I know it's not a popular opinion, but I have to tell you that I did not like Throne of Glass. I tried to read it a couple of summers ago and, as I told Davan at the time, I felt very much like I should like it, but I just didn't. Honestly, I don't remember if I finished it or not. I might have because I was reading it while we were on a road trip and didn't have a lot of alternatives with me. For those reading here but not in the know (probably most of you because it's young adult fantasy), Throne of Glass was Sarah Maas's first novel and was very popular amongst young adult readers. It was likened to Graceling. So, my hopes were maybe extraordinarily high. Graceling, for me, is one of those books with which, yes, there are faults, but when reading it? I just didn't care. I loved, loved, loved it. I've read it twice and listened to the audiobook twice. If you get nothing else from this review of a book I've yet to actually talk about at all, take this away: If you've never read Graceling by Kristin Cashore, you should. If you don't love it the way I do, well, I'll try not to hold it against you.
One more aside before I get to the actual point of this entry. The only reason I believe this book is classified as young adult is because Throne of Glass was and, thus, that's the publisher Maas works with. This seems like straight up fantasy to me. The main character is 19 and it's fairly long...I guess I don't really know why some books are classified one way or the other, but I'd have put this one in fantasy, not young adult fantasy due to length, steamy sex and violence.
Okay, so A Court of Thorns and Roses. I picked it up with trepidation. Often, though, authors grow and the idea of Throne of Glass was likeable, so maybe this would all work out. And...it sort of did. A Court of Thorns and Roses is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I like the twists on the story. I like the idea of the main character: Feyre who has been surviving on the edge ever since her family took a fall from the upper class to not able to feed themselves until she, the youngest daughter of three, teaches herself to hunt to feed her sisters and father. I even liked the idea of the beast, a fairy by the name of Tamlin. Everything starts off pretty well and I was sucked in for quite a while. About half way through, though, finishing started feeling a little more like a chore. I was a little frustrated with some choices. I felt less and less sympathetic toward characters I'd liked at the beginning...It wasn't really bad, just also not super engaging. I opted to finish it because it wasn't, like I say, bad per say and because I've heard that the next book in the series is phenomenal. I'm hoping that's so, because I'm having to push myself a little to want to start it.
Meanwhile, I've still got those dozen books by my bedside because I actually read this one on my Kindle where I've got another 3 books waiting to be read. You'd think with all these books queued up, waiting to be read, I'd lay off finding more to read. Not so much. Yesterday I watched a couple of You Tube vlogs about reading and put another four books on hold at the library. I have a problem. So, Court of Mist and Fury will probably have a wait a bit.
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