A Court of Thorns and Roses Book One
It took me quite a while to get into this book. It felt like something was missing and I still can’t identify what. There’s lots of short scenes that at first don’t appear to add much to the plot at all. It was all very superficial and confusing, but it may have been deliberate on the part of the author to inspire curiosity.
Feyre is the narrator and the other characters withhold information from her, so the reader is as confused as she is regarding her situation. After she breaks the treaty between the Fae and humans, she is forced to spend the rest of her life in the Fae realm. Which turns out to be better than expected because she gets to live in a country palace with the hot High Lord, Tamlin.
Something is wrong in the Fae realm, but no one tells Feyre exactly why, and the reader is as curious to get to the bottom of it as Feyre herself.
As powerful, shape shifting, magical Fae lords go, I found a Tamlin a bit bland. He had moments where he was interesting and gave me the feels I expect from a romance hero, but they were infrequent and I wanted more.
Feyre is an interesting heroine – a hunter and a fighter – she’s not a damsel in distress and when she finally realises her mistake regarding her feelings for Tamlin, she’s the one to go and rescue him, which makes a nice change.
I would class this as low steam, but it’s young adult so I should have expected it. There are on-the-page love scenes, but they are quite short and not very detailed. The action and adventure aspects, however, really pick up in the last quarter of the book and made it a much more interesting read.
As romantic fantasy goes it has all the usual elements of magic, mystical creatures, strange and unusual lands, and of course a nice love story. However, it didn’t sizzle for me. I didn’t sense a deep passion or sexual tension as the love between Feyre and Tamlin developed. It came across as very tame.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
