A Court of Thorns and Roses: Enter the EPIC fantasy worlds of Sarah J Maas with the breath-taking first book in the GLOBALLY BESTSELLING ACOTAR series Paperback – 2 Jun. 2020

’“It’s a rare day indeed when someone thanks you for bringing them to their death.”’Alluring but deadly; beautiful and horrific; seductive and savage; this book is everything that you’d expect from a darker tale featuring the fae and I honestly don’t know how I’m only, finally, getting around to reading it in 2023. Sarah J. Maas and the fae is a match made in heaven after all. And this book is an absolute must read for fans of dark romance, fantasy and all things fae.Truthfully I’m not surprised that just one book into the series I’ve found myself falling head over heels in love with it. The Throne Of Glass series blew me away from the start and I’ve adored books about the fae for many years now. Having seen the fae pop up in another series by the author I knew how gloriously she could depict them. Plus Sarah J. Maas’s writing is always divine. Within pages I was enchanted by ’A Court Of Thorns And Roses’ and I truly did not want it to end. Needless to say I can’t wait to dive into the second book in the series and discover exactly what will happen next.The characters within this book blew me away. Everyone is so fascinating to meet and try to unravel the truth behind. There are villains to chill your blood and monstrous fae to send shivers down your spine. Feyre is a fascinating central character who grows and develops a lot over the course of the novel. Her family left me longing to know more too and her backstory was crafted intriguingly. Tamlin kept me riveted throughout. Lucien drew me in from his very first appearance. Alis is impossible not to warm to and Rhysand, let’s just say he’s the sort of individual that you can’t help but desperately desire to see more of.Romance wise I was swept away and loved watching the relationship at this book’s core shift and grow. There are scenes that are downright impossible to read without a smile on your face and there were so many interactions that I found myself cherishing. The world is one that I was utterly enraptured by too and can’t wait to explore further as the series continues. There’s a brutal, bloody history and danger creeping closer in the present too. The way that the fae and human realms were divided was fascinating to uncover and I loved getting to explore both over the course of the book.In some ways this felt like a book with two halves. All the way through I was utterly invested in the narrative, drawn towards the characters and overjoyed with the chance to explore the fascinating but bloody world. Yet there’s a point within it, when more about the blight is revealed, that the danger, tension and darkness really seem to shoot to extreme new highs. It’s a truth and direction that I didn’t see coming and oh how I adored it. From this point onwards this book could be the dictionary definition of ‘impossible to put down’.So it’s pretty needless to say that I recommend this book. If you’re a fellow fae fan and haven’t yet read it then I highly advice doing so as soon as possible. If you like romantasy then this book is certainly a must read too. It’s the perfect mix of bloody, brutal, beautiful and bewitching for a fae filled fantasy realm. Its characters are divine – and in many cases deadly – and its action will leave you on the edge of your seat. Once you reach the end of it you’ll find yourself desperate to dive immediately into the next book; I know that I certainly plan to.

I'm not going to lie to you: I was filled with many reservations before starting this book, recommended to me as it was by a friend who, having been pressured into it by people around her, found that it lacked a certain something for her. My vision of my reading was one of endurance, where I had to try and get through it for her sake so that we could then tear it apart and examine its parts in a derisory and scathing manner for our own amusement. In the context of the action of the book, this is quite apt.It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. In many ways, it was not bad at all. Okay, I will admit to quite enjoying it. It's not normally a read that I would choose, it being fantasy romance - faeries and humans - but what the heck? I'm an eclectic reader and I am a great believer in forming your own opinion about something rather than being led there by what someone else thinks.And so, I entered the faery realm.The story is told in the first person by Feyre who starts the book in poverty, living on the edges of a forest in a dilapidated hut with her father and her two sisters. Feyre is the provider, hunting and bringing home the bacon, as it were. They were previously financially secure and so for her sisters, their fall from grace has been particularly hard.When Feyre kills a wolf in the forest, her life changes forever and she is whisked off beyond the wall by Tamlin, a High Lord of one of the faery courts. She is essentially a hostage and there she lives in relative luxury but in a world which is plagued with danger.As a result, Tamlin is constantly having to fight to protect himself and Feyre and his minions.This book reads well. Feyre is gutsy but I found being inside her head all the time a bit annoying. The menace is well conceived and there is violence galore as well as passion. I thought Tamlin as the main love interest was a bit bland and preferred other faeries like Lucien and Rhysand as characters, feeling I had a greater awareness of their personality. But there is plenty of action, threat, world building.Entertaining faery fluff.