Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series 1-3, by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: ★★★★☆

Recommended: Yes, with restrictions

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, New Adult

Add it to your TBR: Goodreads, Skoob

I have decided to review the three books in one post instead of each one separately, but you can avoid any spoilers by skipping the paragraphs of books you haven’t read yet and go directly to the spoiler-free Verdict!

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a series that tells the story of Feyre, a huntress. One day she kills a wolf to bring home its prey, and it changes her life forever. The life of the magical creature she killed must be payed with her own – and she is imprisoned for life in the land of fairies, which she loathes and fears. But they aren’t as she imagined them to be, and little by little she discovers there are many lies and only a little truth to the tales she heard since she was a child…

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Book #1 A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Court of Thorns and Roses was a deliciously addictive read! I absolutely loved the world crafting and the writing was magical and lush, but not excessively so. I thought this was a young adult novel, but I was wrong – it’s definitely New Adult! Most of the book is dedicated to the slow-burn romance with lots of tension that I actually enjoyed a lot, but I do wish it’d been kept shorter, as the last 50-70 pages are really damn good and a solid 5 stars from me. I loved the dark, twisted tale and I hope the next books will have more adventure, action, magic and trickery! I loved the characters and the fairy-tale feeling of it, this dark fantasy story became very quickly a favorite for me.

That being said, I don’t think this book is for everyone, as the male love interest is very domineering and the romance can be easily seen as a Stockholm syndrome situation (much like The Beauty and The Beast, which inspires this book). For me it read like a guilty-pleasure book, but I would refrain from recommending it to younger people!

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Book #2 A Court of Mist and Fury: GODDAMN. I am hooked. This book felt longer than it needed to be, there was lots of exploring the background stories of characters, which felt at times too long and info-dumpy, specially because at the time I didn’t particularly care for those characters so much. But oh my god, this book is so addictive I read it until 4am and had to refrain myself from finishing it by 6am. The last 100 pages completely blew my mind and I am completely in love. Much like the first, this second book continues its dark tone, and the romance is so good I completely forgive the things that upset me on the first book. I also loved that it showed Feyre’s depression and PTSD in such a realistic way.

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Book #3 A Court of Wings and Ruin: Funnily enough, I loved the beginning of the book more than the rest of it! ACOMAF leaves us with Feyre going with Tamlin back to the Spring Court, and I could just not wait to see what revenge she would come up with. I love the development of Feyre’s powers, her role as High Lady and her relationship with Rhys. The political intrigue throughout was very fascinating to read, but it felt at times that the book got lots going on and didn’t develop on each topic enough. I still loved it so much and it was very entertaining a read.

Verdict: I’m in love with this dark fantasy series. It’s heavy on the romance side, and I loved it. The world building is so lush and gorgeous, the characters are complex, strong and powerful. It was incredibly easy to immerse right into the world. I simply had to binge-read this series. I recommend it if you don’t mind goriness and darker themes in general (check the trigger warnings below). Otherwise, this series will grab your heart with its long, twisted fingers and not let go.

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, sexual themes, goriness, murder, torture, depression, abusive relationships.