Image is my own off my bookstagram @goodyreads, with dustjackets from nerdy.ink

In Sarah J. Maas’s second bestselling series, a mortal young woman named Feyre Archeron is thrust into the world of the High Fae: a world full of mystique, beauty, political intrigue, and danger. the shadow of War is brewing upon the horizon, and with her newly found allies and inner circle, she must defeat a powerful enemy in order to save the world she already knows comes to love…

This has been such a popular series amongst SJM fans, it seems to be more popular than even her first series, Throne of Glass! I personally prefer TOG, but that doesn’t detract from ACOTAR; I still consider A Court of Mist and Fury to be the author’s best book to date!

Below, I’ve included an image of the main cast created by the extraordinary artist, Charlie Bowater! Her work is simply breathtaking and she is some of my all time favorite digital artists!

To see my book review for book #1 – A Court of Thorns and Roses – Click HERE!

To see my book review for book #2 – A Court of Mist and Fury – Click HERE!

To see my book review for book #3 – A Court of Wings and Ruin – Click HERE!

To see my review of book #3.5 – A Court of Frost and Starlight – Click HERE!

To see my review of book #4 – A Court of Silver Flames – Click HERE!

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Here is my official Fancast/Dreamcast:

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Feyre Archeron: Barbara Palvin, or Josephine Skriver

One thing that grinds my gears with a lot of the other fancasts/fanart I’ve seen is that they make Feyre out to be blonde….um nope, that’s cancelled because she’s brunette! Both of these models have delicate & feminine features, gorgeous smiles, and have a particular look that I believe is the essence of our heroine of this whole series!

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Elaine Archeron: Minka Kelly

Minka Kelly has such a soft voice, similar to Vanessa Hudgens’ but much less annoying. You may remember her from Friday Night Lights, the TV Show and the college thriller flick, The Roommate.

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Nesta Archeron: Bar Refaeli

Nesta was a hard character to cast, but I believe this supermodel has a look that’s very similar to the cold, intimidating, and oldest Archeron sister. She’s not an actress, but has been on the cover of the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated magazine, and dated Leo DiCaprio at one point!

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High Lord Tamlin: Nick Nemeth

That jawline though…..as a WWE wrestling fan who also is an avid reader–ESPECIALLY with SJM series–I thought of Nick here who goes under the stage name “Dolph Ziggler” –I wish I was kidding–and has the physical appearance of how I picture the High Lord of the Spring Court.

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Lucien Vanserra: Tom Busson

A lot of other fans say that Outlander male lead, Sam Heughan, is their choice for Lucien. I had him too for quite some time too, but now I believe he’d be just too old to play the part. Maybe he’d be better suited for Eris or his father Lord Beron, but I believe this Instagram model has a look much more suited to our beloved Lucien Vanserra!

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Alis: Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer is just so adorable! She’s cute as a button, but can also go into a serious mom mode in her characters, and I thought she’d be perfect to play the part of Alis, the attendant who looks after Feyre when she’s brought to the Spring Court. It also makes sense considering Alis is from the Summer Court, and if we’re going to talk about Representation, the people from there are typically of African descent!

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The Suriel: Bill Skarsgård

Okay, after his triumph that is absolutely nailing the iconic role of Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT, we all know Bill can nail the creepy roles…no one can deny that. I would love to see him play our ghoulish, gossip loving, pot stirring, tea sipping Suriel in these books. He would add so much to the character and steal every scene he was in!

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High Lord Rhysand: Ian Somerhalder, or Sahib Faber

One’s an actor while the other is a model, but both could so easily play the coveted role of the High Lord of the Night Court. If anyone has watched The Vampire Diaries, Ian portraying Damon Salvatore is a dead ringer for Rhysand: same personality, same swagger, same inner turmoil hidden by smirks and wisecracks, and of course the same devilish good looks. I couldn’t help but imagine the High Lord looking like Damon because of all this. Sahib is a more unknown choice, but why not have some more choices? Plus…just look at him! Would you just look at him? Just look at him!

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Amarantha: Eva Green, or Deborah Ann Woll

I admit both actresses have such different looks when compared to each other, so as for who might be a better choice? I guess it depends on who you ask…Eva has such a nefarious, villainess look to her, but Deborah matches a lot of the fanart I’ve seen of Amarantha and is known for being in HBO’s True Blood, so either choice works for me!

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Morrigan: Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin

Mor was another hard choice! Everyone seems to be going for Margot Robbie for some reason, but there’s two things wrong with that casting: she doesn’t even have brown eyes like Mor is described as having. That may sound picky, but whatevs…it’s my fancast, so get over it… I personally envisioned this former WWE Women’s wrestler who is undeniably gorgeous, and physically fits the description of Mor much more effectively!

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Azriel: Nick Bateman, or Joao Lima

Joao Lima, image courtesy of brazillianmalemodel.com

Both of these male actors are tall, lanky and can pull off the moody, brooding look: so for me, both of them could be excellent choices for our Lord of Shadows, Azriel! Nick does small acting jobs but is mostly an Instagram model, and was who I originally pictured as Az, but once it became apparent that Illyrians were POC, I also picked this male model Joao Lima, especially when he’s more clean shaven! Or I guess he doesn’t have to be…I’m cool with Azriel rockin’ some facial hair!

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Amren: Jamie Chung

Jamie is a fan favorite among others who’ve shared their fancast for this series, and I agree with it! She’s given her voice acting chops for Big Hero 6, and was also a wonderful Mulan in the show, Once Upon A Time, and if I don’t have you convinced yet, check out this image of her below with total Amren eyes:

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Cassian: Santiago Loker

This guy is probably unknown to a lot of you, but oh my goodness, is he easy on the eyes! He’s an Instagram model, and looks great with a manbun which was a must to play our favorite charming, cocky general for the Night Court’s army.

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High Lord Tarquin: Michael Ealy

I loved this man in Think Like A Man, and seriously…look at those eyes! They’re so hypnotic and I could so easily get lost in them for days! He never does anything even remotely close to Fantasy-genre, so it’d be cool to see him broaden his horizons and play the High Lord of the Summer Court!

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Ianthe: Laura Vandervoort

Ianthe needs to be played by an actress who’s obviously attractive, but also looks like she could have a stick up her ass the entire time, and Laura looks the part 😂…She was in the show Bitten and was even Supergirl back when Smallville was still a thing!

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The Bone Carver: Iain Armitage

I mean…if this 14 year old (as I’m typing this in 2023) actor can star in a tv show like Young Sheldon, why not have him go for this creepy role of playing a death god? Personally, I’d be all for going back in time to 2009 and getting a much younger Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who played an 11 year old Tom Riddle/Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but it don’t work like that unfortunately…

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The Weaver of the Woods/ Stryga: Bonnie Aarons

Image courtesy of the actress’s IMDB page

You may or may not recognize this actress, but she’s actually one of the most famous figures in modern horror movies! Or at least she plays them. Take a closer look, and you may agree with me when you remember she plays the creepy AF nun demon named Valak in the Conjuring and The Nun movies. That alone makes me think she’d make an AMAZING Weaver too!

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King of Hybern: Jason Isaacs

I mean…Do I really need to justify casting the man who magnificently played the evil and elitist Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies? Nope, I didn’t think so either!

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Queen Briallyn (Young/Old): Anna Popplewell and Imelda Staunton

Whether or not anyone agrees with me on this pairing, it’s my fancast so it’s my final say, but I think this would just be fun to watch! Anna, or Queen Susan from Narnia, played a mean-girl, bitchy queen…and then freakin’ Dolores Umbridge played her evil old Fae crone form after she ends up in the Cauldron!! C’mon…..you gotta see that, right?!

High Lord of the Autumn Court, Beron: Mads Mikkelsen

He’s so great at playing villains! I’ve known this ever since he starred opposite Daniel Craig in 007: Casino Royale, and the guy played Hannibal Lector too! He’d also be another great choice to play the part of Big Boss Villain, the King of Hybern…It’s funny how Maas literally has her villainous kings just named “King of _______” from her books.

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Lady of the Autumn Court: Sarah Rafferty

Sarah matches the description of Lord Beron’s wife very well in my opinion, even if it sounds like this role is a far cry from her character on the USA network show, Suits. I couldn’t tell ya since I haven’t seen the show!

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High Lord of the Day Court, Helion: Joel Wieneke

Image courtesy of the model/personal trainer’s Instagram profile: @green.joel

Another harder one to cast; most of the actors that would be eligible—or were fancasted by many others—were either too old or too young or just not what I imagined at all. Not knocking anyone’s choices, but it made it harder to find someone that fit MY vision…I ran across Joel on Instagram and he is a gorgeous model and personal trainer who definitely looks the part in my opinion! Just stick a wig on him and a toga, and he could totally look like Helion!

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High Lord of the Winter Court Kallias: Heath Hutchins

Kallias, High Lord of the Winter Court, is a character I liked but him and and his mate, Vivianne, were barely in the dang books! I wished we got to see more of the other high lords, but maybe that’ll happen in later books; according to Goodreads, there are supposed to be, like, three more titles for the series!

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High Lord Thesan: Hamid Fadaei

He’s an actor and model, even if I haven’t seen him in anything. He’s a pretty gorgeous Persian man, so I thought he was an excellent choice for playing the role of the High Lord of the Dawn Court!

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Eris Vanserra: Ryan Cooper

He’s an actor who’s actually played a corpse in Rough Night, starring Scarlett Johansson, but also starred in a Colleen Hoover novel-turned-movie Confess. Dye his hair red, and with that wicked gleam in his eye, he could definitely be an option to play Lucien’s devious older brother!

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Prince Varian: Jesse Williams

This man is in Grey’s Anatomy while it goes into its 15000th season, and I like casting him in Fantasy roles, so I’d like it if he played Lord Tarquin’s younger brother and subtle love-interest to Amren.

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Princess Cresseida: Logan Browning

She has the similar features of other actors I’ve casted for the Summer Court’s royal family. She’s got gorgeous darker skin and mesmerizing eyes, so she’d look great playing the young princess! She’s most known for starring in the Netflix show, Dear White People.

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Jurian: Taylor Kitsch

I’ve been a fan of his since he played Tim Riggins on the TV Show, Friday Night Lights, and he was decent in Vince Flynn’s movie adaptation of American Assassin, so he’d be my pick to play the interesting role of Jurian!

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Vassa: Erika Postnikova

Image courtesy of Aleksandr Vinogradov on Flickr

Erika is a beauty influencer and model whom I found on Pinterest when looking into redheads for this character. She is EXACTLY how Vassa is described and I’d even say she’d make an excellent in the From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout too!

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Priestess Gwyneth Berdara: Sophie Turner

As soon as I read that Gwyn had red hair, for some reason I just really pictured Emma Stone, BUT now Sophie Turner as a redhead really does it for me! She’s an amazing actress from Game of Thrones, and would portray Gwyn amazingly in my opinion!

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Emerie: Lindsey Morgan

I don’t know much about this actress, but she’s in the CW show, The 100, and that seems to be really popular, so her face popped up and I thought she looked like how I imagined the Illyrian shop-owner turned Valkyrie warrior looking like!

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Koschei: Sephiroth? Or Lee Pace or Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Lee Pace as Thanduin, Image courtesy of Georgia Strait

Jonathan, Image courtesy of the New York Post

So Koschei is another Death God from the ancient world, he’s the older brother of the Bone Carver and the Weaver of the Woods. He’s the evil sorcerer who’s trapped in that lake who also cursed Vassa. He does make a brief appearance in the latest book I believe, it’s been like two years since I’ve read it already WOW so this makes me feel like a reread is due! But he gave me vibes that he’s the next big baddie boss villain to defeat for this world…He’s described as having black eyes and white hair….okay. I pictured my favorite Smash Bro’s character to plau, OR to be a little more realistic, I also picture Lee Pace straight out of The Hobbit movies for this role then based off that alone…but JRM could make an excellent villain too! This one is more up in the air and could change when we get more content of this god, but that would mean SJM needs to release more books too so……………………

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There you have it for now! The series is still ongoing, so more characters will be added and fancasted by myself as it goes on and they are introduced. That means to be sure to check back to this page when new books come out and I’ll add as soon as I get caught up and find a face to the name!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

New Adult Romance, YA Fantasy, YA romance

My Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1): by Sarah J. Maas

September 2, 2019October 28, 2020 nicholasjgoodsell

Publish Date: May 5th, 2015
Number of Pages: 419 Pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Genre(s): YA Fantasy, Romance, New Adult

Total Star Rating: 3.75 Stars

Another title to add to those that fall under the modern retellings of classic fairytales, this one being Beauty and the Beast, but coming from the author of the bestselling Throne of Glass series, there’s no way I wasn’t going to give this a try. Like any SJM book, the reviews are mostly lovingly obsessive and elated over having another YA Fantasy series of hers to get into, and with reading the blurb on what this book is about, it also makes total sense.

After completing this book, I felt the same things as when I read Throne of Glass for the first time: intrigued, entertained, and hopeful for all the possibilities where this story could possibly go. We have a young heroine, a fascinating world, gorgeous fae men, snarky comebacks, and a teasing sample of the evil that threatens their world, and all the while this book also feels like pure set up for what else may come our way, and oh boy, there will probably be a lot coming! The main differences in this story is:

1.) it’s more high fantasy and less grimdark like the beginning of TOG

2.) Romance is put on the forefront instead of a story of revenge/redemption.

What It’s About:

Feyre Archeron, the youngest of three sisters along with only their father, has grown up used to being the only one who can actually take care of her family, who live in poverty and can barely scrape by. They live in the southern, mortal lands of Prythian, where humans have an uneasy treaty with the High Lords of the Fae, who all have their own kingdoms throughout the land north of the invisible force field known as “The Wall.”

The Map of Prythian, courtesy of the series wiki page

When out in the woods hunting for food, Feyre witnesses a wolf trying to take the deer she pursued, and ends up killing it out of self defense. She has no idea the choice she made right then and there would change her life forever, because it turned out that the wolf was actually a powerful fae who’d altered their appearance, and mortals killing anyone fae comes with deadly consequences.

The High Lord of the Spring Court, Lord Tamlin, comes to her home to take her and have her live at his chateau as his prisoner (although, if how she lives there is called a prison, she’s not really suffering too much). Tamlin wears a golden mask that hides most of his features, but seems weary of answering a lot of the questions that pop up along the way, which only makes Feyre even more curious to want to find out more the longer she’s there, but as she learns why, her initial distrust and hostility slowly turns to passion and lust as she also discovers the dangers that lurk within the magical realm.

It turns out theres an ancient curse on the land, and Feyre may have something to do in order to being able to help faerie kind break it before its too late, and the man she comes to love will be lost forever…

What I Liked:

Lots and Lots of Great Characters! SJM absolutely excels at creating fun, interesting characters and giving them a unique dynamic to help drive the story. In this title, I’d say my favorite characters are Lucien, the crafty but loyal best friend of Tamlin, The Suriel who is a low fae that is extremely hard to find but has to tell the truth of any question you have should you capture him, and Rhysand…oh Rhysand…how much I want to say, but in due time with later book reviews…in this title, he’s a conflicting character; an intriguing villain/anti-hero, the High Lord of the Night Court and the most powerful of all the High Lords of the Fae, but is the right hand man of a madwoman…well, those fae males can’t be entirely perfect.
Hints at More to Come! Like the first TOG title, this book felt like it was just entirely set up for what’s to come later on in the series, and one thing I love doing is brainstorming, thinking of all sorts of ideas of what those possibilities may actually be, and even helps me develop my own ideas for writing.
The Worldbuilding! SJM seemed to have took more time and delicately plan out the world she wanted to have this story take place in, and seems to want to share every aspect of it, except that she doesn’t go into as much detail as I’d have liked about the other courts within Prythian. There’s seven total courts total, and they are differentiated by the seasons (Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Winter) along with the time of day (Dawn, Day, Night). The reason I put this in the “like” column is because my hope was that these courts are all shown to us later on in the series, and I was incredibly interested to see how the author made these different kingdoms come to life.

What I Didn’t Like:

It’s Slower Paced…SJM’s writing has improved over time and has become so much more eloquent and compelling, and there’s a ton of action going on in her other series around the time this title was released, but you may feel like you’re taking a few steps back with this one, as the overall pacing is much slower than what we’ve gotten used to. The worldbuilding is given much more specific attention, but the real danger/action doesn’t start until the last third of the book, which is kind of a shame because the author writes action so incredibly well. This story feels a little less plot driven, but more character driven and just plain exploring a new and unusual world, which isn’t always the best route to go in terms of a fantasy genre novel. Luckily, there are little snippets that hint at danger that can keep you guessing and wondering enough to keep on reading!
It’s Not really a Retelling…So after reading this book, I can conclude that while there are many aspects that may be seen as similar, it’s not entirely an actual Beauty and the Beast retelling, or if it is, it’s not the best in terms of that aspect. Tamlin seems to be put in the position as the Beast: the ruler of the cursed land, the one who must somehow break that curse, and has his subjects who also share the punishment with him. While I personally know more into the story as I type this review, I know this is not true at all…but like I said, more on that later in other reviews…All I can say to sum it all up is, yes, the first part of this story feels like another retelling, but then when Feyre goes under the mountain, it changes the whole game!

Conclusion:

Sarah J. Maas does it again with the start of another fantasy series that feels so very different from Throne of Glass, and allows us to once again start over with her words, but this time after having her writing improve dramatically over the years. The world she’s created for this is much more complex, but the pacing is slower than what we’ve come to be used to with her writing…Feyre is no Aelin, that is for sure… Romance takes a bigger, more central role to the story, and the vibe is much more sensual than most YA titles seem to go towards, which leads me to say that for those that care should know that it’s a little more mature than what the genre usually gives us. If you don’t cringe at sex scenes, yay for you! Enjoy 😉

I don’t necessarily recommend this title for those looking for a Beauty and the Beast retelling; it’s there, but it’s also not prominent in the overall execution, but more for those searching for a love story involving the Fae. It is a love story in a way, along with the threat of an evil overlord who threatens the world, but those who like stories that focus on romance will definitely enjoy this title!