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A review by hidingtoread
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
medium-paced
I’m going to start and end this review with the same statement: If you loved this book, great, I encourage reading and I’m glad this is something you enjoy. I just didn’t and realize I should stay in my lane with adult/grimdark fantasy. I accept I made the mistake here. I’m glad I purchased the book and gave it a go at least, rather than pulling my nose up at it without giving it a shot.
Now my thoughts, the amount of times I rolled my eyes is almost as many times as Fey-Belle talked about how she couldn't paint the colour she was seeing, or the use of ellipses. Don't tell me this a fae story when you also make them werewolf vampire shapeshifters. Also how can one tell how good looking someone is when they permanently wear a mask, they could be a Leper under that mask! Is SJM also throwing in a bit of Phantom of the Opera? I should be able to read a fantasy and still be able to see myself in this world, except the Fae are all thin and "beautiful" af (I'm curvy and jiggly so I can't relate there) and the humans are as dumb af. I say this because appearance comes up A LOT.
I did not care for the any of the characters. The evil queen should have made the curse harder and turned them all into cutlery for all I cared. The fact that you had a riddle that was not hard and yet the MC struggled with it. Its not like she had never been with a guy before, the first few chapters were literally her talking about having a “relationship” with a guy from her village.
A lot of this was so inconsistent, male MC is so nice but also growls a lot, but he’s Fae, why is he growling, why does he have claws! Fey-Belle is the dumbest 19 year old I have ever known. How can someone ignore warnings from the people “protecting her” every damn time, despite the fact that they are proven right every time.
Lastly, I can’t believe readers are into the forced intimacy and abuse in this, calling it sexy, but when it’s a male writer, its un-necessary and vulgar or “why can’t they write a strong female character”. Especially when, like in Malazan, they are not a mythical creature, just human beings doing human hateful things, but that’s the reality of humanity and you’re expected to have a repulsed reaction to it, and be angered by the injustice, and disgusted by these human behaviours. No, SJM makes it sexy and people love it. If its S&M then give us internal monologue where the M is enjoying it and externally shows they want it, thereby giving consent. Don’t tell us the MC is resisting but make out like we should be aroused by reading it. No, just no.
I liked the first part, up to where Fey-Belle encounters the thing that whispers to her in the forest. That was creepy and I read on thinking it would carry on or get better. Maybe it did, I just didn’t see it because I kept getting annoyed at all of the other stuff. Which is a shame.
So again, if you loved it, great, I encourage reading and I’m glad this is something you enjoy. I just didn’t and realize I should stay in my lane with adult/grimdark fantasy. I accept I made the mistake here. I’m glad I purchased the book and gave it a go at least rather than pulling my nose up at it without giving it a shot.
I’m still giving it a 2 star, one for the first part, and the second because its got a lot of people into reading which I love and I recognise how it has contributed to the book world in general which I also love. Keep doing what you do SJM, I just won’t be reading it, but will recommend to people who might like it.
Now my thoughts, the amount of times I rolled my eyes is almost as many times as Fey-Belle talked about how she couldn't paint the colour she was seeing, or the use of ellipses. Don't tell me this a fae story when you also make them werewolf vampire shapeshifters. Also how can one tell how good looking someone is when they permanently wear a mask, they could be a Leper under that mask! Is SJM also throwing in a bit of Phantom of the Opera? I should be able to read a fantasy and still be able to see myself in this world, except the Fae are all thin and "beautiful" af (I'm curvy and jiggly so I can't relate there) and the humans are as dumb af. I say this because appearance comes up A LOT.
I did not care for the any of the characters. The evil queen should have made the curse harder and turned them all into cutlery for all I cared. The fact that you had a riddle that was not hard and yet the MC struggled with it. Its not like she had never been with a guy before, the first few chapters were literally her talking about having a “relationship” with a guy from her village.
A lot of this was so inconsistent, male MC is so nice but also growls a lot, but he’s Fae, why is he growling, why does he have claws! Fey-Belle is the dumbest 19 year old I have ever known. How can someone ignore warnings from the people “protecting her” every damn time, despite the fact that they are proven right every time.
Lastly, I can’t believe readers are into the forced intimacy and abuse in this, calling it sexy, but when it’s a male writer, its un-necessary and vulgar or “why can’t they write a strong female character”. Especially when, like in Malazan, they are not a mythical creature, just human beings doing human hateful things, but that’s the reality of humanity and you’re expected to have a repulsed reaction to it, and be angered by the injustice, and disgusted by these human behaviours. No, SJM makes it sexy and people love it. If its S&M then give us internal monologue where the M is enjoying it and externally shows they want it, thereby giving consent. Don’t tell us the MC is resisting but make out like we should be aroused by reading it. No, just no.
I liked the first part, up to where Fey-Belle encounters the thing that whispers to her in the forest. That was creepy and I read on thinking it would carry on or get better. Maybe it did, I just didn’t see it because I kept getting annoyed at all of the other stuff. Which is a shame.
So again, if you loved it, great, I encourage reading and I’m glad this is something you enjoy. I just didn’t and realize I should stay in my lane with adult/grimdark fantasy. I accept I made the mistake here. I’m glad I purchased the book and gave it a go at least rather than pulling my nose up at it without giving it a shot.
I’m still giving it a 2 star, one for the first part, and the second because its got a lot of people into reading which I love and I recognise how it has contributed to the book world in general which I also love. Keep doing what you do SJM, I just won’t be reading it, but will recommend to people who might like it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment