Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses


Tweet Synopsis: Fayre hates the faeries, then she has to either go live with one or be put to death #awkward #unexpectedlove

Why Did I Pick It Up: After reading Sarah Maas’ other series, I was excited to get to devour this one!
Favorite Character: Lucien I think, I enjoy his snarky attitude. Although, Fayre is amazing in her own right. There was a moment I thought she might become a Twilight-esque character, but she holds her own.

Genre: Fantasy

Reminds Me Of ... any of the Fairy/faerie books I’ve read, especially Lament by Maggie Steifvater

Suggested Age Range: I would recommend this for older readers, it gets a little steamier than I expected (9th grade and up)

Romance: Definitely

The Good: The characters really capture you in this book. I think that Maas really excels at creating emotional drama and tension in her stories. This tension is what keeps me reading (and staying up too late). Fayre is the kind of girl you want on your side – although she is awesome and will fight for what she believes in, she is also cool-headed and thinks things through. She is smart but flawed and so much fun to read. Lucien is the court jester, except he isn’t, but he brings comedy to tense scenes, breaking things up. He is loyal to a fault, but sassy and irreverent. Don’t take my word for it, I’m sure you’ll be drawn to this loyal bad boy also wink emoticon

There is a barrage of secondary characters that are unique and standout that you’ll love too. Tamien, however, is quiet and calm, yet thunderous in his power. He remains a man of mystery for much of the book and I feel like his character has not been fully sussed out just yet. However, I’m willing to give him a second book to be totally colored in because this book was really that good. When do I do that? Never! That’s how much I’m enjoying this story.

I just have to say, that there are hints, not overt at all, in this book that remind me of Beauty and the Beast. Now, it is just a hint and this isn’t a fairytale retelling at all. But I still loved the way it reminded me of that.

The Bad: Sorta similar beginning to The Hunger Games that I thought I’d be reading a Katniss copy-cat. Now, don’t stop reading there because Fayre is definitely not a Katniss-look-alike. Instead she is totally awesome in her own way. But poor family whose parent has checked out, sisters who cannot take care of themselves, having to hunt for food with a bow and arrows but still starving, village boy she isn’t in love with … it felt really familiar. 

Then there are definite parts that reflect Twilight. I actually thought that we were going to end up going "there" a few times and I might have accidentally pictured Kirsten Stewart in my mind a few times while I was reading. However, those thoughts fled as soon as Fayre had an emotional thought because that is unimaginable ...

The Ugly: A little slow to start. In fact, I was so excited to start this book that two chapters in I almost closed the book (well, turned off my Kindle) and went to bed. Now, I’m glad I gave it a little longer because I stayed up pretty late that first night, but still, wow.

I think that if I was going to really name something “ugly” it would be the pacing of this book. I have no idea how much time is transpiring, some parts feel like they drag on a little and others feel rushed. Maybe it is just me, maybe I want parts to last longer and other parts to be over faster.

Who will love this book? If you liked the Faerie series by Stiefvater or really any fairy books (which there totally aren’t enough of) you’ll like this. If you like a bit of paranormal romance. I think if you like Twilight you’d enjoy this, as well as if you thought Obsidian etc. were good.

How much did I like it? 8/10

Will I read more? I think so (who am I kidding, I've already looked it up, book two comes out in 2016)

Bingo 2015:

No comments:

Post a Comment