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falon 's review for:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
2.0
I finished this literally a month ago lol but I've been putting it off for some reason. I want to be clear, I did try to go into this as unbiased as possible. I really wanted to like this book. 1, because I actually don’t enjoy hate reading all that much. 2, I didn’t want any analysis I did after the fact to seem as if it’s done in bad faith — that’s not fair to people who read my reviews. It’s also not fair to me, and my integrity as a reader. Reading is my hobby; there should never be a reason to play smoke and mirrors with my thoughts. Maybe one day I will do an actual review, but for now I will just say that this book did not work for me. Enjoy this list: 

  1. The world info-dumping
    1. There is one character that literally only exists to tell Feyre things about the Faerie world
  2. The writing
    1. Extremely overwritten in some areas. Fell into cliches a lot.
  3. Characters
    1. Feyre: starts out strong, but becomes so passive in the story that it was a bit like reading from the perspective of a wet blanket. She had no other personality trait besides loving painting. the amount of paint analogies in this book, were superfluous. She literally can only relate to things in terms of painting. The third act helps develop her character a little more (not really), but she becomes more active in the story and also in agency?
    2. Tamlin: I literally do not know this man. He could be walking down the street and I wouldn't know who he was. Sorry to this man. No, but seriously, he was always going out fighting some monsters on his land. Genuinely surprised Feyre could “fall in love with him” he was BARELY with her.
    3. Rhysand: I thought he would become a character I really like but he’s honestly just really sketchy and did some very dubious consent type things in this novel. I also feel like we weren’t able to see much depth to his character. He’s also much more important in the third act than in any other act.
    4. Lucien: I mean, he seems okay. I do not know this man.
    5. Nesta: she has a relatively minor role in this novel but I have to say out of all the characters I do find her the most interesting. I am refraining from saying I like her, because tbh we didn’t spend enough time with her for me to like her but I do find her character arc more interesting than Feyre’s…which is kinda sad. There was legit a part where I thought, “I would much rather be reading this from Nesta’s perspective than Feyre’s” and it’s literally not because I like her better but because Nesta is just a thousand times more interesting. I’m sorry, Feyre was just very bland in this book.
    6. The other sister and dad: yeah.
  4. The romance
    1. I’m not even sure we can call it a romance. Rushed is not the word to describe Feyre and Tamlin’s love story. No, the best word is unfounded. I didn’t feel invested in their love story nor did I feel like they actually liked each other. They were barely together! Their blandness multiplied x1000 when they were together.
  5. The villain
    1. It’s hard to feel the stakes of Amarantha’s tale. She’s a villain that isn’t very present for most of the book. Well, that’s not true—I mean, Faerie kind is is definitely being affected by her evilness but she’s not a very immediate villain. This is one of my critiques for this. Feyre’s supposed to be this badass but all of the conflict felt super superficial. It was mostly Tamlin taking care of it offscreen or Feyre having to be saved. IDK it felt hard for me to feel the stakes as a reader because not once did I ever feel like Feyre was actually in danger. Although, it could be that I wouldn’t care if Feyre died. At any rate, I think for something that’s supposed to be so immediate, and so horrible and deadly, the “villainy” plot line was introduced or (sped up?) wayyyy too late. 
  6. Is this a Beauty and the Beast retelling?
    1. Simply put, no. I think this is one aspect where I can wholeheartedly say that Maas genuinely failed. I feel like Beauty has such a very specific morality to it that it’s hard to separate it, as Maas attempts to do with the character of Amarantha. And it’s sad because there were definitely scenes that I felt were reminiscent of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It was a valiant attempt. But the muddled motives of the villain really just seal this as unsuccessful, in my opinion.
    2. Most of it is so external (like the Beastliness), the beastliness of the original tale is an internal moral battle. Idk if this makes sense.
  7. Because I feel like I should say something I enjoyed: I really liked the first two chapters. It felt pretty atmospheric. I also thought the ending was really interesting (not the riddle lol) and it seemed like a clever way to set things up for the next book.