Sarah J. Maas' bestselling romantasyA Court of Thorns and Rosesseries garnered its popularity by telling the story through Feyre’s eyes — up until a certain point. The first book beginsin media reswith the inciting incident that will change huntress Feyre Archeron’s life, while she is alone in the woods and kills a wolf that turns out to be a faerie. The first trilogy then sees Feyre pulled into Pyrthian, where she has love affairs with multiple Fae High Lords and rises to become one of the Fae country’s most formidable players.
However,Feyre is not the only compelling character in these books.An expansive cast ofpowerful characters appears inA Court of Thorns and Roses, including the mysterious High Lord Rhysand, Feyre’s vicious eldest sister Nesta, the dynamic Inner Circle of the Night Court, and many more. The plannedA Court of Thorns and Roses TV showhas many opportunities to delve into all these characters and their unseen adventures. However, characters might not be getting their due in the books because of the structure of the series up until the fifth installment.
A Court Of Silver Flames Finally Breaks The First Four Books' Single POV Trend
After The First Few ACOTAR Books Being Told Only From Feyre’s POV, ACOSF Includes Multiple Character Perspectives
The first three books in theACOTARseries are all told in the first-person from Feyre’s perspective.A Court of Frost and Starlight, the technical fourth book released, is complicated because it is a holiday-themed novella where not much substantial plot happens. A few chapters follow other characters, but it is largely still Feyre’s POV.A Court of Silver Flamesmore definitively breaks the narration trend up until that point when Nesta becomes the main character. Told in the third person,the fifth book follows Nesta and her love interest Cassian’s perspectives.
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Both leads' sections of the novel are written in the third person limited, expressing either Nesta or Cassian’s thoughts and perception of events. Nesta is also given more chapters than Cassian as she has essentially taken Feyre’s place in this book and Cassian, Rhysand’s. There is a bonus chapter in some editions that returns to the first person to depict a lost scene between Feyre and Rhysand. However, the alternative bonus chapter (in different versions) with Azriel proves that Maas is following a general rule that when it is Feyre, it’s first-person; when it’s anyone else, it’s third.
The Next Court Of Thorns & Roses Book Should Take This Change Even Further
The Sixth ACOTAR Book Should Have More Than Two POV Characters, That Is The Main Couple
Fans are still waiting for news about thenextA Court of Thorns and Rosesbook, but expanding upon the multi-POV narration could benefit the series going forward. It is now set up to focus on a different main character and/or couple with each future installment, having mostly moved away from Feyre and Rhysand. However, dedicating more time to perspectives other than the book’s chosen main characters will ensure that others do not become defunct.
The series shouldn’t just move on from Nesta now that her book is done but treat all these characters like realistic and ever-changing people.
Later seasons of the show risk giving Feyre a background role, now that she is a mother, and she could begin to lean into traditional maternal characteristics.In addition to staying true to Feyre’s fierce and independent characterization, multi-POV would allow her to still have a strong, ongoing arcnow that she isn’t the official protagonist. The same goes for Nesta, who has undergone substantial character development since the beginning. However, the series shouldn’t just move on from her now that her book is done but treat all these characters like realistic and ever-changing people.
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Additionally,it seems like it will be harder to do a book about a single couple when it comes to Feyre’s other sister Elain,who is wrapped up in overlapping love triangles with Lucien, Azriel, and Gwyn. Elain is officially Lucien’s mate but obviously attracted to Azriel, who returns her attraction but also has a bond with Nesta’s best friend Gwyn that is highlighted. When all of these characters are ones we are supposed to be rooting for, more perspectives might be necessary to sort out the story so they all end up happy.
Sarah J. Maas' Other Fantasy Series Prove She Can Write Multi-POV Stories
Throne Of Glass & Crescent City Show Many Characters' Perspectives & Solo Adventures, & Are Better For It
Ironically,the laterACOTARbooks aren’t the outliers of Maas' writing style — it’s Feyre’s narration that is atypicalfor her. Maas' other fantasy novel series, also bestsellers, use multi-POV structures. Maas' career began with the young adultThrone of Glassseries, which follows a young assassin turned revolutionary queen saving her home from evil forces. The firstThrone of Glasscould be argued to be a single-perspective book, when the focus is certainly on Celaena, with limited sections told from Dorian and Chaol’s perspectives.
The ACOTAR, Throne Of Glass & Crescent City Timeline Explained
ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City share a setting and collectively span a few years, with some time markers to establish the timeline.
However, as theThrone of Glassseries gets betterand bigger, more characters are added, and Maas begins to juggle many people in different places. Manon and Elide are initially introduced far off from the rest of the main cast, while other characters begin to follow different storylines oceans apart that are all vital. The sixth book,Tower of Dawn,is entirely about Chaol, Yrene, and Nesryn, taking place at the same time asEmpire of Storms, which follows the rest of the cast. Additionally, everyone’s chapters are in the third person limited.
Maas made her adult debut withCrescent Cityand returned to her original style of third-person multi-POV.ACOTARhas arguably become Maas' most popular series, butCrescent CityandThrone of Glassdemonstrate different strengths because of their multi-POV storytelling.Especially with Throne of Glass, readers feel how expansive the world is through experiencing the many different personal and political conflicts happening within it, which makes it an overall more textured and detailed story.
Adding More Perspectives Could Solve One Of ACOTAR’s Biggest Problems
ACOTAR Wouldn’t Have To Send Characters Off On Frustrating Unseen Missions With Multi-POV
In addition to keeping characters who are no longer the protagonists relevant and compelling, expanding the multi-POV structure of some of theACOTARbooks would avoid strange storylines from previous installments. Namely, when there is only one or two POV characters, if any other character has to do something important on their own, we don’t see it. One of the most blatant examples is inA Court of Mist and FurywhenCassian goes to see Nesta and Elain at their estate in the mortal lands.
There are a lot of hints after this that Cassian and Nesta had some kind of confrontation, which is a little awkward in Feyre’s narrative. There is a bonus chapter that depicts this scene between Cassian and Nesta, which is also only available in certain editions.Mor is also now often absent from the main storylinesbecause she is serving as an ambassador for the Night Court,but the reader doesn’t see any of her new work because Nesta doesn’t see it.
Maas created a lot of riveting supporting characters that she wants to further develop, and pushing the series beyond two perspectives would aid her in doing this.
Single POV benefitedA Court of Thorns and Rosesat the beginning whenMaas was setting up a more romance-focused story that got some mystery elements out of Feyre not knowing the full extent of Rhysand’s motives.However, the series is still finding its footing when Feyre has essentially achieved her happy ending. Maas created a lot of riveting supporting characters that she wants to further develop, and pushing the series beyond two perspectives would aid her in doing this.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
2015
A Court of Mist and Fury
2016
A Court of Wings and Ruin
2017
A Court of Frost and Starlight(novella)
2018
2021
A Court of Thorns and Rosesbook #6
