Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Romantasy, Magic

What It’s about: Feyre waits hidden in the middle of a wintry forest for any sort of game that could come out at this time of year. She’s had to wander further into the forest than ever before, but she spots a doe–it would keep her family alive for the next two weeks. Unfortunately, she also notices a wolf watching the doe, and has to make snap decisions as it goes after it. She uses the ash arrow that she purchased a few years ago from a merchant, because it was claimed to be the only thing that can kill the fae, and faeries believed to be living on the other side of the Wall. She shoots the wolf-an extremely large one–in its side, and then as it powers her with intelligence, she shoots it through the eye, killing it. She returns home with the doe and the hide of the wolf to her oldest sisters and her father, who now walks with a limp after creditors came after him when she was 11 and destroyed his knee. This incident had been a result of a loss of their fortune. Nesta and Elain remember that life, but Feyre has few memories of that time–their mother had died when she was eight.

The next day, Feyre goes into town and sells the hide to the mercenary, who gives her news that there are rumors of fae coming across the Wall and pillaging towns on the border. The woman warns Feyre to stay away from those woods or the dead wolf would not be the least of her problems, and regales Feyre with her own stories of surviving the fae.

That night, after all of them had eaten, and Feyre put away seconds for another time, a beast with horns, a lupine face and feline grace bursts through the door, demanding to know who killed Andras, the wolf. Feyre stands up to him and tells him the truth, while her father and sisters cower. The beast tells her that the treaty requires a life for a life–the treaty signed between the humans and fae–when his life was taken unprovoked. She asks him to kill her outside, but he offers her to live out the rest of her days in Prythian–the faerie lands. Her father, at first, offers the Beast money, but then tells her to never come back; to escape and then find a place to make something better of herself. She tells Nesta, on her way out, to not marry Tomas Mandrake as his father is a wife beater and he and his brothers do nothing to stop it.

Feyre and the beast trek through the woods, until he gets to a white horse, and asks her to get on it; then they take of through the woods, to the wall. At some point, Feyre smells a metallic tang and is knocked out. When she wakes up, they are in a manor, and the fae tells her to get off the horse and into his house. He offers her food, but she won’t take it because legends say that they will keep her there if she eats. She gets washed and dressed in nicer clothes–a tunic and pants before she rejoins her captor, who had shifted into his humanoid fae form, upon his entrance to the dining room. He is joined by another man, whose name is Lucien, in the room, and Lucien advocates for Feyre’s death for what she had done to Andras. Her captor, who reveals his name is Tamlin, responds by telling Lucien off and he packs a plate for her full of food before giving it to Feyre to eat.

Feyre wants to escape and is warned against it by Tamlin. She decides to appeal to Lucien who does not seem to want her there. So she goes on a ride with him to patrol, which was Andras’s job, and he is doing it in Andras’s honor even though Lucien is the Emissary of these lands. During their ride, he tells her that he will not go to Tamlin on her behalf to free her. They encounter a Bogge–a faerie that will try to get you to look at them, and then will kill you. Lucien tells Tamlin about it when they return, and Tamlin goes out to hunt it. He does return harmed one day, after killing the bogge, though it has poison that would slow the fae’s regeneration powers enough so that you can kill the fae. Feyre is up when he returns and helps him bandage it so that he can still use his hand.

The same day that they encountered the Bogge, Feyre sees her dad at the gate and thinks that he is here to save her. Tamlin stopes her and explains to her that it was a puc–a different faerie that takes on shapes to lure you out into the dark and then kills you.

Feyre learns about the blight taking over the land–it happened 50 years ago during a celebration for Tamlin, when he came into his shape-shifting abilities and has permanently left the mask attached to the faces of these fae. Tamlin can shift not just himself but also other fae, though he uses it to shift his sentinels mostly. The blight is spreading and may spread to the human world, but as it spreads in Prythian, it is impacting their magic and weakening wards that result in faeries and beasts slipping in to the different courts where they really shouldn’t be able to do so.

Having enough of not getting answers, Feyre asks Lucien how would he trap a Suriel–a faerie that will answer questions. He gives her an answer, a knife and a bow with a full quiver of arrows and tells her that he will be posted facing a particular wood, so he may be able to help if he hears a scream–all theoretical, of course. Feyre actually manages to go and snare one of the Suriel, who reveals to her that Tamlin is a high lord–not just High fae–of the Spring court. The Suriel tells her to stick with the High Lord and she will be safe, also confirming that there is no way for her to leave Prythian due to the treaty. They are attacked by four naga–faeries that look nightmarish, and Feyre saves the Suriel before she starts running. She manages to kill one of the naga, but then gets surrounded. Tamlin saves her, and they go back home. Alis, her handmaid, tells her to ask her for help next time instead of listening to Lucien.

Feyre watches as Tamlin brings in a screaming Fae, who is bleeding everywhere. The screaming Fae is crying about his wings, which have been torn off by a “she.” Feyre quickly realizes that there is nothing that can be done when Tamlin says that the bleeding won’t stop, so she holds the fae’s hand, telling him that he will get his wings back. Tamlin says a prayer and the fae ends up dying. Tamlin then walks Feyre to her room, and asks why she would do that. She tells him that she wouldn’t like dying alone and that no matter who they are–human or fae–they should not have to die alone.

Calanmai–the Fire Night happens–Feyre has been told to stay away, but she cannot help herself and goes to check it out. She gets caught by three faeries who clearly are not part of Tamlin’s court because they do not have masks. They walk her into the woods until they come across an exceptionally beautiful male and the three quake in fear, leaving Feyre alone with that fae male. He tells her that she is welcome, and asks her a few questions, though she lies in her responses. Feyre goes back to the Fire and is spotted by Lucien, who takes her back to their mansion, and explains to Feyre the truth about the night and the Great Rite that Tamlin partakes in by choosing a female instinctually to have sex with that night in order to replenish the magic in the land. He tells her that she wouldn’t like this version of Tamlin, which Lucien will now have to go convince to pick another once he scents Feyre in the air. Later that night, Feyre wakes up and wanders the house, only to encounter Tamlin coming back from the wild, still half-wild himself, and he admits that he searched for her but then chose another girl because the magic made him do it. He corners her, and bites her on her neck, leaving a bruise, but then he releases her, not taking it any further.

Feyre initially asked Tamlin to show her a study–which was a huge library, and she started to teach herself to read because she wanted to write a letter to her family to warn them. Tamlin offers to write it for her, but she declines, choosing to go through the books, and write down words she doesn’t know how to pronounce or ones for which she doesn’t know the meaning. She sees the Mural in the library detailing the history of their land, which Las makes no reference of the human. Feyre throws out the list and later goes back to find it but it is gone. Tamlin reads the list one night, and she recognizes the words, though he jokes that she must want to kill him, because these words are not kind. Later still, he writes 5 limericks for her with the 2nd and 4th lines containing words that she wrote down and he reads it with her.

Tamlin reveals to her that he was a child when the war happened and that his father and his two older brothers did not particularly want to give up their human salves. He did not want to be ike them and he also did not want to be the High Lord, but it happened when his family was killed by a different fae. Feyre asks for paint, and Tamlin tells her that they do have a gallery. He has it cleaned up and gets her paint, but in the day or two it takes for all of it to be prepared, he takes her to a glen–one of his favorite from his childhood, and they swim in the starlight pond. Feyre reveals that she figured out how to swim just like she figured out how to hunt. She also told him at some point that her mom died, and her dad lost their fortune. Feyre explained that her father had taken a gamble on some ships and a crossing that was particularly dangerous, and the ships were indeed lost, which put the whole family into debt. Tamlin reveals that Lucien is the 7th son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court, and that the title is passed down to the strongest Fae, not by order of birth. As such, Lucien went around making friends across the courts, because he didn’t think he had a chance, and he fell in love with a lesser Fae, who was not good enough for him in his family eyes. His father had her killed while his brothers held him down, and it resulted in him defecting to the Spring Court, where Tamlin made him his Emissary because of his friendships and his ability to take with others, something that Tamlin himself isn’t good at. On their way back to the manor, Lucien apologizes to her about not coming to her aid when she screamed after being attacked by the naga. He gives her a bejeweled dagger in apology.

Tamlin asks her why she cares so much about her family despite them not being grateful for all that they had because of her. And she tells him that it is because she made a promise to her mom on her deathbed that she would always take care of and look after them. He tells her that her promise is fulfilled–her family is well taken care of and that their memories have been glamoured to think that Feyre went to take care of an extremely rich aunt.

Tamlin shows her the gallery and Feyre loves it–she has no words on it beyond thank you, and he tells her that it makes him happy that it is being utilized. She paints in her studio, but does not let Lucien or Tamlin go in, and only takes Tamlin there when she is ready–after a romantic dinner–and shows him her paintings. Tamlin loves her forest–the one she’d go to hunt–and is angry when he realizes that she was present when her father got pummeled within an inch of his life. He also seems to be jealous of the painting of Feyre and Isaac in the hay together. Tamlin tells her that he ultimately wants her painting of the forest. He then takes her to another field and gives her fae senses temporarily that enable her to see and experience things the way he does. She also sees Tamlin without the glamour, and all the other faeries on the estate unglamoured, which surprises her; the manor is not as empty as she had thought.

They are eating lunch when Tamlin has Feyre headed to the corner of the curtains, and Lucien stands in front of her to guard her, pretending to look out the window, as part of the glamour to hide her. Tamlin sits in his chair nonchalantly as the gorgeous man from Calanmai strolls in–Rhysand, as Tamlin calls him. They exchange words and Rhysand makes mention of a person–Amarantha–who seems to have Tamlin and Lucien quaking. Rhysand realizes that there was a third person at the table, and asks about the guests, then realizes that she’s been glamoured. Lucien bites out a response that it is his fiancé and after a little while Tamlin begs Rhysand to not tell Amarantha about Feyre. Rhysand has them both beg–Lucien and Tamlin–on their knees, prostrating themselves in from to him to not reveal her existence, and then he leaves anyway without confirming that he will.

Tamlin visits her later and tells her that he has taken the debts that she was under the treaty for taking Andras’s life, and is sending her home. They spend the night together in her bed, having sex and Tamlin tells her he loves her- She thinks she dreams it. The next morning, she gets dressed finely, and sent back in a carriage across the wall. Tamlin tell her that he loves her and that they will see each other again. fey tells him that her paintings are his. She is then sent off, with a heavy heart, across the wall–once again magic is used to knock her out.

Feyre arrives at a beautiful manor and is astounded to find that it is where her family lives. At first, Nest and Elain do not recognize her, but are very happy she is back once they do. Nesta is still a quiet person, but Elain tells her that they have sent letters to her and that Nesta once went to try visit her, only for her carriage to break down. Elaine tells Feyre that a man convinced their dad to invest his money for him, and their dad made even more money, and that the missing ships had been found. She shows Feyre her garden and how well she’s liked. Feyre also learns that a healer gave their dad a salve that helped his leg and the lim, and their father is fascinated by all the jewels that Feyre had brought back from this Aunt Ripleigh. Ultimately, Feyre is one of the richest women in town, and she takes some of that money, returning to their old town, where she shares their wealth with the impoverished families.

Feyre hangs out at her home with her family for a couple of weeks, and her father throws her a ball. But before he does, Nesta comes up to her while Feyre is alone in Elain’s garden making a square for Elain, and reveals that she knows that Aunt Ripleigh doesn’t exist; that she remembers it all and that she made the two day trek to the wall alone and back because she could not find a way through. Feyre tells her everything. They spend a few days together painting, and Feyre sticks around Nesta during the ball.

Then, one night, Nesta and Elain are talking about a friend from the village whose house was burnt down with everyone in it, except for the girl herself. When Feyre hears the name Clare Beddor, which is the name she gave Rhysand, she knows that it was the fae who did this and that things are wrong in the Spring Court. She tells Nesta to keep her eyes and ears open, but to forget about her; pretend that Feyre doesn’t exist, and fi she so much as hears about anything from Prythian coming for them, she packs up Elain and their father, and they sail across the ocean, where she makes something of herself. At Feyre’s mention of Prythian, both Elain and their father seem to snap out of a fog. Feyre changes, grabs her bow and knives, and as she races out, Elain tells her that she remembers everything now. Feyre tells her that she’s sorry she cannot go to the continent with Elain, but they all know that she has to do this.

Feyre runs through the woods, doing the 2 day journey trek, and finds that the wall is actually an invisible barrier. It is solid too, so she keep her hand on the wall until she comes across an entrance, and makes her way through. She walks all the way to the manor, and finds it destroyed–ruined gates, twisted metal, furniture destroyed. She finds Alis, and Alis bares her feet at Feyre, telling her in anger that Feyre could have saved them had she told Tamlin she loved him back. Alis explains the situation to Feyre–Amarantha was a general for King Hybern, and she had a sister named Clynthia, who fell in love with a human man, Jurgien, who used her for knowledge and then killed her. Amarantha battled him and won, and then went back with King Hybern to his lands. She returned some 50 years ago with her eyes on Tamlin–the son of one of the men who supported her–as she fancied him. He told her no, that he would rather be with a human than with her because he’s heard of her true nature. So, Amarantha had a ball, and invited everyone that was with the Spring Court, asking them to wear masks. Then she cursed them seven times seven years to b like this. If Tamlin could find a human who killed his innocent men with hate in her heart, and who then fell in love with him, she would grant him and his court their freedom. Amarantha had come three days after Feyre left and there is one more thing about this curse, but Alis is unable to tell her because it seems that there is a block on that information, just like there used to be on the curse. Feyre asks her how to get Under the Mountain, and with additional convincing, Alis takes her to a cave entrance and wishes her luck. Feyre tells her to take her boys, now knowing the truth about Alis’s family and run to her sister.

She goes through the cave, and unfortunately she is caught by the Attor, who drags her back to the throne room, where Feyre reveals that she is here to get Tamlin back because she loves him. Amarantha tells her all that torture she did to Clare Beddor, whose body hangs in the hall, which makes Feyre sick. Amarantha asks Rhysand to confirm it’s her, and he tells her that humans look all the same to him, so what could he do if she gave him a different name. Amarantha tells Feyre that she will release Tamlin and his court, immediately, if Feyre is able to answer a riddle, or she has to go through three trials–one on each full moon of the next three months. Feyre, not seeing anything wrong or any loopholes in the deal, takes it. Amarantha tells the crowd to give her a welcome–and she is punched and kicked. She later wakes up in the dungeon and realizes that her nose is broken. Lucien comes to check on her, and heals that as well as lowers the swelling. Sometime later, Amarantha has her brought up to get her name–but neither Tamlin nor Lucien reveal it, even when Rhysand tries to get it out of them. Amarantha is going to have Lucien killed, when Feyre gives her first name to her. Amarantha also gives her a riddle, but Feyre does not know the answer, even after mulling it over for a couple of days. Her first trial is based off of her skills as a huntress, something that Amarantha had found out about her. Feyre faces off against a giant earthworm with teeth. She manages to momentarily escape it, finding its lair, and with an idea from one of the onlookers, she uses the bones to make herself a ladder to get out of the pits, and create a trap for the worm. Then, she puts the mud on herself and her clothing to hide her scent. She finds the worm, cuts open her arm for blood, and with Lucien’s help, she narrowly avoids it as it crashes through the earth after her. She leads it back to the pit, and kills it by jumping into the trap herself and when it follows her, it gets impaled. She gets out of the pit and Amarantha tells her that she has lost a lot of people money as everyone but one person bet against her. Feyre is returned to her cell and realizes that she has a wound. She comes down with a fever, and Rhysand visits her. He offers to heal her in exchange for her to come visit his court for two weeks out of the month. At first, Feyre denies his help, but he tells her that Lucien is in trouble for his outburst, and who knows when he will be able to come to her aid. She agrees to his help, but negotiates the visit to one week per month. Rhysand agrees, and fixes her hand, leaving behind a tattoo on her arm–a custom in his court for deals to be inked into the skin.

Feyre starts doing chores, but they seem to be impossible tasks–first she is to wash a marble floor with dirty water. The lady of the Autumn court helps her by giving her clean water as thanks for sparing Lucien. Then she is told to clean out the lentils from the fireplace in someone’s bedroom. Turns out, it is Rhysand’s bedroom, and he arrives before her guards so he helps her clean out the lentils magically. He threatens the guards and tells them no more chores for her. Instead, he has his minions wash her and paint her body with ink matching her tattoo. He tells her that it is to know if anyone else touched her as she is dressed in a skimpy dress. He takes her to the throne room, tells Amarantha that they’ve made a deal, though Tamlin does not react, and then he tells Feyre to drink the faerie wine. The next morning, Feyre is dealing with the after-effects of the wine when Lucien shows up complaining that she should have waited for him, to which she points out that he’s not aware of how quickly the wound could have killed her.

For her second trial, Amarantha asks her if she figured out the riddle–she hadn’t, and Amarantha laughs, saying she would have delighted in the answer. The floor that Feyre is on, sinks down, creating a pit. She is on one side and on the other side, Lucien is brought out and chained to the floor. Amarantha tells Feyre that she has to pull one of the three levers correctly answering a question that is on the wall in order to save them both. Spikes start to come down towards them, and Feyre cannot read, so she reasons that option #2 is correct, while Lucien is screaming at her to just pick one. She reaches out and touches the lever, but her tattooed hand is in pain. She tries lever #1–same thing–and when she touches lever #3, there is no pain. She realizes that Rhysand is helping her through the tattoo and so she chooses #3. The spikes pull back and she rises to the top. Rhysand coaches her on what to do via a mental link, and she walks away.

Another month passes, during which Rhysand keeps taking Feyre out and getting her drunk on Faerie wine so that she doesn’t recall anything. All he does is touch her or have her sit on his lap. During one such party, when Rhysand doesn’t call for her, she brushes her hand against Tmalin’s at the table, and then he has her follow. They go through a door and start making out, by Rhysand finds them and orders Tamlin out, removing the ink from his hands. Feyre and Rhysand argue about it, and why he cares–when he hears someone coming and kisses Feyre. Amarantha enters with Tamlin and clucks that human hearts are fickle when she sees them kissing. Rhysand sends her off and later comes to see her in her cell, where he reveals that he was part of the group that killed Tamlin’s father and brothers–his father was the one who killed them with Rhysand’s help. He also reveals that he is playing a game–stroking Tamlin’s fury, because that is what will help Tamlin bring Amarantha down, once the curse breaks. He is purposefully getting her drunk on wine so that it can all be blamed on Amarantha, including Feyre’s deal with him. One day, while Feyre is being taken by Rhysand’s minions to be prepared, they hide her in shadow and she overhears the actor talking to another faerie about Amarantha. The minions tell her that it’s trouble.

The final trial comes and Feyre is returned to her own clothing. Amarantha tells her that her trial is to stab 3 foes with ash wood daggers. Feyre struggles through this–having a hard time killing the first boy who begs her not to go through with it. She kills him. The second is a woman who starts praying and repeats part of the prayer, essentially signaling to Feyre to kill her. The third one is Tamlin, which surprises her because she thought Tmalin was sitting next to Amarantha, but it was the Attor disguised as Tamlin. She does not think that she can go through with it, but then remembers that Alis had told her to listen–and she recalls all the times that Tamlin had let her eavesdrop; two instances in which someone mentioned his stone heart. She realizes that she never felt his heartbeat and that Amarantha wouldn’t have put him in this position if she knew something else, considering that she wants him. Feyre realizes that is how Amarantha has been controlling the high lords–their magic through their hearts. She looks at Tamlin, who has realized that she’s figured it out. She tells I’m that she loves him and then pierces his chest until the blade bounces off. It comes out and Tamlin starts healing. Amarantha flies into a rage and begins to pummel Feyre in order to get her to admit that she doesn’t love Tamlin. She had told Feyre that the immediate freedom would have only applied other solving the riddle, but not the trials. As Amarantha breaks her body, Feyre tells her that she knows the answer to the riddle: Love. She watches Rhysand try to fight against Amarantha, only to be beat back, but as her body dies, and she floats up, she watches the scene–Tamlin kills Amarantha, after being set free, and using his rage, he spikes her head with a sword and then tears out her throat.

Feyre watches as all of the High Lords come up to her body, now held by Tamlin and give her light. Tamlin does too, and Rhysand brings her consciousness back. She wakes up having been granted High Fae status, something that is rarely granted. Tamlin takes her to a quiet room after meetings with the High Lords, and they sleep. Feyre feels a tugging and follows that feeling until he comes across Rhysand in a tower–he had called her. He tells her that now she is going to go live in Spring Court for the rest of her life–but she reminds him that he has her for one week a month. He looks at her, stumbles in surprise, and the disappears.

Tamlin and Feyre are the last to leave Under the Mountain, crumbling the last exit to Amarantha’s Court, and they head home to Spring Court, where Feyre hears the laughter of kids–Alis and her nephews–and is glad to be back home with Tamlin.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book and from the outset I thought it was fascinating that there were parallels between this story and Beauty of the Beast (I looked it up later, and indeed it was supposed to be a retelling of the classic fairytale, according to some information from the author). The only differences in the retelling is that we don’t have the villagers from Feyre’s village banding together and coming after the beast, and Feyre is the one that changes from her human form to her fae form.

My only issue with this book is that there is no passion, no fiery moments between Feyre and Tamlin–even the stolen kisses in the room in Amarantha’s court do not feel like they are passionate with each other, which is something I would like to see in these fantasy books that have a romance element. It feels more like friends kissing and not yet figuring out that they don’t work…so perhaps Feyre and Tamlin aren’t meant to be in this series?

I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, which I purchased at the Strand Bookstore in New York City, and a girl had commented on it that this second book is 10 times better than the first one. I really hope so, as I’ve been a bit lukewarm about the book so far, just because that passion isn’t there, and it’s kind of hard to believe that Feyre would go this far for Tamlin despite a lack of passion. Again, perhaps it’s a tool to get her into the world of the fae, and she’s meant to be with someone else. Looks like I’ll find out in book 2!