I didn’t have a smooth introduction to A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I took the recommendation of a friend to read the first book in the series, after having recently finished and LOVED another book they’d suggested — a fantasy-adventure with a romantic subplot and a moody, opulent aesthetic. I expected A Court of Thorns and Roses to be similar to that.

Instead what I got was Beauty and the Beast: Hunger Games Edition (now with 8000% more fairies!) featuring a main character who seemed incapable of interacting with a man without wanting to simultaneously murder and bang him. I was not into it.

So I decided I wasn’t going to continue the series.

Except, I kept seeing friends talk about it. I kept getting ads for T-shirts with references to it. I kept seeing it virtually everywhere that had any books for sale, and I started to wonder why A Court of Thorns and Roses seemed to slap for everyone but me.

I waded into the second book, and it turns out everyone I talked to about this series was right: it DOES get better after the first book. The action gets a lot more interesting, as does the romance plotline, and the first novel starts to feel a lot more like a setup for the really juicy stuff. The subsequent books also reinforce the good qualities I initially overlooked about the first, like how gifted Maas is at worldbuilding, and how refreshing it is to have a romance story that celebrates female sexuality rather than fetishizing virginity.

And it’s even enjoyable to see Maas’s writing become stronger over the course of the saga.

Below are my spoiler-free short reviews of each book. Disclaimer: My main genre is horror, and while I don’t dislike romances, I don’t pick them up very often — so consider this a perspective from a genre outsider.

Book 1: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Rating: ⭐⭐💫/5

Feyre Archeron is the youngest daughter of an impoverished merchant, living in a small village near the border to the Fae realm. The faeries who dwell there are lethal, devious and not to be trusted. After she kills a wolf in the woods near her home, Feyre learns that not only was the wolf a Fae male in diguise, but that she will need to pay the debt by becoming a prisoner of the wolf’s lord, a mysterious masked male named Tamlin. As her fear and hate gradually transform into curiosity and passion, Feyre will learn that many of her assumptions about the Fae were wrong. But just as she’s starting to get used to this new life, she learns of the true threat to the human and Fae realms — and that some truths about the Fae are just as terrifying as the stories she grew up on.

Though my initial impressions may have caused me to judge this book too harshly, it does suffer from some serious issues. The writing style really grated on me, and I hated how often Feyre was dumb or reckless just for the sake of the plot. And the main villain was so cartoonishly, one-dimensionally evil that it was hard to take her seriously. However, the imagery throughout is strong, and Feyre does turn out to be a well-executed main character. She doesn’t just float through the story on charm, beauty and ace skills — she makes mistakes, gets in over her head, and sometimes gets seriously injured in the process, which makes her journey more believable. While I still think it’s the weakest book in the series, it does set up plenty of interesting plot points that pay off in future books.

Book 2: A Court of Mist and Fury
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Safe in her new life, Feyre knows she should be ready to live her happily ever after…but she can’t seem to get past the horrors she endured under The Mountain — nor can she seem to make Tamlin understand the depth of her depression. Forced to uphold her bargain to spend time in the Night Court with Rhysand, Feyre finds herself torn between two worlds: The strong, bright Spring and the brooding, relentless Night. Now, as she faces a looming evil that threatens the balance of the Human and Fae realms alike, she’ll need to face her demons head-on in order to unlock her inner power — which could be the only key to stopping what’s coming.

A Court of Mist and Fury really cranks up the heat on this series. The stakes are higher, the twists are more breathtaking, and the sex scenes are steamier. I listened to this on audiobook, and definitely caught myself stopped dead in the middle of things I was doing, just listening with my mouth open because HOLY SHIT is there a lot of amazing action in this book. Maas’s writing style is noticeably improved in this sequel, but there are still quite a few cringe-worthy phrasings, characterizations and plot holes that I felt prevented me from completely enjoying it. Still, though, that ending had me immediately ready to jump feet-first into the next book.

Book 3: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Feyre is back in the Spring Court, and with the King of Hybern threatening to invade Prythian with all his forces, one big question lingers in Feyre’s mind: is Tamlin her friend or her enemy? Games of deception and intrigue are afoot as she fights to get back to her sisters. But before she can return home, she needs to collect all the intel she can to make sure her new-found family doesn’t get swept away by the impending war.

A Court of Wings and Ruin is…fine, she said with a sigh. The story is engaging, it’s sexy in all the right places, and plotlines that have been brewing for a while do get some payoff. But I felt like Maas put all this momentum into getting all the moving pieces placed for this ultimate confrontation, then just kind of…prematurely ejaculated? Not my favorite metaphor, but that’s honestly what it felt like. She had all of these juicy plot elements ready to put into play, the payoff was gonna be so good…and then she blew the whole load in an unsatisfying manner over the course of just a few chapters. Moments that should have been tense and thrilling resolved fairly quickly in disappointing or predictable ways. And I had a big “Didn’t we just do this??” moment that really spoiled any positive feelings I may have developed in the first 3/4 of the book. But since I didn’t hate it all the way through, and since there were some enjoyable scenes and nice character developments, three stars it is.

Book 4: A Court of Frost and Starlight
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫/5

In this holiday-themed novella, Feyre faces Winter Solstice — and her birthday — in a city traumatized by the recent war. As she juggles the challenges of leadership with the struggle of finding the right gifts for her loved ones, she’ll learn that there is a glimmer of hope in every darkness.

I really love that SJM gave her characters a little holiday special. This book certainly isn’t the most exciting, but it is the shortest, so it’s already the best one in the series. Joking aside, ACOFAS is a nice little break that gives closure on some plot points from book 3, offers some enjoyable character moments, and introduces some info to get readers excited about what’s to come. Feyre continues her tradition of making idiotic decisions, but this is the character we’ve chosen to follow through an epic saga, so. However, we won’t have to deal with too much more of her, because…

Book 5: A Court of Silver Flames
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

After surviving the miseries of the war with Hybern, Nesta struggles to cope with her new life in Velaris. When her excesses go too far, she’s forced to move into the House of Wind where the only exit is a 10,000-step staircase. Even worse, she’ll have to undergo daily training with Cassian, the commander of Rhysand’s armies, who she’s been avoiding since the end of the war. At this point, she’s ready to give up on herself. But with a new threat looming, Nesta’s mysterious new powers may be the key to defending Prythian — once and for all.

I love it any time an author is able to get me to root for an unlikeable character, and Maas definitely got me there for Nesta in ACOSF. Before I got to this point in the series, I didn’t think I wanted to read a whole book about Nesta. However, by the end of this book, I was like, “Feyre who?” The romance plotline was fun and sexy, but I also loved the female friendships that Nesta built over the course of the story and how crucial they were to her development as a character. This would almost be a five-star book for me, except for some plot holes big enough to drive a freight train through. For the most part, though, I genuinely enjoyed returning to the world of Prythian for this story.

***

It would have been easy for me to dismiss ACOTAR as over-hyped junk, but I’m really glad I pushed past my initial impressions and kept reading — because as soapy and melodramatic as it can be, as audaciously large as some of the plot holes are, and as unabashedly horny as it is, ACOTAR does so many things right.

Unlike much of the romance genre, the characters in this series model consent, female sexual autonomy, and positive masculinity— not in every situation, but enough to be notable and refreshing.

And even though it’s a romance, it still manages to highlight and celebrate friendships between women. Those relationships aren’t just background action or devices to get the love interests together — they really matter to the plot and the development of the characters. I adore that.

Honestly, if you’ve never read the series before and are thinking about picking it up, this is what I recommend: start with A Court of Mist and Fury. This is the book that most fans seem to love best, and it’s where the “real” action of the series starts. If you like it, then treat A Court of Thorns and Roses as a prequel, and go back to get the deets on what went down between Feyre and Tamlin then. But if Book 2 doesn’t trip your trigger, then I think you can safely say that ACOTAR isn’t the series for you.

Every now and then I find myself needing to take a break from reading horror. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas has turned out to be a perfect series for that. They weren’t my favorite books I’ve read in the past couple of years, but they were a lot of fun, and it’s safe to say that I’m hooked. I will definitely be back for book 6.