Maas Whiplash: A Surprising, Yet Not, Disappointment

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas came out five years ago. I’ve only just read it. Why is that surprising? Well, I absolutely loved the whole Throne of Glass series, and trusted Maas as a fantastic fantasy writer for my tastes. In particular, I liked her for her envisioning of fae and other magical creatures.

And yet… when this book was published I just had this niggling feeling that it wouldn’t quite work for me. Around this time, I had also had this exchange with a friend:

Mackenzie: How did you like Snow Like Ashes? Did you finish it?
Me: It was okay. It was really unique though, the world was divided into regions that each had only one season, all the time! I’ve never read a story like that.
Mackenzie: *snorts* *pulls out her current book and opens to this map on the front page*

Yeah… in case you can’t see, that’s the map from the front of A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), with regional divides of “Spring Court,” “Summer Court,” “Autumn Court,” and “Winter Court,” along with a few others.

In all honesty, this immediately made me less impressed both with the book I had just finished. My opinion that ACOTAR was not for me was cemented, despite my interest in Maas’s other works.

Pop to this year, when I’m reading more than ever and happen to see the new republished edition of ACOTAR as a “read now” option on NetGalley. Sarah J Maas? For free? When I have a lot of free time?

I finally gave it a go…

..and was not surprised that my original opinion was unfortunately correct.

I’ll do my full review in another post, but my main issues were that it was so boring for so long. The first 60% of the book had no pressure, no drama, no conflict to keep me on edge. I was halfway through and thinking, “nothing is even happening, what’s the point?!” The explanation of the conflict that eventually came was just plopped out there by a side character telling a story. It felt pretty unimpressive and dull: the ultimate moment of telling instead of showing.

Anyway… this post is my resigned thoughts that I’m unlikely to ever be on board with the raving hype that is still ongoing for this book and series. Props to all y’all who love it though! I’d be interested to hear what kept you going and made you interested. FYI my favorite character is Rhysander so if he’s going to pop up more give me a shout to keep going in the series and give it a shot. ✌