A review by bookalyptic
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

5.0

A court of Thorns and Roses plunges you into a cold an dark forest where Feyre, the protagonist, is hunting for food. She is the only one of her family who provides food, who goes out to hunt and kill to make sure her dad and her two sisters, Elain and Nesta, have food. The only one who actually cares enough about her siblings and her dad to put in an effort, even though she gets no recognition from her family what so ever.

"If I judged wrongly, my life wasn't the only one that would be lost. But my life had been reduced to nothing but risks these past eight years that I'd been hunting in the woods, and I'd picked correctly most of the time."

While Feyre is out hunting she spots a deer, but also a massive wolf. That size wolf would not only provide money from its pelt, but the deer would also provide weeks of food for her entire family. But living close to the border of Prythian, the land of Faeries, she isn't entirely sure that this is an ordinary wolf.... maybe it's a Fae. Although she is aware of the fact that this humongous size wolf could well be a Fae she gives in to the temptation and uses her Ash wood arrow to kill the wolf.

Should she have trusted her insticts to kill the wolf? Maybe... But that decision led to their home being invaded by a Faerie. A Faerie who demands retribution for the death of his friend, the death of the wolf which Feyre killed. And although you would think that that Faerie just smashes the entire home, kills everyone in it and be done with it, this Faerie deems it necessary to tell Feyre about a loophole in the Treaty. I always wondered why he would take the effort to do so... why not just kill them all and be done with it?

Anywho, Feyre takes the offered loophole and is brought back to Prythian, where she is to stay and live out the rest of her human life. And no, she will not be staying in a dungeon nor will she be tortured or hunted. No, she will live out the rest of her human life quite comfortably and well taken care of, which, seeing the situation she came from isn't that bad of a deal. This is the part of the book where I got Beauty and the Beast vibes, like A LOT. The part where Tamlin, a high Fae, shows his Fae identity and Feyre struggling with how she feels about Fae in general also gave me that vibe. But... Tamlin isn't ugly, as a matter of fact, he is said to be really handsome.

There is a slow-burn romance between Feyre and Tamlin, which is both tender and passionate, but for me also felt a bit weird. Feyre goes from feeling I have to get out, I don't trust Faeries to developing warming and loving feelings for her captor. You could say it is a sort of Stockholm Syndrom.

Sarah J. Maas brings Prythian to life, I really did enjoy the vivid descriptions of the faerie realms. We get lush landscapes, opulent courts, an expansive world full of secrets but also full of danger and sadness.

Without going too much in detail, because I don't want to review any spoilers, there is a Blight invading Prythian, and Tamlin and Lucien are doing everything they can to keep this Blight at bay. When Feyre learns about this blight, and that it might cross over to the human lands, she wants to do everything she can to stop it, to help, and to inform her family. But will she be able to do so?

So, I did read this book for the second time, because I recently found out that I completely missed the last book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series. So I ordered that book, and decided to reread the entire series from the beginning, and also take the time to write a review this time.

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