because it suffers from the same confused motivations as the rest of her personality, it does greatly rehabilitate her likeability. She vacillates between easily keeping pace with conversations and being left lost for words by an extremely banal quip, but the moments when she can keep up are the ones where the dialogue really shines. It helps a lot that she is allowed to be frustrated by the male characters and call them out on lying to her. She’s way better and easy to read about when she can linguistically keep up with the others; its the best part of her character. And it helps that it is really the only thing she’s good at; she’s otherwise really underpowered for the setting. Theoretically her character ability ought to be lateral thinking and adaptability, but as it is this is never realized. The book is more obsessed with giving its male leads cool things to do so Feyre’s skill ends up as ‘being attractive to men.’
ACOTAR is unavoidably built around its male characters. That’s not terrible. One would hope that a romance novel would put its efforts into creating an appealing smorgasbord of fantasy boyfriends. And they are appealing, if you don’t mind the fact that each of them is kinda a dick.
Tamlin is the most Male Love Interest, ie generic. Brave, strong, noble, you get the picture. Are yall actually into uncontrollably aggressive dudes like this? Seriously? I don’t get it. Moving on.
The best character in the novel is Lucien. I just think he’s neat. Actually, he’s neat because he is the most sincere character in the novel. He doesn’t hide when he dislikes Feyre and also doesn’t hide that he is trying to help her. It’s a refreshing contrast from Tamlin’s emotional constipation and Rhysand’s two-facedness. Lucien is also one of the only direct characters. Even though he is witty and sarcastic he gives Feyre most of the information she asks for with much less of a runaround than anyone else. You know we’re going to advance the plot when Lucien is around. It’s easy to buy that he has Feyre’s best interests at heart. He’s the only major male character to not be powerful enough to solve most of his problems by himself , which means he and Feyre can plausibly work together and Feyre can have some agency finally. It is also not lost on me that part of what Lucien interesting is that unlike the other male characters he is not romantically interested in Feyre (actually the normal baseline of interaction), and that contrast is more interesting than either romantic arc. Great character, looking forwards to never seeing him again in the sequels.
Then there’s Rhysand. The other corner of the love triangle and the bad boy with a heard of gold. He’s also the most controversial character. I’ll admit, I like Rhysand a lot. He’s probably the most cunning character in the plot (there aren’t a lot of cunning characters for a novel about the faerie realm), and his 4D chess games are much more interesting than the plot itself. I also find his smarmy sarcasm to be much more charismatic than Tamlin’s awkward taciturnity. Also, let’s not ignore it, I have the personality to find Rhysand’s helping Feyre under the guise of antagonizing her, without telling her he’s on her side, charming rather than horrifying. What can I say, I like a dude who is hiding a horrible feeling of weakness behind a cavalier demeanour. Rhysand’s cunning approach to problems provides a good foil for Tamlin’s stubbornness. I found it was easier to appreciate the bravery inherent in doing the same damn thing no matter how many times it doesn’t work when contrasted with the choice to sacrifice everything including one’s own dignity for the chance of survival. It is enough to create the fascinating suggestion that this book could have meaning.
It is not lost on me that all the female characters being comically horrible bitches and all the male characters being the interesting emotional core of the story is a Bad Look. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to point out that a lot of romance novels, in spite of being explicitly directed towards a female audience, have a sexism problem. Part of the issue is that our cultural image of the everywoman isn’t especially nice. Feyre’s hatred of her sisters is part of her underdog backstory because it’s the sort of thing that the audience won’t question. We’ve seen it all before. There is an uncomfortable tension in reading this book between the knowledge that the male characters are the best thing about this book because they are genuinely good characters — Rhysand’s double agenting to protect his people by sacrificing his moral high ground is genuinely compelling, as is Lucien and Tamlin’s bromance friendship — and the knowledge that part of the reason they look so good is the choice to eliminate most points of interest and agency from the female characters. It make it hard for me to enjoy this book wholeheartedly.
In summary, A Court of Thorns and Roses is above all a fun and kinda trashy romance with a fantasy flavour. Don’t expect anything really new or fresh or innovative in the genre, but if you can get past the dogshit beginning and crappy implications of the overall story then there’s a good time to be had here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use
soph22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Violence, Abandonment, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Death
mindins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Sexual content and Blood
Minor: Drug use and Death of parent
bookishlytaylor's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
3.5
TW: murder, violence, drugging, sexual assault, coercion, kidnapping, torture, manipulation, sexual content (2/5 on the spice scale)
3.5/5 rounded up to 4/5 for Goodreads.
I listened to this via GraphicAudio A Movie In Your Mind and I absolutely loved the experience! I wish most audiobooks were produced like this! The production is absolutely worth the extra money.
This book has been on my TBR forever. I’m mot usually a high fantasy type of gal, but this book was touted as fairy porn, so my interest was piqued. As a narrator, I fucking hated Feyre. I think she’s selfish, annoying, stupid, and has a death wish. I do (reluctantly) like Lucien and Tamrin (although I know this is controversial), but Rhysand 100% has my heart!!! I’m not usually one for a morally grey love interest, BUT I THINK HE’S MAYBE JUST A LITTLE BROKEN AND I COULD DEFINITELY FIX HIM OKAY????
I’ve totally gotta continue the series now because I need to know if Feyre and Rhysand fuck. They have to, right? Oh, also loved that Feyre is high fae now! Good for you, bitch!
3.5/5 rounded up to 4/5 for Goodreads.
I listened to this via GraphicAudio A Movie In Your Mind and I absolutely loved the experience! I wish most audiobooks were produced like this! The production is absolutely worth the extra money.
This book has been on my TBR forever. I’m mot usually a high fantasy type of gal, but this book was touted as fairy porn, so my interest was piqued. As a narrator, I fucking hated Feyre. I think she’s selfish, annoying, stupid, and has a death wish. I do (reluctantly) like Lucien and Tamrin (although I know this is controversial), but Rhysand 100% has my heart!!! I’m not usually one for a morally grey love interest, BUT I THINK HE’S MAYBE JUST A LITTLE BROKEN AND I COULD DEFINITELY FIX HIM OKAY????
I’ve totally gotta continue the series now because I need to know if Feyre and Rhysand fuck. They have to, right? Oh, also loved that Feyre is high fae now! Good for you, bitch!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Kidnapping, Torture, Sexual content, and Murder