I haven’t read fantasy since I was in middle school. I haven’t read romance since I was in high school. The world and themes just don’t appeal to me in books all that much. When the boy gets the girl (or the boy gets the boy or the girl gets the girl or whatever the story calls for), I am instantly bored. I like the chase. I like unrequited feelings throughout. The longing. The hurt. The rejection.
Why the fuck did I pick up A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Mass, an adult fantasy romance?
The answer is simple: BookTok kept on recommending it to me, and I decided to see what all the hype was about. It’s part of a series, so I picked up the first book fully expecting to sell it later when I ultimately added it to my DNF pile.
Folks, Void, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Brief Synopsis
A Court of Thorns and Roses follows Feyre, a young huntress who kills what she thinks is a wolf, but is actually a faerie. She is taken into custody by Tamlin, the masked High Lord of the Spring Court, to serve out a life sentence in exchange for not killing her for her crimes. When she makes it past the wall and into the realm, however, it’s not as it seems. She’s not treated as a prisoner, but as a guest. Constantly mistrustful of the High Fae, she tests her boundaries and tries to find a way to escape back to her family. But as time goes on, Tamlin starts to grow on her, and she’s not so sure she wants to leave anymore.
(It’s Beauty and the Beast with faeries. Just so we’re clear.)
Faeries and Orgies and Worms, Oh My!
While I was reading this gem, I had to take little breaks between scenes to laugh to myself if I was alone or do a dramatic retelling if I was with my fiancé. You might be wondering to yourself, “Manda, what do you mean by dramatic retelling?” Void, I mean breaking it down to its most bastardized version for some fucking laughs.
Two examples stick out in my memory. The first takes place in the first half of the book. Feyre is in the middle of realizing her feelings for Tamlin, and there’s a party going on that she has to stay in the castle for.
Here’s the exchange between Andrew and myself:
- Me: Dude. DUDE.
- Him: What?
- Me: So she mad.
- Him: Okay?
- Me: There’s this faerie party with a bonfire that’s gunna happen. And do you know what?
- Him: What?
- Me: She’s not fucking invited. She’s real upset.
- Him: Why isn’t she invited?
- Me: Well, one, she’s not a faerie. So that’s a thing. And two, the other faeries kinda want her dead. But she still wants to go.
- Him: You know, I can see where she’s coming from. Not getting invited sucks.
- Me: Yeah, she gunna go anyway. I’m calling it.
*a handful of pages later*
- Me: DUDE!
- Him: What?
- Me: She’s not invited because it’s a faerie ORGY party!!
- Him: Whoa.
- Me: Yeah! And she totally went and this other faerie had to save her from getting straight up no-no squared and Lucien is upsetti because now Tamlin is going to SMELL that she was THERE and holy SHIT BALLS.
- Him: …Why are they having an orgy without her?
- Me: Because Spring. And she mad because Tamlin is gunna do the dirty with another faerie and I just…I just cannot!
This exchange would have gone on for the next big scene, but Andrew fell asleep. How he could do that just when things were starting to get juicy I’ll never know.
The second example that sticks out was just a moment by myself on a night I promised myself just one more chapter and ended up finishing the rest of the book in one sitting. Feyre has to complete some trials Harry Potter style in order to save the entirety of the realm from an evil force. For the first trial, she is flung down into a maze and has to put her hunting skills to good use. She has to fight a creature of monstrous size with an innumerable amount of razor sharp teeth. Its name: the Middengard Wyrm. But I know the truth. I know where the worm really came from. From a land underwater. Near a pineapple.
It was an alaskaN BULL WORM!
This scene, this entire fucking scene, is so epic. Great fighting sequence, the stakes are astronomical, and I was afraid she wasn’t going to beat the fucker. But god damnit, I died when the beast had its big reveal.
Some Final Thoughts
I went into this with my expectations on the lowest setting. I hadn’t read anything like it in such a long time when horror and other disturbing books took the forefront. After this journey, I’m hooked, plain and simple. I have the second book on the way that I’m currently waiting impatiently for. I am so invested in Feyre and the rest of the crew in a way I wasn’t expecting.
If you get nothing else out of this, I urge you to get out of your comfort zone. Whether it be a new genre or a new author, don’t keep yourself in your own little box. Expand your horizons. Sure, sometimes it’s a total letdown, but other times, well, I’m planning on buying the whole series, so that’s a thing.
Rating-wise, I’d give A Court of Thorns and Roses a solid 7/10. There was nothing profound hidden in the pages, the start up was a little slow for me while it set up the world (nothing against the novel but rather something against fantasy books in general in my ever so humble opinion), but it was a fun read and easy to devour after I got into it. The story is straightforward, and the sexual tension is sprinkled throughout, and there is some truly violent, awesome scenes that give it that edge that kept me interested.
So here’s where I turn it over to you, Void. Have you ever picked up a book you thought you would hate but were pleasantly surprised by it? Let me know below!
Manda Kay Writes 