The Girl Saves the Boy (and his entire species) - ACOTAR
- Raven Sharada
- Apr 7, 2022
- 6 min read

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first novel in the series of the same name, called ACOTAR by its fans. It's a high fantasy novel set in an unnamed area, though the map at the beginning of the book looks a little like Great Britain. I started reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, the fourth book in my 100 book challenge, on April 2 and finished on April 3. It's not a long book, and it was hard to put down. It took some convincing to actually put in the bookmark on Saturday and allow myself to get some sleep.
Summary
The story follows Feyre (pronounced fay-ruh - thanks SJM for sneaking in that pronunciation tip), a poor girl who lives with two older sisters and her crippled father. She is the only one willing to work to earn a living for their family, as they used to be wealthy and her sisters won't lift a finger to help. Their father is still depressed from the loss of both his wife and his fortune, and does little besides stare into the fire. Feyre had to find a way to care for her family, and the only way she could do that was by hunting for their food. So, she taught herself to use a bow and arrows, track prey, and set snares.

One evening as she is stalking a doe in the forest, dangerously close to the border with Prythian (the mysterious and terrifying land of the faeries), she finds she is not the only one with eyes on the deer. A massive wolf, it seems, is also hungry. At first, Feyre hesitates, not sure if this is really just a wolf - it's so large, she thinks perhaps it is one of the High Fae or a faerie, and is reluctant to kill it. However, she and her family need the meat from the doe, and so when the wolf pounces, she shoots it with her best arrow - one made from ash and iron, which should kill even a faerie, if that's what this creature is.
Unfortunately for Feyre and her family, it turns out that the wolf was indeed High Fae, the humanoid shapeshifters who rule Prythian. Its companion, another massive lupine shapeshifter, shows up at her house and gives her an ultimatum - a life for a life. Either he will rip her to shreds right there, or she will return with him to his lands in Prythian to live the rest of her life there. The legends say that no mortal who goes to Prythian ever comes back - they are presumably killed and eaten by the faeries. However, she decides to take a chance, and she accompanies the High Fae to his manor house in a strangely beautiful Prythian. The land around her seems to exist in a state of perpetual spring.

Her host, a High Fae male named Tamlin, is kind to her and does not torture her or treat her as a prisoner as she assumed he would. Slowly, she falls in love with the strange man, who turns out to actually be a High Lord, one of the rulers of Prythian. When his borders are threatened by a mysterious sickness that has affected the magical protections against the darker faeries who enjoy eating humans, he sends her back to her family, whom he has made wealthy once again. However, Feyre is not content - she misses him so, and she never told him how she loves him.

She returns to Prythian to find the manor destroyed and Tamlin kidnapped by the High Queen of Prythian, Amarantha. To save him she must complete three deadly trials - each one more dangerous and seemingly more impossible than the last. Can she do it? How can she defeat trials that even the immortal High Fae would struggle to complete?
Initial Reaction
As you may have gathered from the summary, A Court of Thorns and Roses gives off a distinct Beauty and the Beast vibe - a prince in disguise, a curse that must be lifted by a girl falling in love with him, mild Stockholm Syndrome. The obvious parallel didn't bother me, as sometimes happens to me when a novel follows a plotline similar to another work. It actually made it quite enjoyable, as I had an idea of what might be coming next, but not how it might happen or how the story may diverge from the folktale. I actually really loved this book and read it so quickly - I couldn't put it down.
What's Important?
The things that stood out most to me in A Court of Thorns and Roses were the world building and the Beauty and the Beast parallels. World building is one of my favourite things about fantasy - if it's done right, you are completely transported into the alternate universe, created entirely in someone else's head, which I find quite beautiful.
Mild spoilers ahead - The World

The world in which A Court of Thorns and Roses takes place is home to humans, faeries, and High Fae. The humans and faeries fought a war five centuries ago, at the end of which a Treaty was signed, dividing human and faerie lands. Since then, human legend has sprung up as surely as the Wall that divides them, and faeries are feared and hated. The portion of land given to humans is pathetically small in comparison to what the High Fae and faeries received. The land of the faeries is known as Prythian, and throughout the novel we discover that Prythian is ruled by seven High Lords, each of whom preside over a different court - Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Dawn, Day, and Night. Tamlin, the High Fae who kidnaps Feyre, is the High Lord of the Spring Court. We meet a few other High Lords in the story as well, and find out that a nearby kingdom called Hybern is planning some kind of attack on Prythian, the details of which are unclear. A daughter of the king of Hybern, Amarantha, has declared herself High Queen of Prythian and has trapped all the High Lords (with the exception of Tamlin) Under the Mountain in the centre of Prythian. It was she who cursed Tamlin, a curse that could only be broken if he got a human girl, who had killed one of his own subjects with hate in her heart, to fall in love with him (there's your Beauty and the Beast vibe!).
End of spoilers
Rating
Considering everything - the world building, character development, folktale parallel and my complete inability to put it down - I'm gonna go ahead and give this book 5 stars. Hooray! First 5 star read!
I would recommend the book for anyone over 14 - there is some spice in it for sure, so watch out for that! The world and characters were easier to follow than The Priory of the Orange Tree or House of Earth and Blood which would make it a bit more friendly for readers new to high fantasy - you really only need to keep track of about five characters. I didn't even make a character map for this one.
Favorite Quotes
Beware: there may be more information in these quotes than you desire if you have not yet read the book!

"[The dagger] is yours. Don't bury it in my back, please."
- I liked this one because it shows a bit of how Feyre is perceived by her Fae hosts, and it shows how sassy Lucien can be. (art from https://firelordwael.tumblr.com/post/176594353061/my-character-design-of-lucein-vanserra-of-the)
"The smile he gave me was more beautiful than any enchanted meadow or pool of stars."
- I loved watching as Feyre slowly fell in love with Tamlin.
"I knew - I knew I was headed down a path that would likely end in my mortal heart being left in pieces, and yet...And yet I couldn't stop myself." - Again, watching Feyre fall in love with Tamlin - and knowing what she was getting into, but not pulling away in fear.
"'Dance, Feyre,' he whispered. So I did. I was loosened, a top whirling around and around, and I didn't know who I danced with or what they looked like, only that I had become the music and the fire and the night, and there was nothing that could slow me down."
- Seeing Feyre actually let loose and enjoy herself after enduring so much hardship was just gorgeous.
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