Latest news with #ACourtofWingsandRuin
Daily Record
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Sarah J Maas fans can get A Court of Thorns and Roses free on Audible
A dramatised version of the BookTok-hit romantasy novel can be enjoyed for free Over the past year, countless books have taken the internet by storm and found their way onto 'BookTok', but one series in particular - A Court of Thorns and Roses - has become one of the most beloved and discussed. While many people are passionate about reading, others prefer to listen to their favourite books while out for a stroll, tidying their homes or on a long commute. Those who enjoy audiobooks are in luck, as Audible is launching a Prime Day 2025 promotion, offering customers free access to the popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Prime members will be able to indulge in three months of Audible at no cost, with the option to select one bestseller or new release each month, as well as having access to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts and originals. Customers can get hold of part one and part two of the first book in Sarah J Mass' A Court of Thorns and Roses series that has been transformed into a dramatised retelling. The audiobook features a full cast of actors and includes immersive sound effects and cinematic music. As reported by Bristol Live, listeners will also have complimentary access to the second book - A Court of Mist and Fury - which was a 10th anniversary edition recording. They can then listen to A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight and A Court of Silver Flames to complete the series. For those who might not fancy Audible for their audiobook fix, Google Play Books offers a variety of free and paid options across genres like fiction, non-fiction, and real-life stories. There's also Spotify's Premium service which also provides a selection of audiobooks, allowing users to enjoy up to 15 hours of listening. The Audible dramatised retelling of A Court of Thorns and Roses has garnered an impressive 4.1 out of five stars on Amazon. One listener shared: "I started the graphic audio reread of ACOTAR in December and finished part two in January... No amount of rereads, physical or audio, could have prepared me for the emotional roller coaster the graphic audio would take me on." Another praised the experience, saying: "This is absolutely excellent. I really enjoyed the narration." However, some had their criticisms, with comments such as: "I couldn't get into this book as much as I would have liked to." Yet another fan expressed their newfound love for the genre: "This book series opened my eyes to fantasy and romantasy and I absolutely loved it." Despite a handful of listeners not taking to the narrators, the overwhelming buzz and popularity of the series are undeniable. The A Court of Thorns and Roses series is available now for all Prime members to enjoy at their leisure.
North Wales Live
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Sarah J Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses 'dramatised retelling' is free for three months
There have been hundreds of books that have gone viral online and made their way to 'BookTok' over the last year but one series in particular - A Court of Thorns and Roses - is up there with one of the most well-loved and talked about. Although reading is a huge passion for many people, some prefer to listen to their favourite books while on a walk, cleaning their homes or out for a long drive. Now, for all audio listeners, they are in luck as Audible has an upcoming Prime Day 2025 promotion, giving customers access to the famous A Court of Thorns and Roses series for free. Prime members will be able to enjoy three months of Audible for free and they can choose one bestseller or new release each month as well as being able to listen to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts and originals. After the offer, subscription - which can be cancelled any time - is £8.99. In the series customers can grab the A Court of Thorns and Roses Book 1 - part 1 and 2 - which will be a dramatised audiobook adaptation of the series from Sarah J Mass. The audiobook has been produced with a full cast of actors and it includes immersive sound effects and cinematic music. Customers can also have free access to Book 2, A Court of Mist and Fury which was a 10th anniversary edition recording, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight and A Court of Silver Flames. If Audible isn't everyone's choice for listening to their favourite books, they could instead try Google Play Books which has a range of both free and paid for books, bundles and options from fiction, non-fiction and real-life stories to choose from. Spotify also has a range of Audiobooks with its Premium feature that allows up to 15 hours of audiobooks to listen to and choose from. A Court of Thorns and Roses however on the Audible platform has been rated a high 4.1 out of 5 star rating on the Amazon website. One person said: 'I started the graphic audio reread of ACOTAR in December and finished part 2 in January…No amount of rereads, physical or audio, could have prepared me for the emotional roller coaster the graphic audio would take me on.' Another said: 'This is absolutely excellent. I really enjoyed the narration.' Some others shared reservations however and said: 'I couldn't get into this book as much as I would have liked to.' 'This book series opened my eyes to fantasy and romantasy and I absolutely loved it,' said another. Despite a few dislikes of narrators however, the viral comments and phenomenon speak for themselves with the series which is now free for all Prime members to sit back, relax and listen to.
The Guardian
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
What do women really want from men? I delved into romantasy and found a good few clues
Feyre Archeron has many talents: she can skin a wolf and track a deer, and in the words of an amorous fairy she looks 'absolutely delicious'. An impoverished hunter gatherer, Archeron is the protagonist of Sarah J Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses, or Acotar as it's known to fans. This five-book series belongs to a genre called romantasy, so called because it blends romance and fantasy. And it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that it has the popularity of both combined. Acotar has sold more than 13m copies and all five books are in the top 10 bestselling fantasy titles of 2025 to date. If you haven't heard of them, the chances are that you have seen someone reading one on the train, perhaps concealed beneath the dust jacket of something less salacious. Most of romantasy's readers are women aged 18 to 44, and part of the genre's appeal is its reversal of gender roles. Archeron, for example, can't read. But that's only because poverty has forced her to focus her energy on hunting. Her illiteracy is therefore ironically a sign of strength. Maas's men, meanwhile, may live in gorgeous palaces with well stocked libraries, but as the plots develop they come to depend on Archeron for their salvation. It's not hard to see why millions of women are drawn to worlds in which female characters are beautiful hunters and men are bookish hunks. Especially when, in reality, only 13% of men read daily, and then mostly for personal growth rather than pleasure. Men gravitate towards self-help and nonfiction and make up only about 30% of the fiction-buying market. Romantasy capitalises on the scarcity value of literary men and leverages their appeal as sensitive and emotionally intelligent. Full disclosure: I'm one of the 13%, and I was surprised to find that my daily reading habit might indicate anything other than my unfitness for the modern world. I decided to make a journey into romantasy – a quest, if you will – to see if there was anything else these books have to teach men about what women want. I'm talking morally, of course, not carnally. Because, despite Acotar's much vaunted sexual content, Maas is more interested in friendship than any other F-word. In the third book of the series, A Court of Wings and Ruin, for instance, by the time the various couples get into bed, it's clear that their bond is about far more than just 'rippling muscles', 'corded muscles' or even 'muscles covered in intricate and beautiful tattoos'. It's also about, you know, feelings. Accounts of these books often emphasise their sexual content, as though it's somehow scandalous for women to be reading romance. But what is really surprising is how conservative they are. Which is not to say that their male leads are shrinking violets. Both Maas and Rebecca Yarros, in her equally popular Empyrean series, establish early on that the male lead could literally kill his female counterpart. He is the Beast to her Beauty but, just as in the original fairytale, his brutality is only skin deep. In order to pursue his relationship with the heroine, he is forced to come to terms with the complex trauma that turned him into such a sexy monster. It is only then that he can reveal himself to be, to borrow a word beloved by romantasy fans, a cinnamon roll. In other words, soft hearted, sweet and, yes, delicious. He may be handsome and powerful, but the hero's real draw is his emotional vulnerability. So strong is the connection readers form with these characters, in fact, that BookTok is full of readers weeping while reading emotional passages. As one young woman bawled while reading the tragic ending of A Court of Wings and Ruin, 'I feel like my family is dying.' Men sometimes find romantasy threatening – one took to Reddit, for example, after he found his girlfriend's secret stash of books: 'The fact that THESE are her fantasies doesn't sit right with me at all.' But these books are more about community than a desire to actually date men of such cringeworthy perfection. A romantasy fan I know, who happens to work in theatre, surmised that meeting Maas's heroes in real life would be as disappointing as meeting famous actors: 'In reality, they are far stupider than you imagined.' She has nevertheless found that romantasy has enabled her to reconnect with old friends who, after she recently became a mother, she rarely gets the chance to see: 'It makes conversation so easy,' she said. 'I mention a scene and we can talk for hours.' The connections that romantasy can foster meant it boomed during Covid. And now that our times are becoming ever more turbulent, readers are embracing the genre like a comfort blanket. The societies romantasy depicts are often as chaotic as our own – Yarros's Fourth Wing, for instance, is set during a time of total war. But everyone is given very clear roles that make their world, however dangerous, more predictable than our own: scribes report the news, infantry fight the battles and riders fly the dragons. And, of course, there is an elaborate prophecy that the protagonist needs to fulfil. Romantasy's ordered worlds sometimes made me uncomfortable. Maas and Yarros are both obsessed with status. Their heroes may be secret softies, but it is no accident they are all titled. In the first book of Acotar, for example, Archeron is abducted by an aristocratic fairy, or high fae, called Tamlin. But, when she finds out that Tamlin is also a high lord and ruler of a domain called the Spring Court, she begins to find her abduction rather more propitious. Despite her physical strength, it seems Archeron's way out of poverty lies through men. She may as well be in a Jane Austen novel. But it is possible to take this critique too far. Readers don't come to romantasy looking for moral edification. The genre's fans even codify books according to acronyms such as ETL (enemies to lovers), which shows they are looking for familiar narratives into which they can escape. And these novels are remarkably absorbing. I spent a very happy Sunday with Acotar, the washing piling up in the sink, tea-stained mugs gathering around me so that, when I was done, I could be under no illusion that I was a warrior king. Or even a particularly good husband. I was just happy to be a reader. Max Fletcher is a London-based writer
