A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: What Readers Love and Criticize

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For many readers it was their way into romantasy: A Court of Thorns and Roses, ACOTAR for short, by Sarah J. Maas. The series about Feyre and the fae world of Prythian has a huge fandom, yet the first book divides readers. We analysed reviews, articles and reader discussions and summarise what readers love and what they criticize.

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What is it about?

Nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods. Soon after, a creature demands retribution and takes her to the fae lands of Prythian. There she lives at the court of Tamlin, an immortal High Lord, and learns that a curse lies over the land.

What readers love about ACOTAR

• The fae world: Many readers rave about the courts of Prythian and their dark, fairy-tale atmosphere.
• The side characters: Lucien and above all Rhysand steal the show for many, even in book one.
• The last third: The events Under the Mountain are seen as the most gripping part and make readers want the sequel.
• The series gets better: A common piece of advice is to stick with it at least until book two, where the series really takes off.

What readers criticize

• Slow start: The first half is often described as sluggish. Only in hindsight does it become clear where the plot is heading.
• Repetitive style: Reviews point to recurring sentence patterns and phrases.
• The riddle: Many find the central riddle too easy, which makes the heroine seem less clever.
• Consent and romance: Several reviews criticize that some intimate scenes are framed as romantic although consent is questionable.
• Tamlin: How Tamlin is portrayed over the series is still debated among fans. Some see him as a controlling partner, others find his later portrayal unfair.

Content notes

The book contains explicit scenes, violence and scenes whose consent readers debate. In the US the series is among the books most often challenged in school libraries.

Success

According to Wikipedia, the series has sold more than 13 million copies and reached the New York Times bestseller list. A planned Hulu series was officially cancelled in 2025.

What writers can learn from it

• A slow start costs readers, even for big names. Give your first chapters a clear question readers want answered.
• Riddles and trials have to challenge. If readers see the solution at once, the heroine looks weaker.
• Side characters can become the main attraction. Plan which characters you want to develop in later books.

Conclusion

A Court of Thorns and Roses is an opening that turned many readers into devoted fans of the whole series. Readers who forgive a slow start and love fae worlds should give it a chance. Readers who are bothered by questionable consent in love scenes should look more closely first.

Sources

For this overview we analysed the following reviews and articles:

• Wikipedia: A Court of Thorns and Roses
• Goodreads: A Court of Thorns and Roses
• The Terror of Knowing: Review ACOTAR
• Her Campus: A Court of Thorns and Roses Review
• Goodreads-Diskussion zu Tamlin

Ratings as of November 2026.

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