A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books) (A Court of Thorns and Roses, 9) by Sarah J. Maas - Paperback
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A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books) (A Court of Thorns and Roses, 9)Paperback

by

Sarah J. Maas

(Author)

4.8

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29,843 ratings


All five of the Court of Thorns and Roses hardcovers with the new series look in a luxe box set perfect for the holiday season.

Passionate, violent, sexy and daring ... A true page-turner - USA TODAY on A Court of Thorns and Roses

Feyre is a huntress. The skin of a wolf would bring enough gold to feed her sisters for a month. But the life of a magical creature comes at a steep price, and Feyre has just killed the wrong wolf ...

Follow Feyre's journey into the dangerous, alluring world of the Fae, where she will lose her heart, face her demons, and learn what she is truly capable of.

The world expands in A Court of Silver Flames with the story of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta.

This stunning, five-book box set of the #1 New York Times bestselling series by Sarah J. Maas includes A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight, and A Court of Silver Flames.

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ISBN-10

1639730192

ISBN-13

978-1639730193

Print length

2896 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication date

October 31, 2022

Dimensions

5.75 x 7.5 x 8.8 inches

Item weight

5.6 pounds



Popular highlights in this book

  • “She is my mate. And my spy,” I said too quietly. “And she is the High Lady of the Night Court.”

    Highlighted by 507 Kindle readers

  • “So I’m your huntress and thief?” His hands slid down to cup the backs of my knees as he said with a roguish grin, “You are my salvation, Feyre.”

    Highlighted by 466 Kindle readers

  • The issue isn’t whether he loved you, it’s how much. Too much. Love can be a poison.

    Highlighted by 411 Kindle readers


Product details

ASIN :

B0B6HL1B2H

File size :

21861 KB

Text-to-speech :

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Enhanced typesetting :

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Editorial reviews

“Simply dazzles.” ―starred review, Booklist on A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES

“Passionate, violent, sexy and daring ... A true page-turner.” ―USA TODAY on A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES

“Suspense, romance, intrigue and action. This is not a book to be missed!” ―The Huffington Post on A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES

“Fiercely romantic, irresistibly sexy, and hypnotically magical. A Veritable feast for the senses.” ―USA Today on A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

“Hits the spot for fans of dark, lush, sexy fantasy.” ―Kirkus Reviews on A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

“Fast-paced and explosively action packed.” ―Booklist on A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN

“Alluring characters, [an] irresistible world and never-ending action.” ―RT Book Reviews on A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN


Sample

CHAPTER 1

The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.

I’d been monitoring the parameters of the thicket for an hour, and my vantage point in the crook of a tree branch had turned useless. The gusting wind blew thick flurries to sweep away my tracks, but buried along with them any signs of potential quarry.

Hunger had brought me farther from home than I usually risked, but winter was the hard time. The animals had pulled in, going deeper into the woods than I could follow, leaving me to pick off stragglers one by one, praying they’d last until spring. They hadn’t.

I wiped my numb fingers over my eyes, brushing away the flakes clinging to my lashes. Here there were no telltale trees stripped of bark to mark the deer’s passing—they hadn’t yet moved on. They would remain until the bark ran out, then travel north past the wolves’ territory and perhaps into the faerie lands of Prythian—where no mortals would dare go, not unless they had a death wish.

A shudder skittered down my spine at the thought, and I shoved it away, focusing on my surroundings, on the task ahead. That was all I could do, all I’d been able to do for years: focus on surviving the week, the day, the hour ahead. And now, with the snow, I’d be lucky to spot anything—especially from my position up in the tree, scarcely able to see fifteen feet ahead. Stifling a groan as my stiff limbs protested at the movement, I unstrung my bow before easing off the tree.

The icy snow crunched under my fraying boots, and I ground my teeth. Low visibility, unnecessary noise—I was well on my way to yet another fruitless hunt.

Only a few hours of daylight remained. If I didn’t leave soon, I’d have to navigate my way home in the dark, and the warnings of the town hunters still rang fresh in my mind: giant wolves were on the prowl, and in numbers. Not to mention whispers of strange folk spotted in the area, tall and eerie and deadly.

Anything but faeries, the hunters had beseeched our long-forgotten gods—and I had secretly prayed alongside them. In the eight years we’d been living in our village, two days’ journey from the immortal border of Prythian, we’d been spared an attack—though traveling peddlers sometimes brought stories of distant border towns left in splinters and bones and ashes. These accounts, once rare enough to be dismissed by the village elders as hearsay, had in recent months become commonplace whisperings on every market day.

I had risked much in coming so far into the forest, but we’d finished our last loaf of bread yesterday, and the remainder of our dried meat the day before. Still, I would have rather spent another night with a hungry belly than found myself satisfying the appetite of a wolf. Or a faerie.

Not that there was much of me to feast on. I’d turned gangly by this time of the year, and could count a good number of my ribs. Moving as nimbly and quietly as I could between the trees, I pushed a hand against my hollow and aching stomach. I knew the expression that would be on my two elder sisters’ faces when I returned to our cottage empty-handed yet again.

After a few minutes of careful searching, I crouched in a cluster of snow-heavy brambles. Through the thorns, I had a half-decent view of a clearing and the small brook flowing through it. A few holes in the ice suggested it was still frequently used. Hopefully something would come by. Hopefully.

I sighed through my nose, digging the tip of my bow into the ground, and leaned my forehead against the crude curve of wood. We wouldn’t last another week without food. And too many families had already started begging for me to hope for handouts from the wealthier townsfolk. I’d witnessed firsthand exactly how far their charity went.

I eased into a more comfortable position and calmed my breathing, straining to listen to the forest over the wind. The snow fell and fell, dancing and curling like sparkling spindrifts, the white fresh and clean against the brown and gray of the world. And despite myself, despite my numb limbs, I quieted that relentless, vicious part of my mind to take in the snow-veiled woods.

Once it had been second nature to savor the contrast of new grass against dark, tilled soil, or an amethyst brooch nestled in folds of emerald silk; once I’d dreamed and breathed and thought in color and light and shape. Sometimes I would even indulge in envisioning a day when my sisters were married and it was only me and Father, with enough food to go around, enough money to buy some paint, and enough time to put those colors and shapes down on paper or canvas or the cottage walls.

Not likely to happen anytime soon—perhaps ever. So I was left with moments like this, admiring the glint of pale winter light on snow. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done it—bothered to notice anything lovely or interesting.

Stolen hours in a decrepit barn with Isaac Hale didn’t count; those times were hungry and empty and sometimes cruel, but never lovely.

The howling wind calmed into a soft sighing. The snow fell lazily now, in big, fat clumps that gathered along every nook and bump of the trees. Mesmerizing—the lethal, gentle beauty of the snow. I’d soon have to return to the muddy, frozen roads of the village, to the cramped heat of our cottage. Some small, fragmented part of me recoiled at the thought.

Bushes rustled across the clearing.

Drawing my bow was a matter of instinct. I peered through the thorns, and my breath caught.

Less than thirty paces away stood a small doe, not yet too scrawny from winter, but desperate enough to wrench bark from a tree in the clearing.

A deer like that could feed my family for a week or more.

My mouth watered. Quiet as the wind hissing through dead leaves, I took aim.

She continued tearing off strips of bark, chewing slowly, utterly unaware that her death waited yards away.

I could dry half the meat, and we could immediately eat the rest—stews, pies … Her skin could be sold, or perhaps turned into clothing for one of us. I needed new boots, but Elain needed a new cloak, and Nesta was prone to crave anything someone else possessed.

My fingers trembled. So much food—such salvation. I took a steadying breath, double-checking my aim.

But there was a pair of golden eyes shining from the brush adjacent to mine.

The forest went silent. The wind died. Even the snow paused.

We mortals no longer kept gods to worship, but if I had known their lost names, I would have prayed to them. All of them. Concealed in the thicket, the wolf inched closer, its gaze set on the oblivious doe.

He was enormous—the size of a pony—and though I’d been warned about their presence, my mouth turned bone-dry.

But worse than his size was his unnatural stealth: even as he inched closer in the brush, he remained unheard, unspotted by the doe. No animal that massive could be so quiet. But if he was no ordinary animal, if he was of Prythian origin, if he was somehow a faerie, then being eaten was the least of my concerns.

If he was a faerie, I should already be running.

Yet maybe … maybe it would be a favor to the world, to my village, to myself, to kill him while I remained undetected. Putting an arrow through his eye would be no burden.

But despite his size, he looked like a wolf, moved like a wolf. Animal, I reassured myself. Just an animal. I didn’t let myself consider the alternative—not when I needed my head clear, my breathing steady.

I had a hunting knife and three arrows. The first two were ordinary arrows—simple and efficient, and likely no more than bee stings to a wolf that size. But the third arrow, the longest and heaviest one, I’d bought from a traveling peddler during a summer when we’d had enough coppers for extra luxuries. An arrow carved from mountain ash, armed with an iron head.

From songs sung to us as lullabies over our cradles, we all knew from infancy that faeries hated iron. But it was the ash wood that made their immortal, healing magic falter long enough for a human to make a killing blow. Or so legend and rumor claimed. The only proof we had of the ash’s effectiveness was its sheer rarity. I’d seen drawings of the trees, but never one with my own eyes—not after the High Fae had burned them all long ago. So few remained, most of them small and sickly and hidden by the nobility within high-walled groves. I’d spent weeks after my purchase debating whether that overpriced bit of wood had been a waste of money, or a fake, and for three years, the ash arrow had sat unused in my quiver.

Now I drew it, keeping my movements minimal, efficient—anything to avoid that monstrous wolf looking in my direction. The arrow was long and heavy enough to inflict damage—possibly kill him, if I aimed right.

My chest became so tight it ached. And in that moment, I realized my life boiled down to one question: Was the wolf alone?

I gripped my bow and drew the string farther back. I was a decent shot, but I’d never faced a wolf. I’d thought it made me lucky—even blessed. But now … I didn’t know where to hit or how fast they moved. I couldn’t afford to miss. Not when I had only one ash arrow.

And if it was indeed a faerie’s heart pounding under that fur, then good riddance. Good riddance, after all their kind had done to us. I wouldn’t risk this one later creeping into our village to slaughter and maim and torment. Let him die here and now. I’d be glad to end him.

The wolf crept closer, and a twig snapped beneath one of his paws—each bigger than my hand. The doe went rigid. She glanced to either side, ears straining toward the gray sky. With the wolf’s downwind position, she couldn’t see or smell him. His head lowered, and his massive silver body—so perfectly blended into the snow and shadows—sank onto its haunches. The doe was still staring in the wrong direction.

I glanced from the doe to the wolf and back again. At least he was alone—at least I’d been spared that much. But if the wolf scared the doe off, I was left with nothing but a starving, oversize wolf—possibly a faerie—looking for the next-best meal. And if he killed her, destroying precious amounts of hide and fat …

If I judged wrongly, my life wasn’t the only one that would be lost. But my life had been reduced to nothing but risks these past eight years that I’d been hunting in the woods, and I’d picked correctly most of the time. Most of the time.

The wolf shot from the brush in a flash of gray and white and black, his yellow fangs gleaming. He was even more gargantuan in the open, a marvel of muscle and speed and brute strength. The doe didn’t stand a chance.

I fired the ash arrow before he destroyed much else of her.

The arrow found its mark in his side, and I could have sworn the ground itself shuddered. He barked in pain, releasing the doe’s neck as his blood sprayed on the snow—so ruby bright.

He whirled toward me, those yellow eyes wide, hackles raised. His low growl reverberated in the empty pit of my stomach as I surged to my feet, snow churning around me, another arrow drawn.

But the wolf merely looked at me, his maw stained with blood, my ash arrow protruding so vulgarly from his side. The snow began falling again. He looked, and with a sort of awareness and surprise that made me fire the second arrow. Just in case—just in case that intelligence was of the immortal, wicked sort.

He didn’t try to dodge the arrow as it went clean through his wide yellow eye.

He collapsed to the ground.

Color and darkness whirled, eddying in my vision, mixing with the snow.

His legs were twitching as a low whine sliced through the wind. Impossible—he should be dead, not dying. The arrow was through his eye almost to the goose fletching.

But wolf or faerie, it didn’t matter. Not with that ash arrow buried in his side. He’d be dead soon enough. Still, my hands shook as I brushed off snow and edged closer, still keeping a good distance. Blood gushed from the wounds I’d given him, staining the snow crimson.

He pawed at the ground, his breathing already slowing. Was he in much pain, or was his whimper just his attempt to shove death away? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

The snow swirled around us. I stared at him until that coat of charcoal and obsidian and ivory ceased rising and falling. Wolf—definitely just a wolf, despite his size.

The tightness in my chest eased, and I loosed a sigh, my breath clouding in front of me. At least the ash arrow had proved itself to be lethal, regardless of who or what it took down.

A rapid examination of the doe told me I could carry only one animal—and even that would be a struggle. But it was a shame to leave the wolf.

Though it wasted precious minutes—minutes during which any predator could smell the fresh blood—I skinned him and cleaned my arrows as best I could.

If anything, it warmed my hands. I wrapped the bloody side of his pelt around the doe’s death-wound before I hoisted her across my shoulders. It was several miles back to our cottage, and I didn’t need a trail of blood leading every animal with fangs and claws straight to me.

Grunting against the weight, I grasped the legs of the deer and spared a final glance at the steaming carcass of the wolf. His remaining golden eye now stared at the snow-heavy sky, and for a moment, I wished I had it in me to feel remorse for the dead thing.

But this was the forest, and it was winter.

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About the authors

Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Crescent City, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the Throne of Glass series. Her books have sold more than twelve million copies and are published in thirty-seven languages. A New York native, Sarah lives in Philadelphia with her husband, son, and dog. To find out more, visit sarahjmaas.com or follow @therealsjmaas on Instagram.

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Reviews

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

29,843 global ratings

Anthony m Tarantino

Anthony m Tarantino

5

Can’t put this series down.

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2024

Verified Purchase

A Court of Thorns and Roses has left me spellbound and yearning for more! This book is a masterful blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure, with a strong and complex heroine at its core. The world-building is exquisite, with a richly detailed and immersive environment that transports you to the land of Prythian.

The characters are multidimensional and relatable, with Feyre's journey from human to faerie being both heart-wrenching and empowering. The slow-burn romance is expertly crafted, making the wait well worth it. The plot twists and turns, keeping you on the edge of your seat, and the writing is beautiful and evocative.

If you're a fan of fantasy, romance, or just great storytelling, do yourself a favor and dive into this captivating series. Be prepared to lose sleep, forget meals, and become completely entranced by the world of Prythian and its beloved characters.

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6 people found this helpful

Kat

Kat

5

Great fantasy series, not feminist literature.

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2023

Verified Purchase

If you like spicy romance novels and you like high fantasy novels, you will like this series. It is an adult series for adult themes and adult scenes, not just spice, but also gore/war/torture, and that is important to note. This series has its own magic system and mythologies, and is connected to other universes of the author including Crescent City and Throne of Glass but can be read on its own. I think it is a really good series.

SPOILERS (not heavy spoilers but will talk about things which happen in the book in a general sense) for conversation about feminism/fascism/mental illness.

Many people want a high fantasy series which is feminist in nature and the male love interests are feminist, this is not that kind of book. It definitely has feminist undertones and female empowerment undertones, it is written by a female author which historically high-fantasy books in a female lens have been shunned so I prefer to support female authors, but the love interest does many things which are not feminist.

The male love interest in this book drugs her and dances inappropriately with her, and then claims there was no other way to make the villain think he didn’t care about the protagonist and put her in danger. That is pretty unbelievable, there are a million other options that do not include drugging someone in that situation.

The male love interest “rescues” the protagonist and brings her to a place which only his friends and family, for hundreds of years of relational ties, are. This technically is a social isolation happening. This is apparent when 5 books later the love interest is not only still lying to the protagonist, but getting all the friends and family to lie for him about something that directly and drastically affects her life. She technically is supposed to be the same level of power that he is, but it is very clear that was a stunt to show symbolically how much he cared for her. Because if she truly had the same power as him then the friends and family would not have lied like that, the same way they would not have lied to him. The other thing about that is she was raised to her status without any well learned political or historical education of the people she is ruling, giving the male love interest good reason to be able to over-ride anything she put into place, and not giving her enough knowledge to truly do her job. What also goes along with this is that all education on those political historical topics will have to come through him or people whom he is employing/has these strong ties with.

There is a race of people which the love interest rules over who are physically and sexually abusing females, and neglecting/abusing their male children to be warriors. The love interest claims to have put laws into place to prevent this, however, he does not enforce them. Similar to how he symbolically gave the protagonist a position of power, he seemed to have symbolically put a feminist law into place but then not follow through. It is claimed the abuse they are facing is culture, and to give the males more time to change, which is obviously untrue and harmful. “He will change” rhetoric harms women often. I think the way the fantasy race and issue of female violence was written was realistic, but I also think that realism is disturbing because of his unwillingness to be harsher in punishment towards males who are literally physically altering these females. It also is somewhat insinuated there is fascism going on because of his obsession with keeping one “good” city safe, and his distaste for the sexist race of warriors and the other city - which he oversees and is in charge of. It is almost like he believes their lives lost causes and something to be used to protect his favorite city and people, which is obviously harmful to the people who do not live in his favorite city because their ruler has abandoned them to harm in belief of culture.

Again, this is a fantasy book, I do not believe this to reflect the authors beliefs on feminism or humanitarian efforts, but if you personally are looking for a high-fantasy book with a feminist love interest, this is probably not the one.

Lastly, the last book has a topic of mental illness- specifically substance use issues. This book was so difficult to read as a researcher in psychology because of the abuse the protagonist faced and how she got better despite, in real life, this person would likely be far worse off. What I mean by this is the protagonist was unliked due to a disability she had in childhood, inadaptibility which is something that happens in children groomed to be married off (groomed meaning taught to be something very specific, particularly in a way of being sold to the highest bidder and marrying a wealthy male). Her sister took her meaning for life by marrying someone powerful and rich without any of the efforts and grooming which the protagonist faced in childhood, so all her trauma no longer had meaning and she no longer felt any reason to be alive. After this she developed an addiction to alcohol and began sexual risk taking behaviors. What her family did was ridicule and shame her but also enable her with money. Shame results in a cycle of wanting pleasure, so doing this was worsening her behavior. After the family got fed up with her wasting money, instead of setting boundaries and no longer buying alcohol, they threatened her life, took away her autonomy, verbally and emotionally abused her, isolated her, and then the person in charge of helping her developed a sexual relationship with her (which is supposed to be romantic but when she already struggled with risky sexual behaviors, this was taking advantage of her). On top it, a scene occurs where she essentially is noted as suicidal, and instead of helping her he continues to be short, rude, and mean to her and forced her to hike (???). And this was because she pointed out a lie which the whole family was keeping from her sister by her love interest, so the protagonist of this book was being punished for giving information which her sister had a right to know. It is just so incredibly hard to read.

Of course, these people do not have psychology or mental wellness, however, I think the part I take most issue with is the unrealistic fact she gets better. Because this is a popular series I would also be concerned with people taking the idea that this sort of behavior towards someone mentally ill is romantic or okay in any way shape or form. This is fantasy, most people know that, but I feel compelled to state it anyway.



Overall: I do like the books, I like the writing style, I even do not mind many of the character flaws and the big issues I mentioned occurring, it adds to moral/ethical calamity and makes you question who is the real villain or hero. But, I have seen people stating that this is a more feminist style high fantasy romance and I just wanted to point all the reasons I do not believe that to be the case.

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165 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Amazon Customer

5

Amazing series!

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2024

Verified Purchase

First off, the bundle is great as it is cheaper to purchase this way. If you’re trying to get back into reading this is a great choice! It is Romantasy (Romance/Fantasy). It is a great blend of both. The writing is excellent, the way the author lines up the events with the overarching plot is clever and fun. The first book is slow moving but that’s due to it focusing on world building and getting to know the main character. The book speeds up at the end and gets intense which leaves you primed up for book 2. By far book 2 and 5 are my favorites. As you read book 2, you discover so much more about the world and are just as in awe as the main character. Book 3 is really intense including a war and mostly focused on character development and learning about other courts which was interesting. Book 4 is what Booktok calls the “Christmas Special”. It’s honestly a gem. It focuses on their version of Christmas which is Winter Solstice. It’s the shortest in the series and what makes it a gem is that you get to see the characters happy for a bit. I know when I watch tv shows or read books, when there’s a lot of mayhem all the time, I’m always craving a little happiness or stillness to see the characters living normally and not focused on the next problem, so I am grateful book 4 exists. As I mentioned before the author is great at planting events or tid bits of information into the storyline that will be used later. As the characters are happy in book 4, the author sets up the next book with bits of information that sparks curiosity about a certain character. When you get to book 5, you are hooked and curious to find out what’s been going on with said character and get to explore that character a lot more.

Well there you it! I tried to not be too specific or give any spoilers! I hope you’ll read this series! It’s worth it!

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20 people found this helpful

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