A Court of Thorns and Roses

 Maas, Sarah H. A Court of Thorns and Roses. Book 1 of the Court of Thorns and Roses series. 2015. 419p. ISBN 9781619634442. Available at FIC MAA on the library shelves.

The island of Prythian is divided into two by an invisible wall of magic. On one side, the humans that freed themselves from servitude after a long and bloody war with their powerful overlord, the fae. They now dwell on the other side of the wall in seven courts, biding their time. Other continents of fae and humans exist, but the two races only meet in Prythian.

Feyre's father was a wealthy merchant until his ships sank, taking his fortune with them. Now he, Feyre and her two sisters live in a shack in the forest near the wall, and they survive thanks for Feyre's hunting in the dangerous forest. For though the wall exist to prevent fae from crossing, it is weakening. When Feyre comes across a massive wolf hunting a doe, she suspects it's a fae in disguise, but its pelt being worth a lot, she slays the beast that seemed to pose no threat to her.

The next night, Feyre and her family are visited by Tamlin, a high fae who is also the lord of the Spring Court. He is here to exact his revenge for the loss of the wolf, who was one of his guard. As punishment, Feyre will have to cross the wall and live in the land of the fae for the rest of her life. Now a captive of the Spring Court, Feyre slowly discovers that the Spring Court, and indeed all of Prythian, has been affected by a curse for the last fifty years, and magic is but a shadow of its former self. With an empty palace but under the watchful eye of Lucien, Tamlin's second in command, Feyre is free to wander the grounds.

Dangers abound in the land of the fae, however, and more than once Feyre is confronted by nightmares she's only heard about in stories. Nagas, Surreals, these monsters are real and prowl the woods of the Spring Court. The closer she grows to Tamlin, the more danger she finds herself in, until she discovers that the curse that plagues Prythian may very well cost Feyre her own life.

A mix of Beauty and the Beast and high fantasy, this story will enthrall readers who enjoy fantasy and they will appreciate the struggles Feyre confronts as she attempts to survive in a new world.