Review: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas

Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas 

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury 

Page Count: 416 

Rating: 5/5 stars 

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

So I haven't written a post in over a month. Oops. 

I can explain, I promise. 

The joy of being a full-time student is that you're constantly busy with work! Yay! *sarcasm*. All jokes aside, though, I've been incredibly busy starting my own company. It's called Rewrite Studio, and it's an online editing service. So, for all of you writers out there that have manuscripts that need editing, check out my site! *shameless plug*: www.rewritestudio.com 

Websites and student-life aside, what better distraction from reality is there than lusting over fictional characters. Especially, when they're super hot fairies. 

Now, these aren't your typical Tinkerbell / Pixie Hollow fairies. 

No. Way. 

As much as I adore Tinkerbell, you can't deny that there isn't something so hot about sword-fighting, muscle-bearing, shape-shifting, royal, kick butt fairies. 

*cough* TAMLIN. (But who's naming names, right?) 

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical throughout the beginning of ACOTAR. I found the beginning to be rather slow, and hard to get into, which explains why I started reading the book back in May when it came out, and I just finished it in October.  I originally started reading the book as normal, and just couldn't get past the 120 page mark. However, I soon switched over to the audiobook version of it, and breezed through it in mere hours. 

I think I'm the only person on earth who hadn't read a Sarah J. Maas book before going into ACOTAR, so I was incredibly excited to finally pick up one of her books. Honestly, I was not disappointed. It was everything I expected and more: a beautifully crafted high fantasy, rough around the edges but tainted with a beautiful love story. A kick butt female protagonist who is a true literary hero that gives Katniss a run for her money (and I have to say, I definitely prefer the former over the latter). Lots of action, lots of drama, lots of gory head-severing (okay, I wasn't really  expecting that). And to top it off- a plot that leaves me satisfied by the end, but still wanting more. I just cannot wait until book two comes out sometime next year. 

If you haven't read the book, ACOTAR is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I have to say, I definitely saw it a lot of the time. There were a lot of times where Feyre- the protagonist- paralleled Belle in her mannerisms, but that's not to say that this was a carbon copy of the Classic Disney story. No, it was so unique and so completely its own that, had I not known beforehand that it was a retelling, I probably would not have known. Besides the fact that Tamlin can shape shift into a giant beast and is under a curse placed by an evil queen that needs to be broken... 

Okay, so I guess anyone with a moderate sense of the story could get it. But! It's still a beautiful retelling, nevertheless, and a sexy one, too.  I honestly didn't expect this book to be as steamy as it was but my goodness, were those love scenes something! I love love love a good romance, and this book definitely didn't have a lack of it, nor did it have a lack of a possible love triangle, perhaps...? 

The side characters were all so unique, and so lovable in their own individual ways... Some, harder to love than others (I'm looking at you, Rhysand).  The all contributed something so deep to the overall plot, and I really enjoyed the fact that instead of focusing on their individual subplots, Maas decided to weave their stories into the overarching plot. It made the story a lot easier to read, and was especially helpful in a high-fantasy story where you spend half the time trying to figure out how to pronounce all the names (thank goodness for pronunciation guides!) 

The writing itself was absolutely breathtaking.  Maas has an incredible way with words that is so unique and so poetic and unlike anything I'd ever read before. I'm still in shock over how beautiful this book is.  She strings words together so effortlessly, so seamlessly, and in a way that so many authors strive to do. She has incredible, I N C R E D I B L E talent, and I so look forward to seeing where she goes with the rest of this series. 

Needless to say, I'll be picking up THRONE OF GLASS very, very soon.