A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

 

Okay, okay, if you read my review of A Promise of Fire then you have every right to question my decisions here. If I hated that book as much as I did, why in the world would I subject myself to this book? And you'd be 100% correct. Why the hell did I subject myself to this book? 

I'm backed up on books that I need to review (I think I've got about 10) and I've decided I am going to go from worst to best. And yes, that means that, in the last four months, the worst book that I have read is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.

Full discretion up front: I knew that I would probably hate this book going in. But, based on what I knew before I started reading, it had one big positive: I really, really liked A Throne of Glass, Maas's previous, exceedingly popular book series. Yes the series is cliche, yes it is only about one step above Twilight, and yes it goes on for too long, but at the same time it contains so many of the elements I love (see the sidebar). I plan on rereading that series soon, and writing a review on each book individually.

But the negative: NEW ADULT. At this point I'm almost willing to rename this blog "Michael non-stop dunks on an emerging genre" but wow oh wow OH WOW does it deserve it based on what I've read so far.

Okay I've led in for too long here, let's actually talk about this dumpster fire. (light spoilers ahead, but they shouldn't ruin the book if you want to read it - the story will do that on its own)

Short synopsis: This plot starts out in a relatively promising matter. You know that I am 100% always here for a badass heroin, no matter how over-the-top cliché her badassery is. The main character, Feyre, is basically a cross between Artemis and Cinderella (remember my comment about cliché), which, if executed well, is certainly something I can get behind. She supports her ungrateful family by hunting, but, through an unfathomably convoluted series of events, is whisked away to live her life in a magical fairy realm. There, she falls in love with her captor (kill me, kill me, kill me) for reasons that honestly are just completely unclear, and jumps through all the hoops that surround falling in love with the "high fae" as a mortal.

So, the good: This book tries with the world building, which is more credit than I can give to a lot of other stories that I dislike. There is an existential threat to the characters beyond their love being forbidden, and there are some nice touches that I did enjoy, such as all of the fae in the spring realm having masks permanently affixed to their faces. Not all of the dialogue makes me cringe, simply because Maas is a very talented writer.

But that's all I have to say on that front.

The bad: let's just list it out

(1) I alluded before that the series of events that brings Feyre to the fairy realm is convoluted. Basically, it simultaneously relies on some characters adhering incredibly strictly to certain loopholes in a law. See the issue? If they didn't like the law, they wouldn't follow it, and thus eliminate the use of loopholes. Additionally, it relies heavily on a character using absolutely nothing but kindness   as revenge against Feyre - she literally murders his friend, and he does nothing but be non-stop nice to her as a form of... punishment? Everything seems wrong

(2) Fairies. I've talked about this at length before but just... name your supernatural beings something else! Anything else! Just smash your keyboard and it would be better!

(3) WOMEN DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH PEOPLE WHO KIDNAP THEM.

(4) You can't simply make two characters fall in love by saying that they do, without any indication as to why. There is genuinely no chemistry between Feyre and her captor, but they fall deeply, madly in love regardless.

(5) Dumb heroine. Again, I talk about this a lot, but why do so many authors feel the need to make their female leads brutally, painfully daft? Like, Feyre is clearly intelligent and resourceful (hunting for her family clearly requires a lot of skill), but, when told to stay in her room for one single night because she could be killed at a festival, she must attend, no matter what. Simply kills me inside.

(6) And, for my last point, I'm simply going to rehash point number one. I am okay with the feasibility of the plot being stretched a bit to put the characters where you need them to be, but really I want to hammer this point home. This entire book relies on "revenge" being non-stop, bottomless kindness.

Ultimately, I'm glad that Maas finished this series so quickly, because I am looking forward to her trying something else in the near future. If it wasn't obvious, I probably wont be reading the sequels.

- Michael

P.S. Look at my new stars! This is going to let me do half stars in the future! (But I'm going to leave this one at one star, because it's not quite as bad as A Promise of Fire)