ACOTAR Review

    Feyre lives a normal, poor life. At least, until she is hunting for food for her family and kills a wolf. After this, a creature comes to her home demanding that she pays for what she did. The creature brings her to the place that all humans have been taught to fear- the magical land of the faeries. The monster turns out to be one of them, Tamlin. At first, she is scared of and hostile towards him, but as her time with him goes on, her feelings grow until all she feels is passion. She is forced to remember, though, that the world of the Fae can be both beautiful and dangerous. A darkness is spreading over the land, and the human Feyre is left to stop it from consuming Tamlin and his world.

    Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin:

    I was seriously mind-blown by this book. With the way so many bookish accounts rave about this series and author in general, I had near impossible expectations going in. I was definitely scared that I would be let down because of this, thinking there was no way my expectations could possibly be met, let alone exceeded. Well, here comes the mind-blowing part: Sarah J. Maas went COMPLETELY above and beyond my expectations. I officially have extremely high standards for fantasy books because of this book.

    This is supposed to be an adaptation of the classic Beauty and the Beast story. I felt that the author did such a nice job of taking the basics of that story and making something completely fresh and unique. I also was getting some major Cinderella vibes with Feyre's two sisters. They do not follow all of the requirements to properly match to Cinderella and this opinion changed as I got more towards the second half, but in the beginning it was definitely something that popped into my head.

    One of the things I most admire about this book is the character development. All of the characters, with the exception of one major and maybe one or two more minor, went through pretty significant changes. I really loved watching this happen. The characters were already great enough, but watching them grow into better people made me feel so proud of them. Since I'm already talking about characters, I'll just put it out there that they were all so good, even the pure wicked ones. In other words, they were written very well. All are so strong in a variety of ways and are extremely intriguing.

    This series is only the second one that I have read that revolves around the world of faeries. Due to this, I was a bit worried that I would get confused. This happened a little in the first series, though I was able to understand fairly well because the author is amazing. I did not get confused or have a hard time imagining anything at any point in this book. Maas provided descriptions of everything expertly. I was easily able to watch a movie in my head as I read.

    The romance- oh, the romance. I think I was rooting for Feyre and Tamlin a little too fast and too much, but I just love them together so much. They bring out the best in each other and their relationship does not just have a spark- it has a blazing fire. All of the romance was done very well, and I am truly glad for that for more than just the cuteness of it. The relationship is at the heart of everything; therefore, if it was not done well, the whole book would crash and burn. I am pleased to report that this did not happen.

    I believe this is important to mention since I discussed the romance and how it is such a major part of the book. Some of the scenes are pretty inappropriate. I mean, I was actually blushing a bit at times and became very appreciative that I was not in a place people could read over my shoulders. These types of scenes happen a couple of times in the book, so it kinda pushes the YA boundaries in my opinion. However, one of the times was really significant to me for reasons that are probably not expected. In fact, I was so wrapped up in the meaning behind it I was hardly focused on the scene getting more and more intimate. What I am trying to say is, this book may not be a good choice for the lower part of the intended YA age range, but the intimate scenes, one in particular, are about so much more than just the basic intimacy. I really hope that makes sense, and I am sorry if it doesn't.

    The cover, map, and entire interior of the book are gorgeous! I really appreciated the map because it was useful to look back on at time while reading. I appreciate the cover and interior designs just because they are so nice to look at, and the outer designs make my bookshelf look so much prettier, haha.

    Overall, I without a doubt would highly recommend this book. It had be captivated the entire time, and I adored everything about it. In fact, this review was a tad shorter than my normal ones because I cannot wait to start reading the second book, but I cannot do that until I finish the review! This book soared straight to the top of my favorites list. Absolute perfection!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury

# of Pages: 416 (419 with acknowledgments) 

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Fae, Romance

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses (book 1)