When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with YA fantasy romance novels. The Selection Series and The Red Queen Series were what got me through the boring reality that was 8th grade. After then, I fell into a multiple-year-long reading slump through high school and some of college. However, when my sophomore year bookworm-goddess roommate chucked The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe at me and told me to read it, I felt the magic of reading again. I read Circe by Madeline Miller and a few Percy Jackson books, but I still craved something that reminded me of those YA fantasy novels. Another friend then encouraged me to read A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), and let me tell you — I feel like a changed woman.
The basic premise of the series by Sarah J. Maas is that in a fantasy world where a wall lies between the humans and the fae, one girl is forced to cross the border and discover the reality of the fae beyond her superstitions (such as fae can’t lie and are vulnerable to iron). Through her perspective, we discover the beauty and the barbarousness of the seven fae courts of Prythian (the land where the story takes place): Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, Dawn, Day, and Night. We also learn of and experience a brewing war between a nearby fae kingdom and Prythian.
One of my favorite aspects of the series is Sara J. Maas’ writing style. She describes places and people in such vivid and seamless detail that you can easily and beautifully picture everything that occurs. The protagonist of the series, Feyre, happens to be a painter, so the author cleverly uses her expertise in color and light to paint the vibrancy of the fae courts and the bleakness of the human world to perfection.
Another aspect that I love about the series is the depth of the lore. Sara J. Maas creates a complex and intriguing world with court tensions, mysterious creatures, mind-twisting prophecies, and many other concepts that tie the world together. However, she doesn’t assume the protagonist already knows everything and she also doesn’t make the world-building seem tedious or overwhelming in the slightest. Never once did I find myself scouring the internet to explain how particular magical objects or processes worked because they’d immediately be effectively explained.
I’d have to say my favorite facet of the ACOTAR series would have to be the characters. In addition to Feyre’s vivid visual descriptions of everyone she meets, she also describes how characters smell. It may seem silly, but I love that I could easily make or find a candle to transport me into the novel: sea salt and citrus define Rhysand and the Night court and earthy grass/dirt define Tamlin and the Spring court.
The characters are also not flat (meaning 2-dimensional or not fully developed) but are extremely personable or wicked. For example, one character in the first novel we are made to dislike is Nesta, Feyre’s sister. Although her bitterness may seem annoying and cruel, I noticed how she uses her cold disposition as a wall, perhaps to protect herself from getting emotionally bruised or to protect her sisters underneath the surface. In addition to the characters being round individually, Sara J. Maas also illustrates difficult and intricate sibling, friend, and romance dynamics amongst the main characters that, frankly, made me grow attached to them.
If I did my calculations correctly, I finished all three books (1759 pages) in less than a week — I texted my best friend when I finished and she asked me if I had eaten the pages. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time reading this series because the pacing was engaging and not too fast. If you’re in a reading slump and are a fan of fantasy romance, I *highly* recommend you start the series. Happy reading!