A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas, 2015
Fantasy RomanceYoung adultContemporary fiction
A human huntress is taken into a faerie court as payment for a kill, and finds desire, danger and old bargains waiting there. The read is lush and dramatic, moving from hunt to faerie court with a charged, first-person voice and a romance that keeps tilting toward danger.
Feels like awe, wonder and defiance. About love, power and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy YA fantasy romance with a mortal heroine, faerie courts and a Beauty and the Beast frame. Be aware the courtly bargains and dramatic power shifts keep the tone heightened, and this is the first book in a series.
Why read it
It gives you a familiar fairy-tale frame turned into a tense court romance, with bargains and desire pulling the heroine between human and faerie worlds.
A page from the book
What a stare can say before a secret even slips.
Rhysand stared at me for long enough that I faced him."Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don’t feel anything at all. Sarah J. Maas.Maas has said the series began as a loose retelling of 'Beauty and the Beast' and the ballad of Tam Lin, with a mortal girl traded into a faerie world.
Books that feel like this
More by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury
Sarah J. Maas, 2016
A woman remade by magic must decide whether the male everyone fears is her captor or her way out. Slow-burn fae romance with a survivor at its centre.
A Court of Wings and Ruin
Sarah J. Maas, 2017
A fantasy romance of war, winged courts and dangerous bargains, where love is a weapon and every alliance has teeth.
Throne of Glass
Sarah J. Maas, 2012
An assassin is pulled from prison to compete for a king's champion—and finds court intrigue, dangerous friendships, and a chance at freedom.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is A Court of Thorns and Roses for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy YA fantasy romance with a mortal heroine, faerie courts and a Beauty and the Beast frame. Be aware the courtly bargains and dramatic power shifts keep the tone heightened, and this is the first book in a series.
- What is A Court of Thorns and Roses like?
- The read is lush and dramatic, moving from hunt to faerie court with a charged, first-person voice and a romance that keeps tilting toward danger. Feels like awe, wonder and defiance. About love, power and freedom.
- What should I read after A Court of Thorns and Roses?
- If you liked A Court of Thorns and Roses, try Ignite Me (Tahereh Mafi), Rebel Witch (Kristen Ciccarelli) and Lightlark (Alex Aster).
A taste of the feed
A sentence can outlast the sword that was meant to silence it.
Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures. No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.
Ignite Me · Tahereh Mafi
The one force no regime has ever managed to outlaw.
The problem with love is the more you try to destroy it, the stronger it becomes. It might look like weakness on the surface. But in truth, it’s tougher than steel. Love can’t be controlled. Love can’t obey unjust laws. Love will always oppose tyrants.
Rebel Witch · Kristen Ciccarelli
What it sounds like when someone could ruin you and chooses not to.
I could open a black hole that would swallow the beach. I could turn the sea dark as ink and kill everything inside of it. I could demolish the castle, brick by brick, from where we stand. I could take you back to Nightshade lands with me right now.” His voice was deep as dreams, dark as nightmares. “I could do all of those things.” His lips pressed against the top of her ear, for just a moment. “And I might—if I didn’t think you would hate me for it.
Lightlark · Alex Aster
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