BOOK REVIEW | A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 416

Date Started: 13/02/23

Date Finished: 04/03/23

Rating: 1/5

REVIEW

******* THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK *******

I won't start this review off with a synopsis as I usually do for two reasons- the first being that this book is so well known on social media, and the second is that the plot is honestly super basic that I don't feel like its necessary for me to bother typing about it, and waste your time reading it.

As I mentioned above, this book is so popular and has been on my feeds on TikTok and Instagram for way too long. It is so highly spoken about and people will tell you that its the greatest book/series they've ever read. Now, when you see everyone carrying on about it like this, you become curious and want to see what the fuss is about for yourself, right? Well that's what I did, and if you can tell by the length of time it took me to read it, you can see which way this review is heading...

I want to begin by stating that this is the first Sarah J. Maas book that I've ever read so I don't really have anything to compare this too. I was super excited to start this book and a little nervous as well. I was nervous because this book, and even the series is so highly spoken about that I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it like the majority of people who have read it. Unfortunately, this has happened. I read this book as a buddy read, and its lucky I did otherwise I would've DNF it from the beginning and moved onto my next read. Being an avid fantasy reader, I understand that books, especially the first one in a series, centres more around world building and creating the foundation of the plot for the book/series. I get it. But this book did it way too much. I've read books with a more dense and complex plot that didn't bore me or drag at the start like ACOTAR did. I was stuck at the beginning of the book for a very, very long time wondering how the hell I was going to get through this. I kept pushing myself and motivating myself to pick it up and continuing because I didn't want to fall behind and DNF a book that was a buddy read. I mean, how embarrassing to do that especially when it was MY idea to buddy read this book! LOL!

The plot is very slow, boring and extremely basic. It was that bad that I had to ask the other girls who have read it and were in the buddy read if they thought the same or was there something wrong with me for not enjoying it. Fortunately, I was not alone. The girls informed me that it doesn't start getting good until around 300 pages in. 300 PAGES! At that point, I was ready to give up. I mean, who wants to read a story and have to wait until page 300 onwards for the plot to really begin? And this is what baffles me because of the hype and anticipation around the series! I understand that the SERIES might be fantastic, but who would want to continue reading a series if the first book was skatá? (sh*t in Greek). Not only was the plot slow and dragging, it was also repetitive. The dialogue and even the protagonists internal dialogue was absolute CRINGE! I got sick and tired of hearing about her worrying about her family. We get it Feyre, you're the youngest sister and taking care of your family.I don't understand how the youngest is looking after the older siblings and dad, but WE. GET. IT! I was so frustrated with the protagonist that I wanted to physically jump into Prythian and slap some sense into her myself. After having to deal with repetitive and cringe-worthy dialogue, I was then faced with her obsession with painting and wanting to paint this and that. It was so beautiful I wouldn't know how to paint it. *insert throwing up emoji* uh maybe because you're a sh*t painter? (not me over here throwing hate on a fictional character LOL).

At this point I was still holding on to the thin strand of hope that I was promised was waiting for me at page 300. Counting down the pages as I read until I got to page 300 and thought ''great, let the excitement begin.'' HA was I fooled yet again! There was no excitement. It was so predictable and so stupid! An answer to a riddle solved the day and broke the curse. I'm sorry but what is that nonsense? And to top it off the answer itself was just...ugh...crap and again super cringe! Im actually laughing out loud as I type this and thinking about how much time I wasted reading this book. It just feels too amateur to be so highly spoken of. I feel like it lacked in so many ways to be rated a 5 star read by many people. Yes I understand that this is a YA book, but come on, there needs to be more creativity than this! Readers shouldn't have to wait 300 pages long for a plot to begin. This book gave me Beauty and the Beast wanna-be vibes with an attempt to add a little smut to it. There was no capture from the very beginning and that was what disappointed me the most. Like I said, if this wasn't a buddy read I would've honestly given up at chapter 2.

I could keep going but I think I will stop here with this review as I don't want to offend people more than I probably already have. Will I read this book again? Definitely not and its probably not a book I'd recommend to anyone either. If I've learnt anything from this experience, its to never trust TikTok for book recommendations LOL. In saying this though, since I've already purchased the series, and also since apparently the other books are fantastic, I will continue reading them just not straight away. I need a little break from the ACOTAR fantasy world and return to it when Im ready. I am hoping the second books lives up to the hype everyone is giving it.

Hope you enjoyed my honest review! :)

Until next week,

Andrea.