After finishing the three published books in the Empyrean series and with a definite taste for the fantasy/romantasy genre, I thought it only right that I give the other series everyone seems to be obsessed with a go – ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas. Book one: A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Opening sentence: The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.
Are you ready for a fairytale?
I think when a book / series comes really hyped, you always have to balance your expectations, but after the whirlwind of Fourth Wing and its sequels, I was expecting something similar here. So I was surprised to find the pace a lot more gentle and whimsical overall. What most surprised me is that A Court of Thorns and Roses, for the most part, is essentially the story of Beauty and the Beast, with a little bit of The Selfish Giant thrown in too.
Feyre, our FMC and heroine is a human. She lives with her father and two not-very-nice sisters in a ramshackle cottage after they lost their family wealth. Feyre is the one who hunts food for them in the forest and has the drive to keep her family alive. One day she kills a wolf while out hunting, triggering her journey into the magical lands of Prythian – the magical kingdom, which borders the mortal lands.
(The map at the beginning is basically the UK and Ireland, so that makes picturing it all a lot easier for me!)
Long ago, the High Fae had been our overlords – not gods. And they certainly hadn’t been kind.
The Seven Courts of Prythain
I am enjoying the world building in A Court of Thorns and Roses – Prythian is ruled by seven High Fae Lords of different courts – Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Dawn, Day and Night. Feyre is captured by Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court BUT it’s the enigmatic High Lord of the Night Court that everyone’s obsessed with – Rhysand. (In my opinion – What an unusual choice of name for such a powerful character, the name is not matching the character in this instance, for me!)
Also: these are not the fairies you’re expecting if you had this in your mind, as I did, these are all a lot more… brutal. Shape-shifting, shadow-wielding, mind-bending, all-powerful Fae.
A lot of mythical creatures are also brought into the mix to keep the fairytale vibe alive.
Setting the scene
So, while I can’t say I truly understand the hype of this series yet based on A Court of Thorns and Roses – it feels a little more like it was doing a lot of scene setting for the next books. I had a lot of mixed feelings upon finishing, put it this way: there was a part where Feyre was being chased by a giant worm and I almost DNF’d at that point. BUT I overall did enjoy it enough to persevere and, luckily, there were enough hooks thrown in, in the last few chapters, to keep my interest.
EVERYONE tells me book 2 – A Court of Mist and Fury – is much better and I really have to read it to get the ACOTAR obsession. So, yes, I will as I want to know what happens next in Feyre’s story.
