Tome Thursday: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Hello everyone!

I will apologize in advance if parts of this blog are going to be slightly less coherent or even a little bit muddled. For some reason or other, I've been fighting off a headache all day long and nothing has really helped, so I think a good night's sleep will be just about the only thing that does at this point. However, I am determined to get this post out, since if I start missing out on these my rhythm will be practically gone.

I have what feels like a billion other books to type about, but I just managed to finish one that's relatively new today, mostly because it's one of those you can't put down unless someone physically forces you to.

Although, I will admit, I have yet to finish the Throne of Glass series, which is pretty amazing in its own right, I had to start A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas because, well, I've always preferred Beauty and the Beast to Cinderella.

Though the author did absolutely make me like her Cinderella rendition more than the original one!

On to this particular story.

A brief re-cap of the Beauty and the Beast tale: an empoverished merchant's family gets struck by additional disaster when a Beast comes to claim the life of the father for the transgression he committed, but the youngest daughter volunteers to go in his stead. And, through trials and errors, she manages to see past the beastly facade to what lies beneath, in doing so freeing the Beast, and his people, from a curse which had rendered the lot of them to be unspeakable monsters until someone with a pure heart would be able to love their master.

Happily ever after.

Not quite so where Maas is concerned.

In this story, the world is divided between the mortal section, and the Fae section, north of a wall that separates the lot of them (if it sounds like a mix between Karen Moning's Fever series and GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire ... well, it does, actually). Feyre, the Beauty of this story, has been taking care of her family for years since the passing of her mother and since her father lost his fortune at sea. One night, she kills a large wolf, who turns out to be Fae, and the Beast comes to claim a tithe: a life for a life.

Meaning, you know, Beauty has to go off with him to the Fae lands.

This Beauty is a little bit contrary to what you'd think, considering she can't really read or write well, just the very, very basics, and she loves to paint. Also, she's a good hunter. And the Beast ...

The Beast is actually a Fae High Lord, of the Spring court, and there's some sickness over the lands which is tempering his magic and rendering the lot of them fairly useless. Just for the record: Fae are a higher cast of faeries, but ... well, more dangerous and deadly (not to mention sexy).

Tamlin, aka Beast, is your usual growling, grouchy self from the beginning, and Feyre, aka Beauty, gives as good as she gets. And then there's Lucien, who is pretty much the comic relief of the book, and I love him dearly.

The curse we're contending with here are masks; you read me right. Almost fifty years ago, there was a masquerade ball in honour of the Spring court, and everyone has been unable to take said masks off since that moment. The cure? A female with hatred of Fae in her heart, who will fall in love with the High Lord and tell him so.

It isn't as easy as that though; a lot of other lore is written and mixed into this whole thing. A magical rite where the Hunter (read: Tamlin) chooses a Maiden (Feyre ... almost) to renew the magic of the land (if you can't read between the lines ... they have to have sex. In front of everyone.) A faery who will tell you the future if you catch it. Political intrigue and above all, some sort of 'she' who is a terror to all the courts combined ...

And in the midst of this all, Tamlin's obvious, turbulent emotions when it comes to Feyre, his rather endearing (if clumsy) takes on courtship, and Feyre's softening heart.

Most of the book takes place at the Spring court, a large estate, going from Feyre hating her captors, to coming to understand them, to helping when a mutilated and dying faery is deposited in their midst, to dancing when Tamlin plays the fiddle at another festival and finally letting him close.

But of course, the three important words aren't spoken, and Amaranthe, the elusive 'she' is closing in. Tamlin sends Feyre back to the mortal world - where she realizes the glamour on her family didn't work on her sister Nesta, but that Nesta is actually a formidable ally - and that doesn't really last. As she had been told to stay with him, she returns to the devastation of the Spring court.

Alis, the female servant who used to care for her, finally tells her the extent of the curse and what she should have done - and Feyre goes Under the Mountain to free her love.

There, Amaranthe gives her three tests, and a riddle; if she survives, or solves that thing, her quest is complete.

Obviously, Feyre does, in fact, survive, though not without consequences, as she bargains a week every month to Rhysand, Lord of the Night Court, in exchange for him probably saving her life. She also finally understands the whole curse, as on the last task she is supposed to stab Tamlin through the heart, but she realizes that the High Lords all have stones instead of the beating organ.

The she-devil goes berserk, though, and beats her, pretty much to death, though Feyre also manages to answer the riddle (the answer is love; ironically, I thought it would be death ...), and Tamlin's powers are restored, ending in a spectacular death of the tyrant, and, for her sacrifice, a revival of Feyre through a gift from the High Lords: she will become High Fae, like them.

And that's where we end off, waiting for book two!

Well, okay: Rhysand has a weird reaction right before he leaves, and I am dreading the thought that there will be a love triangle.

Because the purpose of the book was to set up the true love between Tamlin and Feyre - the curse couldn't have been lifted otherwise, and it won't shed a good light on the heroine if she suddenly changes guys to the dark one ...

Also, I'm a little worried about these lessons from the books. Of course, for plot purposes, the heroine can't say 'I love you' too soon, but not saying it back when the hero opens his heart makes me wonder what kind of moral can be found here.

Still, it was a gripping story, and had me turning pages like mad until the very end. And oh, Tamlin and Feyre. I really, truly hope that there won't be a triangle. Why do romance novels almost always have to have one? They aren't needed to keep things interesting!!

Fingers crossed, and can't wait for book two!

xx

*image not mine

**note: there's more old tales in this than you can initially see, as Tamlin is actually the name from an old folk's tale, Tam-Lin. I felt like throwing that in here, too!