A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
Feyre is a huntress.
She thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to capture its prey. But, like all mortals, she fears what lingers mercilessly beyond the forest. And she will learn that taking the life of a magical creature comes at a high price...
Imprisoned in an enchanted court in her enemy's kingdom, Feyre is free to roam but forbidden to escape. Her captor's body bears the scars of fighting, and his face is always masked — but his piercing stare draws her ever closer. As Feyre's feeling for Tamlin begin to burn through every warning she's been told about his kind, an ancient, wicked shadow grows.
Feyre must find a way to break a spell, or lose her heart forever.
Author: Sarah J. Maas | Publisher: Bloomsbury
Rating: 3.5/5
This book was, like, fine. The world-building was good and kept me intrigued, and there was just enough good to keep me hooked and willing to read the next story (which has so far proved to be totally worth 1/3 of the way into book two), but there were also some things that made me go *le sigh, YA fantasy, amiright?*
Rant time: Feyre is a complete idiot. See that thing in front of your face, Feyre? That's YOUR NOSE. She reminded me a lot of Katniss: "Oh, people are so mean, they totally think I'm dumb, jk maybe they're actually in love with me lol. Ugh, I'm so tortured. Let me go do this dumb thing that everyone has told me not to do just because I want to. Isn't my stubbornness endearing? Oh, hey, looks like it's time to save the world or something. Okay, I guess. But only if I get to act even more tortured afterward."
I have a big pet peeve for first-person narrators who notice everything but process absolutely nothing. This is frustrating for me as a reader, who can, in fact, put the pieces together. It's not suspenseful, it's exasperating.
Still, as I mentioned, I did pick up the next book. And it's already started moving along much better. I also have to applaud Sarah J. Maas for making some really brave choices as a storyteller, especially in the YA fantasy genre; she executed some big, traumatic plot points that other authors would have built up to but then figured out how to dissolve. Which makes for some great IRL problems and emotions in her characters. So definitely props for that.
Verdict? Read it, read the next book, but be prepared to want to chuck the book at the wall at least a little bit.