The Court of Thorns and Roses
Mary Ann
At the end of each year, the powers that be make lists of the best – Movies, TV Shows, Books, and the like. I always take screen shots or make list of the books that I would like to read. I am either going to make another pile of yet-to-read books or add them to my Kindle.
At the end of 2023, a book kept appearing on various lists, The Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. The synopsis always proclaimed it was about a fantasyland where humans and magical, immortal fairies live. It was filled with romance and adventure. So as the winter of 2024 was approaching, I thought this was a good time to escape. I loaded up the Kindle and began to read the first story in the series. I was enchanted, reading all 5 books that took me many, many hours and thousands of pages to finish.
The story takes place on the island continent of Prythian where seven kingdoms are ruled by High Fae Lords. The rulers have exceptional magical powers such as transformation from human to animal or winnowing that is like “Beam me up, Scottie “from Star Trek, or flying. The 5 volumes center around three human sisters Feyre, Elain, and Nesta Archeron and a cast of gorgeous, hunky fairies – Rhysand, Cassian, Tamlin, Azriel, and Lucien. The women are all beautiful, brave, and powerful – no shrinking violets here. The men are unearthly handsome and mighty warriors. If you combined Lord of the Rings and Bridgerton, you would have The Court of Thorns and Roses – lots of battles, monsters, male and female heroes, and lots of descriptive, lusty, lovemaking.
If I were reading any of the books in the series, and I were riding the NYC subways, I would have missed my stop repeatedly. The stories are so absorbing and so passionate that I was blushing in my living room as I read along. There is passion in every part of the stories, so it was appropriate that lovemaking would be too. This is why I entitled this blog – I am old but not dead! It got my attention!
I am so happy to have found Sarah J. Maas’s books. She is a masterful storyteller and has help to create the literary genre, Romantasy – a little bit of romance and a little bit of fantasy. Maas describes people and places in incredible detail so you can envision her imaginary world. She has a bit of Harry Potter in her with creative and clever ideas such as Memory Bottles or mental communication. She engages the reader from the first page to the very last word on the last page. Even though it takes a fair of amount of time to read a series, you miss the characters when you finish. Luckily, she has several other series to discover, and a sixth volume forThe Court of Thorns and Roses is on the horizon. There were questions at the end of book 5 that needed answers, and they are on the way! Thank you, Sarah J. Maas, for sharing your remarkable talent with us.
Notes:
There were a few things that I did notice that really do not affect the stories in any way but are noticeable. I read the books one after another rather than waiting a year between them so that may be why I did notice. My friends who have read the stories a year or so apart did not notice
First, the names and places are exotic, and you don’t know how to pronounce them. How exactly do you pronounce Amarntha or the Prythian? Is the C a hard or soft C? Where is the accent? I give it a shot when I first meet the character and keep calling them whatever I come up with for them.
Second, for fairies who can heal a broken bone in a few hours, they all have calloused hands. I know it is because they are welding swords and such, but you would think their hands would heal quickly and be smooth to the touch.
Third, anytime anyone gets upset, they throw up. Really, this is the go-to! It got a little funny as I read it each time. I would have thought some editor would have noticed.
None of this takes away from the engaging stories. Enjoy!
Silver Sage Sisters 