A Court of Thorns and Roses, aka ACOTAR
I finally read Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses [The Book Depository], aka ACOTAR. Even if the author inspired herself on the Beauty and the Beast, it shines on its own. Be prepared for some harsh moments, and quite a lot of brutal depictions of violence. You will also find some sex scenes, but I found violence more appalling than anything else.
This book is fast-paced, easy to read, and has an incredible hero: Feyre. If you’re looking to read a female-lead fantasy book with tons of action, deceit and memorable characters, this is it!
[SPOILERS: this review has some spoilers. If you haven’t read the book yet, I recommend you to stop reading beyond these lines.]
Feyre is famished, and so is her family. She’s very young, but it’s her and not her older sisters who goes out for hunting. Her father is also quite useless. They had been wealthy once, but when Feyre was eight years old, everything collapsed because of bad investments.
There’s a wall that divides the world of the fairies and the mortal world. Going closer to that wall means facing the terrible fairies. And yet, Feyre proceeds closer searching forever for food. So one day, she encounters a wolf, and she kills it. It was a fairy.
After coming back home, another fairy claims her. She took a life, so she must go with him to his court and face the consequences.
And so, a mortal enters into the Fae world. She is suspicious at the beginning. Plus, all the faeries she encounters have masks that cannot be taken off. A disease of sorts is consuming them, and it might also go beyond the wall to the human world.
Soon she starts to question how much she knows about the faeries. True, they can be brutal, but they seem so human sometimes. The more time she spends in the Spring Court, the more she learns, the more her heart starts to like Tamlin, the Lord of the land, the one who claimed her.
But, is he telling the whole truth? The disease turns to be a horrible enemy: Amarantha. She is ruthless, wants all humans dead, and plays horrible games on the fairies. She is a general, and yet she disobeys her King to get everything for her.
She gets to make great Fae friends, like Lucien. But also she gets bonded to Rhysand, a High Fae who is working for Amarantha. In fact, people know him by the name “Amarantha’s whore.” And yet, he is the only one helping when things go astray. Amarantha has taken Tamlin and the others prisoners in her Court under the Mountain.
What can a human do to save them? Well, play the twisted games of Amarantha. Here is when cruelty becomes harsh. Amarantha is a great villain, but she is also vain and underestimates Feyre. And so, Feyre beats her before dying.
Because of her sacrifice, she saves them all. And for that, all the High-Lords, including Rhysand and Tamlin, bring her back from the dead. But there’s a catch: she’s a High-Fae now.
I finished this book in only two days! It’s very easy to read. However, there are some parts that are harsh. Others are a little bit annoying. But I enjoyed this book a lot.
I already like one of the characters that I already encountered again in the second book: Rhysand, Rhys for friends. He’s a little bit like Loki, but is he so? And why? There’s more to him (and the others) that meets the eye!
You should give this series a try. It gets better by the minute.
Other reviews:
—
Note: this post contains affiliate links. I only share things that I love.
Copyright: Images on this post (C) ACOTAR (C) Charlie Bowater / Rating banner by dePepi.com
